Communities of practice are all around us as we engage in our daily lives at home, work, school, and in our hobbies. Most of us belong to several communities of practice that both occur simultaneously and change throughout our lives. Wenger (2006) describes communities of practice as groups of people engaging in a process of collective learning who share a concern or passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly. While there are many different forms a community of practice can take, they all have a basic structure that allow us to distinguish a community of practice from other groups and communities. In researching the essential characteristics that help us identify a community of practice, I found the concept to be more clearly represented in Wenger’s book, “Cultivating Communities of Practice: A guide to managing knowledge” (2002).
According to Wenger (2002), the structural characteristics of a community of a practice consist of:
1) The domain – is the area of knowledge that interests the community. It’s what brings people together creating a common ground where they are inspired to participate. It guides their learning and gives meaning to their actions.
2) The community – the people who care enough to take the time to pursue their interest in the domain. They engage in joint activities and discussions, form relationships built on mutual respect and trust enabling them to help one another and learn from each other.
3) The practice – a shared repertoire of resources such as knowledge, experiences, ideas, tools, stories, ways of addressing recurring problems, etc. the community develops, shares, and maintains to further their goals related to their domain.
Now that we are able to identify what a community of practice should look like I would like to take this opportunity to share an inspiring example of a local community of practice that evolved over the last few years at the North End Community Health Centre in Halifax. What started as an idea to promote healthy food choices and boost a community’s pride by starting a community vegetable and herb garden has resulted in a life-changing experience for more than 50 youth and 14 families participating in the North End Community Garden project. Not only did this community work together to grow nutritious foods for their families and community, their commitment and motivation to build a better future for themselves and make a difference in their community, has led to them starting a registered charity and business - “Hope Blooms” salad dressings. The youth, aged 8-12, grow and harvest the herbs, measure the ingredients for the dressings, then label the bottles and pack them. The older kids work as food production supervisors and do the quality control. These chef-inspired salad dressings with flavours like basil pesto and maple sage balsamic are sold at the local farmers market. The proceeds from the sales of the salad dressings go back into the cost of sustaining the garden and making the herb dressings as well as a scholarship fund for inner-city youth involved in the project. With over 2000 bottles of dressing sold already, they have been able to add a grassroots philanthropy component to their program, where a dollar from every bottle will go to a community initiative or project the youth want to contribute to such as a school lunch program.
The learning that is taking place within this community of practice is shaping the future of all of its members. The youth are learning much more than basic life and business skills; they are developing a sense of identity, belonging, empowerment, and self-worth fueling both their belief and desire that they can achieve their dreams. They now aspire to become doctors, engineers, business owners, etc. that may have seen out of reach before becoming a member of the North End Community Garden project. This project fits well with Wenger’s (1999) statement, “as a locus of engagement in action, interpersonal relations, shared knowledge, and negotiation of enterprises, such communities hold the key to real transformation – the kind that has real effects on people’s lives”(p. 85).
Wenger (2002) explains that given the voluntary nature of communities of practice their success relies on their ability to generate enough excitement, relevance, and value to attract and engage members. Therefore, the North End Community Garden Project/”Hope Blooms” salad dressing business as a community of practice will continue to be a success as they move beyond their boundaries forming partnerships with community organizations and agencies to secure funding for the development of a greenhouse for long-term sustainment of their garden and business. This will enable them to grow their vegetables and herbs and produce their Hope Blooms salad dressings all year long. As their project and business grows, more members will be able to join this community of practice, more revenue will be generated to continue to support their scholarship fund and philanthropy projects, while expanding their role to provide education workshops to teach locals how to grow their own vegetables and herbs.
The North End Community Garden Project that blossomed into the charity and business venture “Hope Blooms” salad dressings exemplifies all of the characteristics, theories, and elements of communities of practice we are learning about from Wenger’s work. When you go to the farmer’s market be sure to look for the table with young and energetic entrepreneurs selling their “Hope Blooms” salad dressings. My personal favorite is basil pesto…delicious!
Spurr, B. (2011, November 19). Salad dressings use herbs grown by kids in north-end Halifax Park. The Chronicle Herald. Retrieved from: http://thechronicleherald.ca/artslife/34598-hope-blooms-inner-city-youth-business
Davis, Charlene. (2010, November, 5). Kids Shake it Up in Halifax’s North End. The Dominion.
Retrieved from: http://www.dominionpaper.ca/articles/3714
Wenger, E. (1999). Community of practices: Learning, meaning, and identity. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
Wenger, E. (1999). Community of practices: Learning, meaning, and identity. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
Wenger, E., McDermott, R.A, & Snyder, W. (2002). Cultivating Communities of Practice: a guide to managing knowledge. Retrieved from: http://books.google.ca/books?id=m1xZuNq9RygC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false
Wenger, E. (2006). Communities of Practice: A brief introduction. Retrieved from: http://www.ewenger.com/theory/
