Headlines and newscasts tend to be dominated by cabinet ministers, corporate leaders, special-interest groups and private or public bureaucracies.
Often, what such newsmakers are talking about are forces of change that ordinary citizens have little or no control over – global trade and investment rules, El Nino, transportation infrastructures and costs, currency exchange rates and anti-inflation strategy.
That’s why it’s useful to be reminded that ordinary people can control change, for their benefit.
Last week, 19 Manitoba individuals and groups received crime prevention awards, many of them for rural initiatives. Although institutions co-operated in various ways, all the projects depended on local volunteers.
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Instead of focusing narrowly on crime, many of the award-winning activities aimed at the more fundamental goal of encouraging healthier attitudes to community involvement.
At Killarney, students received training in subjects like first aid from local RCMP, firefighters and ambulance personnel. They also worked with those services as volunteers. One result, according to a Manitoba government news release, has been less vandalism and impaired driving.
Other rural awards went to individuals like constables Mark Hustins in Morris and Louis Jenvenne in Shamattawa, for outreach efforts that included activities like mock trials and camping trips.
The Dauphin-Ochre school area received recognition for various programs bringing parents, police and probation officers together to discuss the needs of high-risk students involved with gangs, absenteeism or dropping out of school.
Another area (unnamed) saw rural crime, especially break-ins, decline by 72 percent after the start of a crime watch program.
Similar community-building initiatives can found throughout the Prairies. Manitoba justice minister Vic Toews could have been speaking about any of them last week when he said “the award recipients have given of themselves to make our communities safer places to live, work and play.”
Community spirit and volunteerism can, of course, be targeted at many other topics. Groups are working in many communities to encourage entrepreneurial businesses, provide local Internet training and access, and improve educational resources.
This grassroots co-operation, in the long run, can be more important to rural communities than many of the usual announcements that make headlines and newscasts.
