Our Story

The idea for the Heartland Community Commons

began when a local employer, Inter Pipeline asked for help to create a non-profit daycare that would offer extended-hours childcare for shift workers living in and near Fort Saskatchewan.

Soon, there were more organizations at the table.  Then someone asked "how can families who use the daycare access other services while they are there?"

Those early conversations grew into the Heartland Community Commons, a collaboration of multi-sector partners working together to create services in a community hub, the Commons.

For the past three years, we have been working to identify gaps, explore opportunities, and build relationships. Thanks to support from a Civil Society Fund grant, we conducted extensive community engagement, an informal community needs assessment, investigated co-location possibilities, and developed a detailed Business and Sustainability plan. 
 
This work has provided immense learning that will guide the HCC going forward. Existing organizations provide amazing services, however, there remains an opportunity to enhance knowledge of and access to those services. 

The current board continues to work together, to share resources and create efficiencies among member organizations, by:

• Facilitating a Virtual Commons through this website, which will promote the existing services offered by our founding partners and other great organizations in the Fort.
• Continuing to investigate co-location opportunities for organizations that require operating and/or programming space in Fort Saskatchewan.
• Exploring the possibility of including and/or supporting a non-profit daycare with extended hours.