Initiatives must do one or more of the following:
Benefit the Ottawa community, improve the quality of life for its residents, and help to foster a strong, positive and caring community;
Use a community development approach to build on the assets and strengths of the community in order to respond to evolving issues and emerging priorities;
Address the root causes of identified local issues and work on long-term solutions in an effort to achieve systemic change;
Cultivate collective action within the community (i.e. through a shared vision for change, coordinated activities, joint data collection and results measurement, the coordination of participating organizations, etc.);