What is ARC?
CHF BC’s Active Resilient Communities program (ARC) helps co-ops consider and plan for current and future challenges and opportunities. Members come together to develop a vision, identify their core values, engage in focused conversations and build a comprehensive action plan to help realize their goals.
What Members Think
“Overall, our experience through the course of ARC brought the voices of our community together and contributed information from experts in the field.”
“I was thrilled with the process. It was thorough, engaging and objective.”
“Thank you for a wonderful session. It gave me personally a lot to think about.”
“Our co-op was on the verge of a big decision: to move forward with redevelopment or renovation. The input we received from invited speakers helped us clarify the consequences to finally vote for renovation.”
“It is always valuable coming together as a community and hearing all member’s priorities.”
How it works
CHF BC member co-ops can learn about ARC through this website and by getting in touch with our ARC Program Coordinator, Shivani. She’ll explain the entire process and options, and can schedule an initial meeting with your Board of Directors to get a better sense of your priorities and preferences. Together, we can determine how the ARC program might work for your co-op.
If the Board gives the green light, we’ll proceed with a contract that sets up two stages of work: (1) an initial “Community Check-In” and (b) the “Core ARC Programming“. The ARC team will set up a webpage for your community and we’ll send out login information to each member. You’ll get members-only access to conversations, surveys and photos related to your co-op and its progress on ARC.
The Community Check-In includes a survey element to assess member concerns, interests and readiness for ARC. With that complete, the Board and ARC team will briefly discuss results before committing to move to the second stage, the Core ARC Programming.
The boxes below give a sense of the elements of the Core ARC Programming.
Connect
We bring co-op community members together and find your vision for the future. What do members want? What do they need?Start Off Right!
The first phase of ARC involves figuring out how your co-op sees itself and what it wants for the future. Conversations, exercises and voting are all part of the process, with a mix of online and in-person activities possible.
Discuss
A vision without details is hard to pursue. We offer focused conversations on topics to help inform your choices and make them real.Talk and Learn
In the second phase of ARC, we build on the vision that members develop. Usually there are areas of exploration — topics that benefit from more detailed information and conversations. We help co-ops connect with professionals with relevant experience to have richer discussions.
Plan
Bringing together your vision and the strands of our conversations, we'll develop a plan. What are the small and large goals you hope to achieve? How can the co-op meet them?Setting manageable goals
In the third phase of the program, members generate ideas on how to realize their vision, based on the focused conversations and experiences. We’ll consider together what’s most easily achievable and what will make the biggest impact. We’ll break down larger goals into more manageable chunks and then prioritize what to do next.
Go!
With your plan in hand, your co-op can get to work. Take on the priorities you've embraced in your report. Plan internal actions, allocate resources and implement the steps. Check in with the ARC team.Take Action
At the end of the Core ARC Programming Stage, the ARC team will summarize and organize what members have said, generating an easy-to-read report. Members can take action on the tasks highlighted. The ARC team can check in and offer further assistance where that’s helpful and wanted.