All Winnipeggers are invited to fill out the new Urban Exchange survey! Poverty: Insight & Ideas is the first in a series of short surveys about poverty. Over the next four weeks, you’ll have an opportunity to share your ideas about what poverty means and how serious it is your city and your community.

Why are we focusing on poverty? A Statistics Canada report in 2006, found that 136 000 people in Winnipeg are living in poverty, including more than 30 000 children. Urban Exchange participants – there are more than 4500 of them so far – have consistently said that poverty is one of their top concerns.

Poverty can mean different things to different people. In order to effectively address poverty, we need to talk about it. This short survey is the beginning of a conversation – in time, we’ll also be asking for ideas about solutions.

To participate in this conversation:

• Watch for the survey in your Winnipeg Free Press newspaper on April 7
• Click here to fill out the survey online
• Give us a call at 477-5360 and we’ll mail the survey to you

Thanks for taking the time to participate in Urban Exchange!

We know that families come in many shapes and sizes – for the sake of consistency, please consider this family of four to be two adults and two school-aged children.

Most of the students came to Canada within the last couple of years. All of them are working on their English language skills so they can join the workforce and do the things that they’ve trained for in their home countries.

We’ll kick things off with Elham, who could do without the mosquitos and the cold winters, but loves Winnipeg anyway:

Winnipeg is a gorgeous city in many ways except for two things. The first problem for me is the mosquitoes in the summer season and the second one is the cold temperature in the winter season (-45 degrees with the wind-chill). But as I said, there are many nice things in Winnipeg. For example, I have noticed that Winnipeg people are very friendly and helpful; also I feel this place is very safe and quiet. In addition to that, I have found there are more opportunities in education and work; even though I have some language difficulty (English). Another good thing in Winnipeg is the nature. It is so beautiful (the sky, rivers, parks….etc). In my opinion not only these things make Winnipeg a beautiful city but also there are more.

Agata just arrived, and has already grown to appreciate Winnipeg’s art galleries, among other things:

I have been in Winnipeg only for five months. I have not visited all the places in this city, I know downtown thoroughly and more or less the area where I live nowadays, that is St. Boniface. In my life, I always pay attention to the nature and the art. I am very glad, that in Winnipeg there are many parks and squares with seasonal flowers. It is very amazing to me that I have almost every day a possibility to watch some wild animals, like squirrels, wild geese and ducks, and most of all deer. I was very surprised when I first saw some deer on my friends’ yard, a place in the city not in the forest. The second important thing I love about Winnipeg is that there are many small art galleries in this city, especially Downtown. This fact enables me to meet the art every time I walk through Winnipeg’s streets. Even though I have no time to come in, I have a possibility to look at some pictures through a window.

It makes me happy that I can find in Winnipeg the places where I like to spend my spare time.

Jiao has been here a while and likes the fact that Canadians have a lot of support through government programs when we need them:

I have lived in Winnipeg since ten years ago. I love Winnipeg, because this place is nice and clean. Specially, the people who live in Winnipeg are the kindest in the world. The most I like is the benefits in terms of education, health and employment. For example: from nursery school to high school, we don’t need to pay any tuition. The people who are pregnant will have maternity leave from work for one year to take care of their baby, and the people who lose their job, they also get unemployment benefit. The people who retire will get pension from the government and so on … Winnipeg is a nice place to live in!

Miae has this to say:

If somebody asks me what I love about Winnipeg, I will answer like this:
First of all, if I am willing to learn English, to live here, to open a business, and to get a job, I believe that Manitoba will support me through many ways. I will also get many opportunities from the backing of Manitoba.

Second, I like the sky and the city of Winnipeg because the sky is like emerald that seems to fall down to me.

In addition, the city is always quiet and that enables our children to keep studying. These are the reasons why I love Winnipeg.

Finally, here’s what Svetlana loves about Winnipeg:

I like Winnipeg. My family came in Canada three years ago. I was surprised because people were friendly, and spoke slowly and nicely. When I came to Winnipeg, I didn’t feel comfortable because I didn’t speak or understood English, but everyone helped me. I was very grateful about it. I would like to tell some words about Winnipeg. I know the city has more spectacular and attractive places such as, The Forks, Assiniboine Park, Kildonan Park, a museum and other interesting buildings. Winnipeg has 4 seasons. Each season has some beautiful characteristics, colors and magnificent smell. I enjoy all the seasons because Winnipeg changes every three or four months. In my opinion, Winnipeg will develop, and in the future will have more interesting places for tourists. I like Winnipeg because I like changes.

And here’s a bonus submission! Red River College EAL instructor Rita Prokopetz has been participating in Urban Exchange since it started – here’s a list of the things she loves about Winnipeg:

Assiniboine Park, Art Walk, Ambassador Program and the Aboriginal Centre
Business Service Centre, Business network and Blue Bombers
Chinatown, Central Park, Chamber of Commerce, Centennial Concert Hall, Convention Centre, CanWest Global Park and Clean Team Project
Downtown Biz, Dalnavert Museum
Esplanade Riel and Exchange District BIZ
Fort Whyte, Forks, Fringe and Folklorama
Grain Exchange and Goldeyes
Human Rights Museum and Hydro (green building – work in progress!)
International Centre, In For Lunch, Imax
JAR International Airport, Jazz Winnipeg and Johnston Terminal
Key from Change for the Better
Legislative Building, Little Italy, Lower Fort Garry and Little Mountain Bluefest Event
Millennium Library, Mint, Market Square, MTC, Medical Laboratory, Museum and MTS Centre
North Main and NSI Film Festival
Oak Hammock Marsh and Outreach Patrol
Planetarium and Prairie Theatre Exchange
Quotidian events, projects and plans
Red River College, Red River Corridor, RWB, River Spirit and Rh Institute and Dr. Bowman
Shuttle Service, Safe Walk, Symphony and Gallery and Winnipeg Opera
Taste of Manitoba, Technical College and Thunderbird House
United Way, University of Winnipeg, University of Manitoba and Upper Fort Garry
Via Rail and Virtuosi Concerts
Walking Tours, Western Canada Aviation Museum, Women Enterprise Centre, Winnipeg Adult Education Centre, and Winnipeg Art
Explore Manitoba Centre
YMCA – YWCA and Young Sculptors at Work
Zoo and zesty ethnic restaurants

Thanks again to everyone who has written in to tell us what they love about Winnipeg! It’s been a fun and interesting conversation.

Thanks for dropping by! Let’s get right to the big question:

**This survey is now closed**

We need your opinion on a few things, and if you want to weigh in right now, please feel free to get started by clicking here.

If you’re not sure if you have something to say, consider these questions . . .

• If you had $1000 to donate, would you spend it on reducing poverty or decreasing crime? What about increasing neighbourhood safety? Or access to affordable housing? What about youth gang activity?

• Is it better to do something about the immediate impacts of these issues or should we try to prevent them from happening in the first place?

• How do people treat you when you’re out and about in Winnipeg? Are they polite? Do they respect you? Do you feel safe?

• How should we treat each other in Winnipeg?

Our values – the ideas and beliefs we care about most deeply – drive our behaviour. We make decisions based on the values that are most important to us – ultimately shaping the city we live in.

What’s important to you? What kind of city do you want Winnipeg to be?

Please let us know by filling out the latest Urban Exchange survey.

Urban Exchange is a United Way of Winnipeg Advisory Panel made up of hundreds of Winnipeggers from all walks of life who are interested in shaping the future of our city by talking about what’s important to them.

We’d love for you to join the panel – if you’d rather just fill out this one survey, that’s okay, too.

What will we do with your information?

United Way uses the summarized results to:

• Understand the vision, concerns, priorities and values of Winnipeggers
• Help guide and affirm United Way’s decisions about priorities and areas of importance
• Identify new areas and challenges on which to focus

United Way will share the summarized results with you and other participants.

We will also share the summarized information with decision-makers, planners and service providers in government, business, and voluntary organizations so it can inform their decisions.

A few words about privacy . . .

No information will be shared that could identify individuals or small groups of individuals. None of the individual information you provide will be shared with anyone for any other purpose than that of Urban Exchange. And your information will not be used to solicit donations. (For our complete privacy policy, please click here.)

For more information about this survey, or about Urban Exchange in general, please give us a call at 477-5360 or email us at Urban.Exchange[at]UnitedWayWinnipeg.mb.ca.

To begin filling out the survey, please click here to get started.

The response has been very positive. While fictional character Michael Scott from NBC’s The Office may not have enjoyed his trip to Winnipeg (in the episode that ran on 11/14/2008), he didn’t get out to see much of our city.

The next time Michael Scott comes to Winnipeg, he should get a MyCityMySay.ca reader to pick him up at the airport. These next few people obviously know where to look for all the great things we love.

Pam Tonsaker loves Winnipeg because of:

. . . our tree canopy, our post-secondary institutions, our Legislative Building, our Golden Boy glistening and shining brightly day or night, our Open Doors event in May, our ability to get around Winnipeg quickly regardless of where you start, our winters, our blue skies, our ethnic diversity, our Canadian geese, our BDI, our love of curling, our Bombers, our Moose, our Goldeyes, our volunteer spirit, our desire for change, our new airport being developed, our two main rivers – the Red and the Assiniboine, our Forks, our Via train station, our grain farms close to the city centre, our summer thunderstorms, our grain commission, our small towns from which to draw for numerous events and festivities to keep us entertained, our Debbie at the zoo, our grass lands in St. James, our bridge in St. Boniface, our many shopping centres to met and greet friends, our Exchange district and our fabulous architecture, our yummy restaurants, our mosquitoes ( only when they are gone – so love our seasonal changes ), our creativity coming in all types and venues, our world class Human Rights museum to be built here, our MTS Centre, our caring and compassionate ways to help others, and lastly our friends, family and the citizens who call this home and wouldn’t be anywhere else. My Winnipeg, my home!!

Jason is a bit of a sports fan:

I love Winnipeg because of the extremely friendly people in this city. We are very generous and very much caring. I also love how our city supports all types of cultures and everybody loves all the different events. I also love the Blue Bombers, Moose and the Goldeyes.

Gilbert Laberge is a proud member of Manitoba’s francophone community and lists the following things as highlights:

• The pathways and close proximity to Bird’s Hill, Saint-Malo, Assiniboine & Saint-Vital Parks, to name some of the largest.
• The ability to live as a bilingual person without burden.
• The fresh air we breathe in the heart of the continent.
• The lesser intensity of rainfalls around the Forks area.
• The freshness and aromas of the Fall season.
• The tolerance of the multicultural for the French culture.
• A peaceful electoral process.
• The goal of achieving the righting of the right of the poor to a decent life we all deserve.

Jane Brueton likes the size of Winnipeg and the fact that friendly faces are everywhere:

I love the fact that it only takes twenty minutes from my home to downtown; that I can explore every section and part of the city and not get lost and even if I do there will be a friendly face to help me find my way home; that Winnipeggers take pride in their city and their surroundings; that we have so many parks, recreation areas and green spaces within the city limits; that when attending concerts at the MTS Center you are likely to meet someone you know and stop and chat; that although the geese herald winter in the fall there is no sound that is more lovely at dusk and no sight as magical as thousands of birds setting down for night, except perhaps the RWB company in performance!

I love that I live in a multi-cultural city and bilingual city where there is always something interesting and fun to do. I choose to move here, not once but twice and I absolutely love living in Winnipeg. The cost of living, access to the arts and the personality of its citizens are the true gems of Winnipeg, my home.

Finally, Noelle Depape sent in this list:

• Guerrilla Art
• Thanh Huong Restaurant on Sargent – # 6 Beef Satay Noodle Soup
• Wolseley mornings at Tall Grass Bakery and Prairie Sky Books
• A microcosm of the world at Central Park
• The polar bears hanging out at the Leg
• The river skating rink

Thanks again to everyone who’s sent something in. We still have some t-shirts left so if you want to tell us what you love about Winnipeg, please email a photo, video or paragraph to urban.exchange@unitedwaywinnipeg.mb.ca.

We’d love to hear from you!

It’s been a lot of fun to read through all of your submissions. As promised, we’re sending t-shirts out to anyone who sends us something (while they last) and we’re posting some of your comments on MyCityMySay.ca. The first batch went up last week – you can read those by clicking here.

Here’s the second batch:

Kelli Adams echoes what many people have told us by highlighting our diversity:

“What I love about Winnipeg is the diverse art, culture and communities we have here. We have a mosaic of people that add depth and beauty to our many communities which can be seen at our many restaurants, public art pieces and murals, community gardens, parks and greenspaces, playgrounds, marketplaces, art galleries and museums, community centres, theatres, grassroot organizations . . . just take a walk, bike ride, bus ride or car ride around our city to see what is offered.”

Tammy Gagne writes:

“I love that you can do almost anything in Winnipeg. Winter, Summer, Spring and Fall, there is always something that you can do. You have to love the nature we have just 1/2 hour out of the city at our wonderful Birds Hill Park and all of our lovely parks in the City as well.”

Cliff Reid says we have it all:

“I love Winnipeg because . . . of the warmth of my fellow citizens. Winnipeg’s great strengths are its central location in Canada and the continent, its history as well as its youthful exuburance, its wonderfully broad and growing diversity of peoples and cultures, as well as its four distinct and glorious seasons. We have it all, and are working hard at fixing what needs fixing and expanding what is already good.”

Wanda Yamamoto says

“I love the size. We’re not too big. We can get around quickly. We have all the events a “BIG” city has, football, hockey, baseball, soccer etc. – something for all of the sports fans. We have excellent cultural events and big name concerts – the Winnipeg Symphony, theatre, etc. for the “cultured folks”. Something for everyone. BIG support from the large corporations who support Winnipegers who cannot afford events by donating tickets to various events.

We have diversity. We can travel the world via Folklorama. We can taste the world’s cuisines through the variety of restaurants in Winnipeg.

We may be a cold city (temperature-wise) but Winnipeggers have BIG warm hearts.”

Thanks to Kelli, Tammy, Cliff and Wanda for telling us what they love about Winnipeg. Your T-shirts are in the mail!

If you want to participate, please send us a photo, video or paragraph that tells us what you love about Winnipeg.

While supplies last, we’ll be sending T-shirts and carabiners to everyone who emails us with a response.

To send us something, please email it to Urban.Exchange@UnitedWayWinnipeg.mb.ca.

Stay tuned for the next batch of great responses!

The response has been overwhelming. Thanks to everyone who’s already sent us an email.
Starting today, we’ll be posting samples of what people are saying. Enjoy the first batch – and please keep the emails coming, because we’d love to hear what you love about Winnipeg!

From Rhonda Wiebe:

You know what I love about Winnipeg? I love that you can squeeze in a concert at the MTS Centre and watch geese landing in an open field in the same city. I love that you can eat perogies and Thai food in the same part of town, and a ballgame and an open-air salsa night are within hoofing distance. I love that people push each other’s cars out of snowbanks in winter and mow each other’s lawns in summer. I love mural walls and graffiti that has turned into an art form. I love it that Winnipegers can celebrate the Solstice Circle, the St. Boniface ruins, Eid at a mosque and all that they represent – and can do it without feeling conflicted. I love the bells of Westminster Church and the walking loop around Wellington Crescent and breakfasts at The Nook. I love Winnipeg.

Louisa Ryz writes about our sunsets, and sends in a great picture:

I love the sunsets in Winnipeg. The picture I am sending you is very inspirational and calming. It gives a sense of our unity and at the same time excitement.

I love how the many cultures of Winnipeg come together. I love living in Saint-Boniface and all the historic sites and I love most of all the feeling of sharing in something important and beautiful.

Nancy Ito loves:

The People – Their warmth, their compassion, their stubborn nature and their endless capacity to help others.
The Weather – Where else on the planet can you get as much variability in weather as you can get here in Winnipeg? I may not like the weather on a particular day but I always know that a day more to my liking is just around the corner. And we have some of the most dramatic changes in season here. One day it’s freezing cold and snowing and just a few short days later the grass is peeking out and the warm blue sky is calling us out of our fleece.
The Life – Whatever life you want you can find it in Winnipeg. You want excitement – we’ve got it. You want a safe place to raise your kids – we’ve got it. You want a quiet place to think – we’ve got it.
And just for something extra – one thing I DON’T like about Winnipeg is our tendency to put ourselves down. We always think someone or somewhere else is better than here. What could be better than here?

Finally, Julie Dominique writes:

I know it has been said many times before, but I truly love the diversity of the people of Winnipeg.
Color, creed, religion, size, shape, and everything in between, and for the most part all live side by side harmoniously.
Our city is a very friendly bunch, strangers striking up conversations and willing to offer a helping hand when needed. I think Winnipeggers are a unique bunch, and as people we do offer things you do not see in other cities.

Thanks again to everyone who’s sent us an email. We’ll be posting more of your submissions on this site very soon.

If you want to participate, please send us a paragraph or two describing your favourite thing about Winnipeg. Photos and videos are also welcome!

For a limited time, anyone who sends us something will be eligible to receive an Urban Exchange t-shirt or a MyCityMySay carabiner. (Note: there are limited sizes and/or quantities of both, so please respond soon!)

To send us something, please email it to Urban.Exchange@UnitedWayWinnipeg.mb.ca.

Please send us a paragraph or two describing your favourite thing about Winnipeg. If you’d prefer to submit a photo or even a video that demonstrates what you love about our city, that would be great, too.

We’ll post some of your submissions on this site. For a limited time, anyone who sends us something will be eligible to receive an Urban Exchange t-shirt or a MyCityMySay carabiner. (Note: there are limited sizes and/or quantities of both, so please respond soon!)

To send us something, please email it to Urban.Exchange@UnitedWayWinnipeg.mb.ca. (Please keep in mind that we can’t post anything that’s copyrighted.)

Oct. 9/08 – Here’s an idea to get you thinking from Bill Peters:

I am certain many people say this, but what I love about Winnipeg is the change of seasons, which are all distinct and beautiful in their own way:

• Spring: Winnipeg always comes to life after the first rain.  Renews the spirit . . .
• Summer: Warm and dry, with summer storms.  Ahhh . . . the smell of fresh cut grass . . .
• Fall: Beautiful colors, crisp air, anticipation of hockey season!
• Winter: You have to admire people who live here. My best childhood memories are all in Winter. It’s Ultimate Survival to live through the -40C days, and we celebrated by creating this video of a cup of steaming coffee crystallizing on a particularly cold day.

We’d love to hear what you think. To share your opinions, please click here to get started.