Building on a recently completed year-long research partnership (Fostering Inclusion for people with dementia) that identified gaps in accessibility and challenges to inclusion for people living with dementia, the proposed Community Conversation (CC) will be hosted by the City of Victorias Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) and co-facilitated by the project co-leads. The 3-hour CC event will take place at City Hall in September 2026 (within a free of charge, public-use meeting room) and will provide a forum to explore much needed regional collaboration to develop a continuum of community-based programs and services for an increasing number of people living with dementia in the Capital Regional District (CRD). Potential attendees include health and social program/service providers and regional municipal staff across the CRD (n=10), researchers (n=5), local and provincial policy/planning representatives (n=5) and people living with dementia (n=10) and care partners (n=10). In addition to those who were involved in informing the Fostering Inclusion project, people who were not involved but who hold shared interests and those with diverse social locations and identities will be included.
The focus of the event is to begin to move toward working collaboratively across the CRD to support community inclusion and accessibility for people living with dementia. The event agenda will include 1) presentation of the recent project gaps and challenges findings, 2) World Café style facilitated discussions of shared issues, prioritizing of project recommendations, and ideas for development of a channel/platform/community of practice to support ongoing collaboration to develop a dementia-inclusive region, 3) co-development of a 3-D network map to better understand the regional ecosystem of resources within the built and social environment. A facilitated quiet-room space, headphones to control noise, large print and simplified meeting materials and other accommodations will be available to support the engagement of people living with dementia and other attendees, as needed. A summary and the graphic outputs of the event (World Café table cloths and photos of the network map) will be developed into a PDF and shared with all attendees.
The anticipated outcome of this event is to facilitate exploratory solution-focused conversations among regional decision makers, planners and advocates as a precursor to organizing efforts for collective action.
Additional team members and participating organizations:
Carolyn Brandly, PhD Candidate, Social Dimensions of Health – University of Victoria