The Transition Town Model – Organic Groups

AVTTS is formed according to the Transition Town Handbook.

In the original Transition Town of Totnes, UK, they took the approach of divide and conquer. The biggest “innovation” is that the Working Groups, or Committees to use a more familiar term, are dynamic.

Working groups are free to come and go. A group of people takes a working group/subject area that they want to focus on and goes for it. That working group brings in people and even other community groups in that subject to further the goals of the working group.

In time, groups may decide to become Societies of their own, independent of AVTTS, especially if there are significant financial or contractual needs.

The Alberni Valley Food Security Society was formed in 2022 from the Food Group of AVTTS.

The AVTTS Steering group is simply the place where everyone can come together as a whole… officially, one rep from each working group creates the Steering Committee but in practice we have had open meetings where all members of AVTTS and the public can have a say. Group leaders report to the whole.

AVTTS holds any funds generated by groups in a common bank account that is tracked to ensure groups have access to monies they’ve generated.

Members of the Steering Committee are also often members of the Board of Directors for the purposes of the BC Societies Act but are not required to be.