Have you ever looked around your community and thought to yourself, “I wish we had a _____”? Have you ever thought to yourself that if only your community had a ____, it would be so much better? Did you ever wonder what life would be like if your community had a _____? How much would change? What would be different?
The fact is, no community is perfect – every community has its strengths and its weakness. As such, every person from any community is always thinking of something that could better their community. We at NOISE wanted to know what exactly people wanted in the community, what it was that people felt could complete or improve their neighborhoods, so we asked them. In fact, we put up a blank sheet of paper with the title, “I wish I had a ____ in my neighborhood” and we attached a pen to it. We wanted to see what responses we’d get.
Although we originally created this installation for the NOISE youth fellows from Jane and Finch, we were surprised to notice social work students, professors, TAs, GAs, employees, and all other members of York University signing it with their ideas. What was interesting, however, was that although there was a large range of people who wrote on this wall, the things they wanted were very similar. This demonstrated that no matter where you are from, you still want the same things for your community. The responses we got were explosive and inspiring. Looking at the board, you could really feel the emotions of the people who wrote on it – the things people wanted were things that would complete any neighborhood, making it feel like a home.
This feeling of turning an area into a community or a home is seen as people wrote things like “peace and love” or “equity”. Another wrote, “Greater access to positive role models for young people”. It was clear that people wanted things that would create change, things that would make the community better by bringing it together. The words that seemed to come up the most were compassion, love, unity, peace, affordable housing, food and security. People wanted farmers markets, more inexpensive community classes, sharing, and, as one person wrote, “the feeling of community, belonging, family, love, and happiness”.
In addition to these major community-changing themes, people wanted simple things, things that would make their community more fun and affordable, like a Cineplex, a drive-in, a water park, and a slide. All in all, the responses were tremendous. They range from a variety of things, from “cats” to being “the example that shows one of the many ways that you can live”. People dug deep in their souls to answer this question and we truly appreciated that.
In addition, we also noted that people started adding on to each other’s comments. For example, one person wrote “Jesus” and another added “And acceptance of all other religions”. Another wrote “Walking around” and someone added “Everyone” so it became “Everyone walking around”. Another wrote “peace” and someone added “for everyone to be happy”. There were various cases like this in which people related to one another. It seems that everybody, no matter which community they are from, or what they do, wants the same thing – a safe, connected, friendly community. With this said, one must really wonder, is the Jane/Finch community really so different from all other communities? How could it be when all the answers were so similar? Could this community really be as bad as it is portrayed to be in the media if the youth are asking for the same thing as many others from different communities? I don’t believe so; in fact, I’d like to bring back my prior point that no community is perfect, but each community is home.