Honouring Celebrations, Traditions, and Culture: The Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) Way
“The calendar may have turned but the work that we are doing continues to bloom”.-A Gentle Reset.
As we wrapped up 2025, ensuring that we met deadlines and prepared for the holidays, the Building Connected Communities team intentionally paused to honour the celebrations, traditions, and cultures that brought us together as a community. Rather than rushing toward the finish line, we chose to slow down and recognize the gifts, knowledge, and strengths that already exist among us.
We marked this moment through two community celebration gatherings: one with our Community Connectors and another with members of the broader Calgary community. Both gatherings reflected our commitment to Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD): centring community strengths, lived experiences, and collective wisdom. Below is a snapshot of how we celebrated our shared assets and honoured the community the ABCD way.
The Art of Celebration: Honouring Community Gifts, Skills, and Assets
Celebrating with the Broader Calgary Community
To close out the year and honour the talents within our community, we invited community members to co-host our final monthly gathering. Community members generously shared their gifts of knowledge, conversation, creativity, and care. This gathering was not about delivering services, but about creating space for connection, reflection, and shared learning.
Key conversations during the gathering focused on managing mental health and navigating holiday stress. While the holiday season is often associated with joy, it can also bring feelings of overwhelm, grief, or isolation. Community members shared practical and compassionate reminders, including:
Rest and self-care: Prioritizing rest and nurturing mental well-being during a busy season.
Staying connected: Reaching out to friends, neighbours, faith-based communities, or local programs for support.
Honouring culture and tradition: Cultural foods, songs, greetings, and rituals can ground us and remind us that we belong.
Practising gratitude: Reflecting on blessings; big or small from the past year and holding onto moments of strength, healing, and joy.
Asking for help: Seeking support is a sign of strength. No one has to navigate challenges alone.
These conversations affirmed that wisdom already exists within the community and sharing it strengthens collective resilience.
The “Gift of Gab” and Creative Expression
Community members also explored the “gift of gab” - examining storytelling and gossip within gendered spaces as a means of connection, meaning-making, and cultural exchange. This conversation highlighted how informal dialogue can foster trust, solidarity, and shared understanding when rooted in respect and care.
Creativity was another powerful tool for grounding and reflection. Participants engaged in sculpture meditation using clay and putty, embracing the art of sculpting as a calming, hands-on practice. This creative process allowed participants to slow down, reconnect with themselves, and express emotions in a non-verbal, accessible way.
Honouring Celebrations Within Our Team
As part of our year-end reflections, the Building Connected Communities team also came together to celebrate one another. Using asset-mapping sheets, team members shared each other’s strengths, skills, passions, and contributions. This activity reinforced a core ABCD principle: thriving communities and teams are built by recognizing and uplifting what people already have and bring to the work we do.
Through this exercise, we acknowledged the unique gifts that make each team member an essential part of our collective work and success.
Moving Forward Together
These gatherings reminded us that celebration itself is an asset. When we honour culture, tradition, creativity, and connection, we strengthen the social fabric of our communities. As we move into the new year, we remain committed to building connected communities by centering people’s strengths, lived experiences, and collective wisdom every step of the way. Our first gathering this year is on Friday, January 9 and in the spirit of community action and collaboration, we invite you to join the conversation on ABCD language in Action, a strengths-based language that fosters community building and engagement. Sign up HERE to be a part of the conversation.