For Immediate Release, April 18 2012

HALIFAX – Over the past six years, Halifax has been engaged in developing a collective vision for the Bloomfield Centre and property located on two city blocks in the North End. In 2008, HRM Council unanimously approved a master plan for the property and the community it supports, for the development of a mixed-use multi-purpose community-cultural hub where people can live, work and play.

Imagine Bloomfield formed as a non-profit society in 2004 to ensure that the Bloomfield Centre and its surrounding land was developed with the community in mind, and to set the stage for a new type of development in Halifax. HRM staff is going to issue an RFP this spring for the redevelopment of the site. The society is working with the city and other levels of government on the next phases of the development and part of that work is developing a full list of potential tenants from the non-profit, commercial and housing sector.

“We conducted our first “needs assessment” in 2009,” says Adam Barnett, community outreach facilitator for Imagine Bloomfield. “We were excited by the response from over 60 organizations and businesses who were interested in locating at the Bloomfield Centre. We’re updating and expanding that research now, as part of developing a plan for the future use of the property, and in the first week the responses have been amazing.”

Through funding from the Voluntary Sector Trust, Imagine Bloomfield is reaching out in particular to non-profit and social enterprise organizations in order to facilitate synergies between like-minded groups.

“We’ve seen this type of development flourish in other areas,” says Susanna Fuller, co-Chair of the Imagine Bloomfield board of directors. “We have learned from initiatives such as the Evergreen Brickworks, Centre for Social Innovation, 401 Richmond and the Wychwood Art Barns as well as the redevelopment of Regent Park in Toronto, that a key element of success in innovative developments is the right partnerships.”

The survey is open until the end of April and Imagine Bloomfield is seeking participation from a broad sector of interests. The survey can be found at www.imaginebloomfield.ca.

Imagine Bloomfield, a non-profit community group in its sixth year of activity, is taking this opportunity to collect data on community needs to contribute to the RFP and re-ignite community support. These efforts will ensure the purchaser of the Bloomfield property shares the vision and has the data to make it work.

For more information http://imaginebloomfield.ca/

Adam Barnett, Imagine Bloomfield Community Outreach Facilitator

902.225.4714 imaginebloomfield@gmail.com

Susanna Fuller, Co-Chair Imagine Bloomfield 483-5033 (c) or 453-9228 (h) susannadfuller@gmail.com

But we are looking for more!

If you know of anyone that might have an interest in being at the Bloomfield Centre in its next stage of redevelopment, in any capacity, please pass this along. We appreciate whatever help you can provide.

Tenancy & Partnership Surveys

Once again, groups that we are looking for are:

Non-Profits

Small Business

Housing

Social Enterprise

Artists / Musicians / Inventors

Community Groups

Artist Groups

Cultural Workers 

Thank you so much! Please be in touch if you have any questions, concerns, or comments.

Adam Barnett
Outreach Community Facilitator

902.225.4714
gadambarnett@hotmail.com

This needs assessment is for all of the following:

Non-Profits

Small Business

Housing

Social Enterprise

Artists / Musicians / Inventors

Community Groups

Artist Groups

Cultural Workers 

** It is important that this needs assessment is up to date and as detailed as possible in order for it to have full impact on the decision making process. **

THE REQUEST:

We are hoping you are willing to participate in this survey. The information gathered is for revised version of our needs assessment. Many have expressed interest in being at the Bloomfield Centre as a tenant, renting meeting space, developing housing, having an artist studio, and more. This is an important step aligning possible tenants with the Bloomfield Master Plan to ensure that the site is developed in the best possible manner.

We have developed an online version of our surveys to make them as accessible as possible. This is fairly timely…and we would appreciate you filling this out ASAP (by the end of April is our goal to have all of these complete). It will only take 5-10 minutes.

Please follow this link to the surveys!  

Please forward this on to any individual, business, or group who might be interested in helping out in this exciting next stage of the Bloomfield Centre.

The Imagine Bloomfield Team

Dear Friends, Members, and Interested citizens of HRM

It has been awhile since Imagine Bloomfield sent out an update of our activities and the status of our efforts to start implementing the Bloomfield Master Plan that was passed by HRM Council in 2008. This year marks eight years of Imagine Bloomfield’s work to create a community vision for redevelopment, and arguably, the timing has never been more urgent or the opportunities greater. Halifax’s North End is transforming and more than ever we see the need to ensure that we have community spaces, affordable housing, green building practices, and places for non-profits and social enterprises to flourish.

Here are a few highlights to let you know of the progress that has been made to date:

• HRM commissioned an implementation plan that was completed in December 2010. This implementation plan reviewed best practices in community based development and operation of arts, culture, and non-profit centres. It also explored various housing models and options.

• We held a grand opening of our community greenhouse in October of 2011 and are very thankful for our partnership with the Ecology Action Centre and our supporters, which include: NS Environment, HRM, Councillors Watts and Blumenthal, Eye Candy Signs, Full Cycle Builders, and iNova Credit Union. The greenhouse is tended by five members of the community and has been producing amazing amounts of food all winter! 


• In January 2012, Imagine Bloomfield made a trip to Toronto where co-chair Susanna Fuller visited several interesting developments that in many ways mirror the vision for Bloomfield. These developments included 401 Richmond, Evergreen Brickworks, 215 Spadina (home of the Centre for Social Innovation), Regent Park, a redevelopment of low income housing that includes a triple bottom line, and finally the Wychwood Arts Barns run by Artscape, who Imagine Bloomfield brought to HRM in 2009 for a Creative Space Making workshop.

• We are extremely excited to have hired Co*Lab: Rachel Derrah, Sophia Horwitz, and Greg Woolner to help us with engaging the public, all of you, in the coming months on some exciting events at the Bloomfield Centre. We also welcome Adam Barnett who will be working closely with Co*Lab in updating our 2010 Needs Assessment and further identifying and building capacity with potential tenants at a redeveloped Bloomfield. Adam will be in touch with many of you in the next few weeks.

• Bloomfield is slated to go out to a Request for Proposals in April 2012, as stated at the January 7th Community Council meeting. While we still expect this to happen, we are also exploring other avenues for finding the right partners and developers for the site.

Thank you for those of you who renewed your Imagine Bloomfield membership. We greatly appreciate the support and will need your membership more than ever in the coming months. If you have not renewed your membership, please see our website and download the membership form.

Please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us. We are always looking for volunteers and public support.

Join us on Facebook and follow us on twitter @imaginebloomfld. Contact us by email at imaginebloomfield@gmail.com.

We hope to see many of you at some of the events we have planned in the coming months!

We look forward to what 2012 will bring us, and to hope to finally have the Bloomfield Centre set on a path to become something great – for the North End, for HRM, and for Nova Scotia.

January 12, 2012

Imagine Bloomfield Urges HRM to Follow Community Based Process

The recent controversy surrounding the Halifax Regional Municipality’s abandonment of fair process concerning the St. Pat’s Alexandra School site highlights the need for the various North End communities to learn from experience and work together to ensure that community consultation continues to build the community we all believe will make Halifax the best city it can be.

Halifax’s North End is poised for unprecedented growth. The need for appropriate planning and consideration of community needs has never been greater.

In 2004, HRM began a review of the repurposed Bloomfield School, which housed 54 tenants, many of which provided front line services for HRM residents.

“At that time, the purpose of the review, from the community and tenant’s perspective was to close the centre and put the property up for sale, ” says Susanna Fuller, Co-Chair of Imagine Bloomfield and neighbourhood resident. “Tenants and community members got together to come up with an alternative plan.”

Schools are often the basis of community, and indeed the place where children first learn about creating community and a sense of belonging, outside the environment created by immediate family.

“HRM clearly made a mistake in not following a community based process in the sale of St. Pat’s School,” says Ron Skibbens of Imagine Bloomfield and neighbourhood resident. “We hoped that all the work we have put in to come up with an alternative to a ‘traditional’ sale for development would have created a precedent that HRM could follow in dealing with similar situations.

“To do anything less than meaningfully consult the community about the future of St. Pat’s Alexandra School greatly undermines the essential work and capacity these organizations offer the North End, “ says Fuller.

After eight years of community advocacy and HRM processes, the Bloomfield School site is scheduled to go to RFP by the end of April.

More information can be found here.

On October 15, the Bloomfield community celebrated the Grand Openning of the Bloomfield Community Greenhouse. 

A recent blog post by one of the greenhouse gardenners gives a sneak peak at what’s growing:

http://languidlovely.blogspot.com/2011/11/bloomfield-community-greenhouse.html?spref=fb&m=1

We are proud to introduce the Community Greenhouse located at the Bloomfield Community Centre in the North End of Halifax. The greenhouse is now open to membership applications from residents in the North End of Halifax. These applications will be entered into a draw happening on September 6th, 2 p.m. on the Ecology Action Centre back deck (in case of rain, it will be inside).

About the Community Greenhouse

The greenhouse is collaborative project of the Ecology Action Centre and Imagine Bloomfield. The building is a passive solar design that will function 10-12 months of the year. It is an exciting opportunity for North End residents to extend the growing season, growing greens throughout the winter months, propagate transplants in the spring, and grow warmer weather crops in the summer months.

This project is a prototype for future greenhouses, as this is the first season, we’ll be learning as we go. Our vision is many small scale, sustainable, community operated greenhouses across HRM. To do this we are looking for a small handful of intrigued and committed members who would like to build their skills in greenhouse operation, work and learn collectively, and share this knowledge and resource with the public.

Becoming a Member

Being a member means you will have a space to grow in the ground of the greenhouse (a bed that is approx. 2’x4’), as well as a shelf to start seedlings. It also means that you are committed to working with the other members of the greenhouse to set up the space, manage the building operations, and build up collective skills and resources, with the support of a staff coordinator.

Membership Details

Annual Membership running September 2011- September 2012

Membership Fee is $20 annually. If cost is a barrier please just let us know.

Membership applications are open to residents in the North End of Halifax.

Membership Responsibilities

Members should be prepared to spend a minimum of 5 hours a week in the greenhouse. This time includes tending to your own plants, doing collective greenhouse management, sharing your learnings, and attending monthly membership meetings.

There will also be the opportunity for members to attend workshops such as organic greenhouse management and native plant propagation throughout the year for those new to organic or collective greenhouse management to build new skills.

We also hope to work together to grow extra transplants to share with community gardens in HRM.

Lottery Application

As the scale of the greenhouse is quite small, and there is a large demand for plots, we have decided to run a membership lottery.  The draw will happen on September 6th, all are welcome to attend the draw. Winners will be notified and able to confirm their application at that time.

To enter into the lottery please email us giving your name, phone number, email, and address. Please also write a line letting us know what excites you the most about our new community greenhouse. You can send your email to Garity Chapman at:  garity@ecologyaction.ca

Lottery closes midnight September 5th, 2011. Draw will take place September 6th at 2 p.m. at the Ecology Action Centre, all are welcome to attend.