Espoo and Emy ry will open a new community space for organisations and communities in Olari’s former youth space
In January, the City of Espoo and the Espoo Mental Health Association EMY will open a new free community space for civil society organisations. The goal is to strengthen the sense of community and to promote the operating opportunities of organisations and communities.
The winter garden and the old youth space next to it have long been a topic of discussion for local organisations in Olari. The goal has been to make the empty spaces available for use again.
The wish is now realised, as the old youth space has been renovated, and in January the City of Espoo and Emy ry will open a new community space in which organisations and communities can meet free of charge.
The community space is the first one for the City of Espoo in this form of cooperation. It is a joint project between Espoo and Emy, a space pilot to test a new type of shared use of spaces and the provision of unused city spaces for civil society organisations.
The community space will serve as a meeting place for the organisations and communities of Olari and neighbouring areas and bring the activities and services they offer to residents. Emy will be responsible for operating the space, and as the City of Espoo as the owner of the space will be responsible for its costs.
The purpose is to increase the sense of community
In the Espoo Story, communality has been emphasised as one of the important goals of the council term.
“Community is born from the actions and activity of residents, and we aim to support it as a city,” says Wellbeing Manager Taru Ikäheimonen from the City of Espoo’s team for the promotion of health, wellbeing and inclusion.
With the new community space, Espoo aims to facilitate the operation of organisations and communities in situations where they face difficulties due to, for example, the cuts in government grants.
“It is a task of the municipality to use facilities to support the operating conditions of organisations. There is a great need for facilities in Olari,” says Maria Tiilikkala, who is responsible for Espoo’s cooperation with organisations, from the team for the promotion of well-being, health and inclusion.
According to her, the launch of the Olari community space also corresponds to Espoo’s aim to use facilities sustainably.
In the space pilot, Espoo will obtain information on what is required to run shared facilities. This will be useful if the city wants to open more spaces.
“The city makes decisions based on information, and collecting information on the operation of organisations is currently not systematic. One of the goals of the space pilot is to collect information on the operation and the number of visitors, in which case we will be able to assess the impacts of the operation better than before,” Taru says.
Olari community space open house and planning workshop upcoming
The space pilot will last for one year, and activities in the community space are now under planning. This week, the Olari community space will hold an open house for anyone interested. No registration is required.
Check the information on the open house and join us!
Activities of the community space will also be planned in the workshop on 15 December. See more details and register for the workshop (in Finnish).