Tucson's 4th International Days of Happiness

Starting in the fall of 2013, Community Renaissance has been working with collaborative community partners to improve personal and community happiness in Tucson and Beyond.  http://communityrenaissance.webstarts.com

We have convened Community Conversations with the Pima County Public Library, danced in Jacome Plaza with Dancing in the Streets Tucson, created happy walls with LIVE HAPPY magazine and local hosts, made Happy Bags at Kellond School and with a group of Girl Scouts, and helped to make the "dream" of a well-being walking park a reality with Limberlost Family Park and City of Tucson Parks and Recreation and Ward 3.

We've had fun (mostly) and now it's time to celebrate again--and let go of our convening role after this year's events.  It's up to others to keep the ball rolling and we hope you will.

Starting in mid-February through mid-March, it is the Hebrew month of Adar with a focus on joy.  The Tucson J is offering several activities to enhance personal and community happiness and well-being.  You can find out which activities in their magazine with the emoji ☺.  Go to http://www.tucsonjcc.org

So far, for the week of the official March 20th date, we have these activities/events and partners with more to come:

3/20: GLOBAL/OFFICIAL International Day of Happiness--  The Reliance Group is sponsoring up to 10 adoptions at The Humane Society of Southern Arizona; The Profit Project is convening a workshop on "wellness in the workplace" at La Cocina; Bentley's Cafe is branding their breakfast menu as "Smile with Us" all day; Cafe 54 will have our DHT table and giveaways; Tuesday Laughter Yoga is dedicating their session to #dohappytoday and will be wearing their DHT t-shirts.

3/24:  ROGUE (Realizing Opportunities for Growth, Unity and Equity) will be convening a GeoSpatial Summit 10 a.m.-3 p.m. at Joel D. Valdez Main Library, featuring Mayor Rothschild at 11:30 and the City's Proclamation for Tucson's 4th International Days of Happiness.  BuildUP Tucson, Limberlost Neighborhood Association and others will be facilitating action steps for ROGUE's Emerging Neighborhoods Project. http://www.geospatialcollaborative.com

3/25:  Limberlost Family Park, 2-4 p.m. Tai Chi, Toddlers' Little Olympics, Plein Air Painting and more are part of recelebrating Tucson's First FengShui Wellness Walking Park.

We welcome others to come up with/share your activities that enhance happiness, health and well-being in our region and yours.  This is how we BuildUP^ Tucson & Beyond, making our communities Better for Us and Better for Everyone.

Walkabout Talkabout Book 2017/BlogtoBook

It's been a labor of love for community, and a community-relationship building experience to create the new (third) 2017 version of The Walkabout Talkabout Book.  The book originally was written and designed in 1988 by The Maverick Institute co-founders Leslie Johnston (graphic artist) and Anita C. Fonte (writer) and funded by the Arizona Humanities Council. It was reprinted by the University of Arizona's Cooperative Extension and 4-H and used by 4-H Groups throughout the State.

In 2016, as part of the collaborative effort to Build UP^ Tucson & Beyond, others came into the process of envisioning how a revised version could benefit various community-building efforts.  These groups include:  the Southwest Fair Housing Council, the Pima County Ending Poverty Program, the Geospatial Collaborative LLC, the Limberlost Neighborhood Association and Feng Shui Planning.  

In 2017, Leslie Johnston/What We Think Design, created a new cover for the book which features a water-harvesting element.  Content suggestions from the City of Tucson's Trees for Tucson Program, the Pima County Ending Poverty Program, and Feng Shui Planning were added under the authorship and coordinationa of Anita C. Fonte/Community Renaissance & its pro bono program, The Partnership for Equity and Civic Engagement (PECE).

The Walkabout Talkabout Book is free and available to download at www.geospatialcollaborative.org.  It is a book that is friendly to children as well as adults.  Limited hard copies are printed by the Pima County Ending Poverty Program and the Geospatial Collaborative LLC.  

Please use the Walkabout Talkabout Book and let us know how it helped you and your neighborhood at anitafonte@gmail.com 

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