ROGUE: Emerging Neighborhoods Project

Realizing Opportunities for Growth, Unity and Equity (ROGUE) is officially launching its Emerging Neighborhoods Project 2.22.18.  Three neighborhoods are participating:  La Capilla (S. Tucson), ParkView and Barrio Anita.  All three will be doing asset-mapping with the updated Walkabout Talkabout Book, developed by The Maverick Institute (1988)/Community Renaissance (2017).  The Walkabout Talkabout Book has been translated into Spanish in an abbreviated version. 

The Emerging Neighborhoods Project is a 6 week, focused effort to assist community-based positive changes in local neighborhoods.  Besides Tucson and South Tucson, the city of St. Louis, Missouri is also part of this ROGUE effort and a guest speaker from St. Louis will be attending the March 24th GeoSpatial Summit at Joel D. Valdez Downtown/Main Library, 10 a.m.- 3p.m., public invited. 

Also at the March 24th Summit, Tucson Mayor Jonathan Rothschild will be reading the Proclamation for Tucson's 4th International Days of Happiness and giving certificates of community kinship to ROGUE's neighborhood leadership.

Community Renaissance is happy to be a member of ROGUE and its current and future community efforts are/will be in collaboration with ROGUE, a soon-to-be national nonprofit organization.

For more information contact:  anitafonte@gmail.com or iris@geospatialcollaborative.com

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 Your Neighborhoods 2017 revised version

Now available to download for free at www.facebook.com/ROGUEcommunities

Note that the Walkabout Talkabout booklet is no longer available at www.communityrenaissance.biz which has been discontinued.  Community Renaissance's current website is www.communityrenaissance.webstarts.com

You can contact Community Renaissance through www.facebook.com/communityrenaissance or 520.331.5582

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 

www.publicdomainpictures.net

Collaborations Continue

We will have new info soon on continuing and expanded community collaborations as we continue to BuildUP^ Tucson & Beyond and create thriving communities.

Snapshots from 3/20/17 International Days of Happiness in Tucson

Our events kicked off at Cafe 54 with Tucson Mayor Jonathan Rothschild reading the City's Proclamation for Tucson's 3rd International Days of Happiness.

#HappyActs and Do Happy Today Happy Wall at Cafe 54.  This is one of thirteen Tucson Happy walls!

Columbus Library launched 2017 with their Happy Wall.  Photo by Tima Farhat, librarian

The Tucson Jewish Community Center started their Happy Wall during Rodeo Week (picture is from that week by Andrea Wright, JCC staff).  It continued through 3/20 and was an activity that helped boost happiness during bomb threats when the building was locked down for safety.

Limberlost Neighborhood Association serves as the 501-c3 for Do Happy Today and their event (with City of Tucson staff, Irene Ogata), took place on 3/19 at Limberlost Family Park.  City funded improvements to that park, including a FengShui Well-being Walking Path first featured in the 2016 Do Happy Today Celebration, will be dedicated in Fall 2017.

An example of one of 359 posts from the Downtown Pima County Public Library Do Happy Today and Live Happy #happyacts Happy Wall.

Each post was thematically counted by Community Renaissance in the Community Room, City of Tucson Ward 3 office which also hosted a Happy Wall.

A summary report of the data gathered from all of the Happy Walls will be available in May at www.communityrenaissance.biz

List of events 3.12 for Do Happy Today/Intern. Day of Happiness 2017

Do ‘happy’ in March

Series of Do Happy Today events held during March

The third annual Do Happy Today series of events will be held during March and culminate with Tucson Mayor Jonathan Rothschild signing a proclamation at noon on March 20 at Café 54. March 20 is the International Day of Happiness.

Do Happy Today is an all-volunteer collaborative community effort dedicated to encouraging personal and community happiness and well-being, as well as engaging southern Arizona communities in positive change. DHT is coordinated by Community Renaissance, a locally owned community development business.  This year Do Happy Today is partnering with two national efforts: Happiness Alliance www.happycounts.org and Live Happy Magazine’s #happyacts and Happy Walls. The Happy Walls are popups, and content shared will be collected and thematically summarized by Community Renaissance and share via social media.

Do Happy Today Partners Weekend, March 18 and 19

·       7:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., March 18: Tucson Habitat for Humanity Do Happy Today “Rainbow Build” at Copper Vista II, 5761 S. Copper Plate Drive. To volunteer, contact Joseph Howell at 520.260.9959 or joseph@habitattucson.org

·       10 a.m. to 3 p.m., March 18: DHT at Rillito Bend Neighborhood and Tucson Valley of the Moon Home/Garden Art Tour and Live Happy Wall, 2544 E. Allen Road. Bring your Walkabout Talkabout Book. Free download at www.communityrenaissance.biz .

·       March 18-20: 10:30 a.m., March 18: Storytime on Happiness at Himmel Park Branch, Pima County Public Library, 1035 N. Treat Ave. March 18-20: People can fill out a blank flower-shaped paper available at the library’s information desk and answer “What makes me happy?” or “How do I share happiness?” (520.594.5305 or www.library.pima.gov/himmel)

·       10 a.m.-2:00 p.m., March 18: Celebrate Historic South Park Community at Park Ave. Between 27th Street and 31st Street. Family activities, food, music and more. Contact Glenn Davis (520) 870-8109.

·       4 to 6 p.m., March 19: Limberlost Neighborhood Association Community Fair, Limberlost Park, 4255 N 4th Ave.  Café 54 Food Truck (invited), Live Happy Wall, Architectural Design Display for City of Tucson first feng shui well-being path, Limberlost Little Free Library and info from various community groups. Bring your Walkabout Talkabout Book. Free download at www.communityrenaissance.biz/happyu. City of Tucson’s Do Happy Today Proclamation will be featured at the event.

March 20: Official International Day of Happiness

·       Noon to 2 p.m., March 20: Café 54, 54 E. Pennington St., DHT and TENWEST – Live Happy Wall available to share personal happy thoughts; featuring Tucson Mayor Jonathan Rothschild reading Proclamation at Noon. (www.cafe54.org or 520.622.1907)

·       March 20: DHT Flowers – Southwest Fair Housing Council to deliver to participating partners

·       March 20 to March 25: Bentley’s House of Coffee & Tea, 1730 E. Speedway: Live Happy Wall available to share personal happy thoughts. (www.bentleyscoffeehouse.com)

·       March 20 to 24: Happy Wall at Connect Coworking

·       March 20 to March 24: Make Way for Books, 700 N. Stone, Happy Wall; story time on March 24 at 10 a.m. will focus on happiness (www.makewayforbooks.org)

·       March 20, noon-3 p.m.: Himmel Branch Library, 1035 N. Treat Ave. – Mah Jong, Healthy Brain and Happiness; 5 p.m. – UA Master Gardener Presentation on Warm Season Vegetable Gardening/Eat Healthy and Happiness

·       March 20, 4-6 p.m.: Girl Scout Resource Center, 4300 E. Broadway Blvd.: Girl Scouts Troop 1934 “Science of Happiness” Merit Badge Activities, including Happiness Survey, Making a Happiness Journal, Gratitude Cards and Bliss/Happy Bags

·       March 20: Live Happy Wall for Tucson Medical Center staff and visitors only

·       March 20: Tucson Downtown Partnership will host an outdoor Live Happy Wall, time and location to be announced.

·       March 20: Woods Memorial Library, 3455 N. 1^st Ave., will host a Tree of Gratitude. Patrons can add their thoughts about what makes them happy www.pima.library.gov/woods .

·       March 20: Joel D. Valdez Library, 101 N. Stone Ave., will host a Live Happy Wall in the lobby.

·       March 21, 6-7 p.m.: Tucson Tuesday Laughter Yoga, Friends Meeting House, 931 N. 4^th Ave., (520.449.0213 or http://laughteryoga.org)

·       March 21, 4-7 p.m.: University of Arizona Village Farm, U-Pick, 4210 N. Campbell Ave., (https://tucsonvillagefarm.arizona.edu)

More information about Do Happy Today is available at www.dohappytoday.com, www.facebook.com/dohappytoday or   www.communityrenaissance.biz .