This is an archived article and contains information that has not been updated or reviewed since it was originally published. For more information regarding the content in this article, please contact us.
Bringing people together is a huge part of what we do at Ontario SEO. We put local businesses at the forefront of the web to help them build relationships with relevant groups in our communities. When the opportunity arose to impact local relationships in Old East Village, we couldn’t pass up the chance to unite locals in a creative way.
In partnership with the Old East Village Community Association and the London InterCommunity Health Centre, we brainstormed a plan to nurture the relationships that were already being built by locals in Old East Village. We realized that connections were being made by individuals looking for a niche service, skill or product via many social channels, recognizing that this means of communication is often limiting.
The need to develop a user-friendly, accessible system that anyone could use to search or promote unique skills or service offerings became our joint goal to unite London’s Old East Villagers. And with that, the Old East Village Community Exchange was born.
The goals of the project were to increase resources available in Old East Village, nurture relationship building and contribute to local economic development. With these objectives in mind, we got to work and developed a web-based tool in partnership with Block Connectors to make it happen. Block Connectors are local representatives that help facilitate connections between the Old East locals and the web-based tool, assisting them in finding and promoting listings for niche skills and services.
On the Skills & Services page of the website, users can navigate through the many listings that their local neighbours are offering, and services that neighbours are looking for. The tool makes it easy to find details on a specific service, the person offering the service, and a means to communicate with the neighbour to get started. Everything from yoga classes to mowing lawns is available to Old East locals. An easy way to find precise services that may not be available through other avenues is now available at the click of a button.
Through our conjoint efforts with our valued partners, we were awarded the Tech Alliance Techcellence Award for Community Engagement on Thursday, April 12th for our work on the Old East Village Community Exchange project.
We are proud to be involved in an initiative that provides information and resources to Old East Village, and look forward to continuing this momentum via our digital expertise.
This project was made possible through the generous support of our sponsors: 
Learn how we can help you grow your local business – call us today.
