Community Dialogues On Gambling In Annapolis County

This community project was developed by the five Community Health Boards of the Annapolis Valley in partnership with Annapolis Valley Health and funded by GANS. GRINS collaborated in this project which engaged the municipal governments, community groups and the broader community in dialogue about the impact of gambling harm within the communities of Annapolis County.

VLT Free Business Models (2012)

GRINS received a Wellness Initiative Fund Grant in 2012 from local Community Health Boards to promote VLT-free businesses within Kings County. Promotional materials were developed for the local community and businesses to encourage community support for business models which did not rely on gambling revenues for their operational budgets. A business award was presented to the King’s Arms Pub, in Kentville NS for their commitment to maintaining a VLT free business. We followed up in 2016 with an award to the Oaken Barrel Pub in Kingston, NS after they decided to remove VLTs from their business. An award is scheduled for March 2020 for the Wolfville Legion for the same reason.

Cobequid Youth Action on Gambling (2013)

We assisted the Cobequid Youth Action on Gambling in their video project to highlight youth concerns about gambling. Youth were interviewed in groups, and our chair served as the “talking head” to give background information. The goal was to create an accessible product balancing first voices of youth with accurate information about risks. See https://vimeo.com/67570144

Revenues at Risk (2014)

GRINS received a Wellness Initiative Fund Grant in 2013 from local Community Health Boards to develop a training workshop to assist local businesses in replacing their VLT revenue stream with alternative products and services. We collaborated with the Acadia Entrepreneurship Centre in the development of this workshop which took place in January 2014. Business owners were shown four effective strategies for shifting revenue. The manual and voice-over presentation are available for download on the GRINS web site for other businesses to use.

Theatre piece for Senior’s Organizations (2014)

Members of GRINS were trained by Debora Pollock, Artistic Facilitator with Community Links to deliver a theatrical presentation aimed at seniors to give them insight in how to effectively communicate with peers who may be having issues with gambling. Act 1 ran though a scenario where the communication style was confrontational and ineffective. After a debrief and discussion, ACT 2 showed a more compassionate approach and communication style. This was followed by more discussion. The aim was to transcend the stigma, and the fear of offending friends, to create effective intervention skills among seniors.

Building Community Readiness to Reduce Gambling Harms (2014-2015)

GRINS worked directly with the towns of Wolfville, Kentville, Berwick, the villages of Kingston and Greenwood and Kings County to assess each community’s readiness and capacity to develop actions to decrease gambling harm. “Know the Facts” campaign was initiated to promote awareness.

Engaging Communities to Reduce Gambling Harms (2017-2018)

GRINS developed creative projects to connect with community in a more interactive way. These included videos of rap songs about gambling by “Gertie the Gamboling Goat” and the development of an interactive theatre workshop in collaboration with Two Planks and a Passion Theatre in which community members took on roles in various sectors of the community and observed how the introduction of VLTs into the community had impacts that rippled out through all sectors. We also held a day-long event “Better Together” where we invited organizations dealing with other community issues to share concerns. This was to raise awareness around gambling harms issues and locate it in the wider community as a concern on the same level as other harms that organizations were working to ameliorate.