Prince George, B.C.-  It’s  been 40 years since Community Associations were first established in Prince George and the City is calling for  your thoughts on the programming they deliver and  their value.

There are seven community associations  in the City serving Beaverly, Blackburn, College Heights, the Crescents, the Hart, the South Bowl, and the West Bowl.  Together, they  offered   a total  of  125 recreation  programs  ranging from T-Ball to Zumba and bootcamps,  they also maintain 19 outdoor ice rinks in the City.

Cheryl Livingstone-Leman, Community Coordinator for the City of Prince George, says  this  isn’t about  dismantling  the associations “We are in no way shape or form  wanting to dismantle them,  we want to enhance them.”  She says the launching of a public  online survey will help  form ideas on how to best move forward.

But if the Associations have been  operating for  40 years,  the  phrase, “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” comes to mind, Livingstone-Leman says  it’s hoped the survey  will  help form some recommendations to avoid volunteer burnout,  make the associations more sustainable,  “maybe  work in partnerships with other organizations that  are doing similar  work, is there more the City  could do to help or facilitate the Associations along the way, there are just so many ideas  to keep  these  groups sustainable and happy doing  what they are doing in our community.”

The survey is available online  until July 20th.

Livingstone-Leman says she hopes  to  present  a report and recommendations to Council this fall.  “This is a long term strategy” says Livingstone-Leman “It might be a strategy that has recommendations  that take  a year or several years to implement  over time.   We hope these Associations are around for another 40 years,  they provide, inexpensive, grassroots  neighbourhood programs for kids,  adults and seniors, and we want to see that continue.”