Cara Pryor is the Head of Community, Program, and Service Development at the North Vancouver City Library. Her two favourite things are talking with people about what matters most, and helping to build a strategy to achieve it. Cara seeks to create connection, meaning, and purpose in her work – with staff, with colleagues, and with community.
In 2013 Cara’s library made a commitment to connecting more deeply with their community. “We wanted to know that we were doing work that really mattered, but we didn’t know how to move beyond our usual strategies for engagement. We needed help and guidance. When we encountered the work of the Harwood Institute, we immediately recognized its authenticity, its groundedness, and its human-centred approach. The Harwood method offers both a guiding philosophy, and a very concrete set of tools. It emphasizes the development of deep community knowledge, consistent scrutiny of organizational motivations and practices, and realistic, incremental change. The work that began here at North Vancouver City Library has evolved into a multi-city, multi-year project, involving numerous community-serving organizations. The Harwood process has pushed us to think beyond programs and has created profound changes in the way we approach our work in community.”