“I started out by wanting to do something for my family, but before I knew it, I was organizing events for the whole community,” says Žaneta Strohová of the Žížala na Terase (“Earthworm Terrace”) Association in the city of Ústí nad Labem in North Bohemia.
Many residents who take an active part in community life have a similar story. Often, they start with a small idea, such as installing a new bench for the neighborhood, but gradually they grow into holding events or activities for the entire community. But they need a lot of information and practical skills to make it happen: how to involve other people, where to find support in the local community, and how to lead a team effectively. This is exactly where Via Foundation’s Community Academy comes in: it’s a learning program that helps active residents turn into agents of change.
The spectrum of people who take part in the academy is very diverse. “This year, for example, the participants include a staff member from the community centre at the municipal library in Pilsen, a landscape architect who is trying to engage residents in improving the area around Ivančice near Brno , and a person engaged with the community centre at the hospice in Čerčany,” says Kateřina Mlynářová, program manager at Via Foundation. The support that participants give to one another is an important part of the program, too: “The Community Academy showed me that I am not the only one trying to do things like this,” says Žaneta Strohová of Ústí nad Labem.
Excuse me, I've never interviewed someone while they were baking. So let me start by asking, what are you baking?
I’m baking little pizzas shaped like snails for children’ at an orphanage in Ústí nad Labem. It’ll be a snack for the community afternoon event we are organizing for them today in our Earthworm Terrace community garden. I’m used to multi-tasking, so feel free to ask questions, I can do both at once:).
Do you remember the first time you said you wanted to change something in Ústí nad Labem?
Even once I already was changing something in Ústí, I don’t think I knew I was doing it. At the beginning, I did it really for myself and my family. I have three kids, including a homeschooler, and I wanted to give them a chance to socialize with other kids. At the time, I didn’t have a group of like-minded people around me. Someone recommended the Earthworm Terrace community garden to me as a nice place to spend time. I was also leading a children’s club at a local charity in those days, and thought the garden would be a great place to hold some of the club’s activities.
So the Earthworm Terrace community garden already existed?
Yes, but the garden was pretty decimated by covid at the time. People weren’t interacting there much and there were hardly any public events. The first year I was just an ordinary member, but then I wanted to be a bit more active. I started to organize different activities for children and small public events. It wasn’t until the year before last that I started running the community garden.
Where made you want to start building community?
I come from a big family – I have seven siblings. I guess that gave me the need to be more active in various areas and not be afraid to try something new sometimes. I saw an opportunity to try something new here in the community garden. That it’s something I can do as a resident and I don’t need much from external sources. And when people come to the garden and enjoy it – that’s the biggest reward.
How did you get involved in Via's Community Academy?
Last year was unbelievable. All of a sudden, so many opportunities appeared, as if someone delivered them on a silver platter. I thought: Is this still my life? And then the opportunity to apply to Via’s Academy came up and I couldn’t say no.
What opportunities do you have in mind?
I met Miša Valášková, who founded the Ústí adventurers, an informal network that brings together local associations and active residents across our city. During 2024, I joined the main implementation team and started to participate in activities that I would not have gotten into otherwise. I also started working with the Volunteer Centre in Ústí, which sent me abroad for three weeks last year as part of Erasmus Plus. And as these opportunities came along, they naturally kicked me into high gear and gave me the motivation to do something more in my city.
And that made you want to learn more about community building?
Yes. Even though I’m now the chairwoman of the Earthworm Terrace community garden, I don’t know everything by any means and I thought it would be useful to learn something new about community building. But in the whirlwind of my life, there is no chance to sit down and do something on my own. The Community Academy seemed like a great opportunity for me to learn something new through regular organized events.
When you applied to the Community Academy, you had already had one experience with Via Foundation under your belt...
Yes, I had received a grant from Via Foundation for the garden before I was chair. But more importantly, I went to a Via Foundation grantee meeting. I was blown away! It was amazing to meet people from different parts of the country who are doing something completely different, yet addressing so many similar issues. I came away with two pages of inspiration and ideas, just from listening to other people share about how their associations work. It was this meeting that convinced me the most to apply for Via’s Academy.
“We love seeing participants of the Community Academy help each other. When severe flooding hit Moravia, they organized very effective help without any input from us.”
Kateřina Mlynářová, Via Foundation
Did the Community Academy meet your expectations?
Absolutely. It’s done a lot for my civic confidence. If I see something and I don’t like it, I can go and change it. But at the same time, I’ve learned that going and doing it may not always be in my power alone. Thanks to Via’s Community Academy and the people involved in it, I started to become more aware that I can also influence other people, infect them with my enthusiasm – that they already know me because of what I’ve done in the community and that they trust me.
Does that mean you are taking on less?
I’m still struggling with that a bit. I recently stumbled upon a pile of trash in a forest near where I live. I wanted to take a bag and pick up the trash myself. But then I thought, what better opportunity to try and see if anyone in the neighborhood would like to join me? So I came back from the walk, made a flyer, put it up on social media within half an hour and gave a deadline for next week. If no one comes, it’s okay because I was going to pick up the trash anyway, but maybe I can motivate someone. In short, I’m starting to think a little differently.
What are you personally most grateful to the Community Academy for?
It’s that before I took part in the Academy, for a long time I kept running into the same problem and that was people, people, people. I remember saying gloomily at the first Academy meeting that I felt alone on many things. And today I don’t have that feeling anymore. Suddenly I can see details that I missed before: that someone washes the dishes after an event, takes out the trash, that a colleague prints out flyers and places them on the garden fence, and so on. That’s terrific. Via’s Community Academy showed me that I’m not alone.
And what changed in your community thanks to the Academy?
I don’t have to go far to find an example – today’s activity is a great illustration. The project that I got a grant from the Academy is a series of learning events for children from an orphanage. Every time we meet at the Earthworm Terrace garden, I or an expert introduces them to a topic related to nature in the urban environment and nature in our garden. For this afternoon, I have invited an ornithologist who will take a walk with the children, explaining what birds they may see or hear in their neighborhood. We bought birdhouses which we will install together. These events are also open to the public, and that’s because I want to connect people. I also want to show the members of the garden that children from an orphanage, even though they come from a different environment, are still children.
Is community life different in Ústí?
I don’t think so – it’s the same everywhere. But I have to admit that I only began to feel that way in the last year. I’m not originally from Ústí. I come from the Liberec region and when I first came to Ústí I was a bit depressed. Although the two regions are adjacent, I felt that in the Liberec region many things happen of their own accord. But it was the civic activity that helped me learn how to live in Ústí. It made me start to see the good things that are taking place here. It’s not just about what happens in our garden. We care about what’s beyond the garden fence.
What good things do you see happening in Ústí?
Collaboration with other associations in Ústí nad Labem helped me a lot. I didn’t know there were so many other groups and organizations. I started to draw attention to their work on our profile on social networks. I’m trying to connect people and institutions. By communicating with a wide range of associations and initiatives in Ústí nad Labem, I got the amazing feeling that there are a lot of people who love this city and do a lot for it.
Via’s Community Academy is part of the PROTEUS project, which is co-financed by the European Union through the CERV programme. The program contents are the sole responsibility of Via Foundation and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union.
