Jump into the PIE

By Jim Ricks
Photo by Ava Schriver Dunn

Creating social capital is a fancy way of saying if you get people together and they begin to work together on projects, two things happen: They get better at working together and secondly, they form relationships that lead to further work. Eventually there is an increased capacity to be productive and that's called "social capital."

This is what the PIE Project sought to create at its large gathering on March 14th in the community hall at Oak Bay United Church. After about 8 months of planning, a core of 14 volunteers and about 35 participants from all around the community met, exchanged interests, and took the beginning steps toward projects. In the end six groups formed around project creation. Some projects were very specific about where they would begin (e.g. research the topic area) and others were more open-ended (e.g., meet again to share our respective interests.)

Facilitator Jim Ricks and Cheryl Thomas guided the groups through some exercises and steps, but most of the work was done by the participants. It will be left to them to pursue the work they generate, but there will be support from the PIE Team, who will meet with the people who convene each team to check in with how they are doing. There will be a follow up gathering later in the year, at which new people can also come into the mix.

Those interested in the PIE Project can find out more on or by contacting victoriapieproject@gmail.com.