Paula Carr
Intercultural Community Development Consultant and Coach

Paula Carr has worked in the community sector and with municipal and provincial organizations, supporting intercultural community and health leadership for over 45 years in British Columbia and Saskatchewan. She has collaboratively led several non-profit charitable organizations and departments, focusing on community development, service provision, issue resolution and system change in multiple sectors and settings.  

For 23 years, Paula was the Executive Director of Collingwood Neighbourhood House which was the subject of the award-winning film “Where Strangers become Neighbours”. Through the work in the Renfrew -Collingwood neighbourhood of Vancouver, she helped to develop a unique collection of practices that has become a recognized approach to intercultural neighbourhood development. Interculturalism means we focus on building bridges and exchanges between diverse people and encourage them to bring their unique gifts and approaches to creating solutions around common interests.  Anchored in citizen activism, local people were supported to work with community organizations, governments, and businesses. They developed new facilities and meeting places, supported new organizations to form, revitalized geographic areas, addressed issues, and created over 200 new integrated services for its diverse population.

The partnership work engaged specific and integrated areas including health, education, recreation, employment, family support, child care, indigenous leadership, arts and culture, immigrant settlement, food security, land use development and community safety. 

Part of Paula’s approach to community development comes from growing up in the small town of Wilcox in Saskatchewan, population 100. In a small-town people are connected and they care about one another. Paula’s work focuses on creating the best of the small town in the large city.

She has delivered training, coaching, mentoring and inspirational presentations in over 50 different learning venues, reaching hundreds of organizations, public bodies, and academic institutions throughout Canada and internationally.

Paula loves to be with family and friends and meet new people. She has traveled extensively around the world, enjoys cooking, eating and entertaining and reading a good book in her hammock on the beach. 

More about Paula Carr.