A blue dragon reads a book as he sits under a tree full of red, orange and yellow leaves.
This colourful scene is part of a new outdoor mural at Princeton School in northeast Edmonton. Dozens of students and their families, as well as members of the community, helped to decorate the 400-plus tiles that make up the artwork. Some of those tiles include paintings of faces, rainbows and letters of the alphabet.
Mckensi Woodbury, a teacher, and her Grade 2 and 3 students were the main organizers of the mural. “We wanted something that was timeless, that represented our school, but also that represented the kids in our community,” she says.
The mural was one of six small projects funded by the City of Edmonton in the mature neighbourhoods of Balwin and Belvedere, located just north of Fort Road. Residents and community members submitted 14 proposals for projects, then voted for their favourites to share up to $70,000 in Neighbourhood Revitalization funding. More than 700 votes were cast, both online and in-person at Balwin Community League Hall.
Princeton School received $14,000 to create and install their mural. Balwin School received $17,500 for its own mural. KARA Family Resource Centre received $10,000 to host four community events, including a spring treasure hunt and a winter festival. The community leagues of Balwin and Belvedere received $7,500 and $15,000, respectively, to host programs and events throughout the year, such as movie nights and a BBQ.
Woodbury says the whole experience has helped to build stronger, more engaged neighbourhoods. Her Grade 2 and 3 students delivered 300 flyers to nearby residents, asking for them to vote for the Princeton mural proposal.
“I think the kids now are a lot more aware of their community as a whole,” she says. “I think it was also wonderful to bring opportunities to the community to see what people would like—because this is where they live, where they work and where their children grow up. Every community is so unique.”
Community Corner, which offers children’s sports camps at Trinity Church, also received $5,000 in Neighbourhood Revitalization funding. Organizer Carolyn Van Boom says some of the money was used to replace aging equipment—including volleyballs and soccer balls.
“We’ve been running the program for 10-plus years and we were up to 80, 90 kids at one point,” she says. “Then COVID hit and took out quite a large sector of kids, but now we’re trying to build our program back and get more youth in the area knowing about us and helping them stay positive in our community.”
Van Boom says some of the funding was also used to buy new sewing machines for the church’s weekly sewing club. Most of its participants are women, including newcomers and lifelong residents of Belvedere and Balwin.
“Some have never touched a machine and are learning the basics,” says Van Boom. “Some are working on their own sewing projects. Some are thinking about starting small businesses—like making rice bags that you heat in the microwave and selling them.”
Shannon Murray is a Neighbourhood Resource Coordinator with the City of Edmonton. She gave presentations to residents and community groups in Balwin and Belvedere, encouraging them to submit their project ideas and answering their questions about the application and voting processes.
“The community connections coming out of these six projects are going to be priceless and will be felt for years and years to come—not just neighbour to neighbour, but also organization to organization,” she says. “It was just a real joy to be a part of the process. I really enjoyed it and the ideas that came out of it and watching them now take life in the neighbourhoods. It’s heartwarming.”
How these six projects were selected—by members of the Balwin and Belvedere communities—is also having an impact on the City’s other grant programs. More and more of them are using community panels to help assess grant applications. For the Anti-racism Grant Program for 2024, almost 40 community volunteers are reviewing more than 100 applications.
The City is making other tweaks to its grant process, based on the Balwin/Belvedere experience, says Kim Turcotte, Manager, Community Funding Strategies. There will be more online orientation sessions for grant programs and the accessibility of grant applications will be simplified and improved.
“We want to help more Edmontonians bring more of their ideas and projects to life in their communities,” she says. “We want to make it easier for Edmontonians to make a difference.”
Editor’s note: the pic at the top of the post shows a student and some parents and teachers painting tiles for the Princeton mural on February 27, 2024. From left to right: curriculum coordinator Darcy Crichton, student Prince Petersen and his dad David, Craig Miller, teacher Matt Labossiere, and principal Annette Hlavacek.