Free Webinar
12pm-1:30pm ET

This webinar provides an overview of Québec’s approach to regional development from before confederation to the current period. We will focus on the establishment of the National Rural Policy in 2001 and its evolution since that period of time. Topics covered will include the institutional and cultural roots of the Rural Policy, its key features, its impacts and legacy, its transitions to current conditions, and its prospects for the future. The discussion will consider various explanations for the success of the policy and the implications it has for regional policy, development, and programs in general.

On February 23rd, 2015, the RPLC will present:

Bruno Jean, a Canada Research Chair (Tier 1) in Rural Development at L'Université du Québec à Rimouski. He was the first Scientific Director of the inter-university research group at the Centre de Recherche sur le Développement Territorial. His areas of specialization and research include the New Rural Economy, rurality, rural development of marginalized regions, family farming, rural policy, and rural governance. He contributed to the OECD Quebec rural policy review and published a paper in a recent OECD book on rural innovation. See: OECD, Innovation and Modernising the Rural Economy, 2014: http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9789264205390-en

Bill Reimer is a Professor Emeritus at Concordia University in Montréal and Adjunct Professor at Brandon University. He is the Director of the Rural Policy Learning Commons (http://rplc-capr.ca), a 7-year international partnership of more than 90 researchers, policy-makers, practitioners, and organizations interested in rural and northern issues.  From 1997 to 2008 he directed a Canadian national research project on the New Rural Economy which included 13 universities, 35 partners, and 32 rural communities from all parts of Canada (http://nre.concordia.ca). For details of his work go to: http://www.billreimer.net/workshop/
 
Audience: Provincial and Municipal Staff & Elected Officials, Academic Community, Economic Development Practitioners, Community Organizations, and Non-Profit Organisations.

For more information or to register:
woodss at brandonu.ca | 204-571-8521
Join the online Webinar - RSVP by February 20th, 2015

12:00-1:00pm Eastern Time

Judith Marcuse’s webinar will explore the burgeoning connections between art, innovation, and social change by highlighting some of the work being done in communities across Canada and internationally that employ art-making as a central strategy. Her work explores the question of how we can use a cultural lens and arts-infused practices to create more dynamic, healthy and creative cities.

Marcuse will explore what it means to integrate art perspectives and practices into change agendas in order to inform and enrich our approaches to social innovation. She will also highlight her recent work with organizations such as Cirque du Soleil’s NGO, One Drop, and in strategic planning for the City of Vancouver.

Arts-infused facilitation and other arts-based strategies can effectively address the complexity of the many challenges we face in the development of cross-sector collaboration (and in many other forms of change work). Marcuse will share insights about partnerships between arts and non-arts organizations, as well as the role that arts facilitation can take in the creation of inclusive policy and governance models.

And, because we are in the realm of vision and imagination, she will share a few simple methods to help enliven our own work habits and perspectives.

Register here

About Judith Marcuse
Judith Marcuse’s career spans more than 40 years of professional work as a dancer, choreographer, director, producer, teacher, writer, consultant and lecturer in Canada and abroad. She has created over 100 original works for live performance by dance, theatre and opera companies as well as for film and television and has produced seven large-scale, international arts festivals. Her repertory contemporary dance company toured extensively in Canada and abroad for 15 years, while also producing community residencies and youth programs. Among many initiatives her youth-focused, five-year, issue-based ICE, FIRE and EARTH projects involved thousands of youth in workshops, national touring, television production and community collaborations.

Founder and Co-Director of the International Centre of Art for Social Change, she is a Senior Fellow of Ashoka International. Among her many honours, she has received the Lee and Chalmers Canadian choreographic awards and an honorary doctorate from Simon Fraser University. She is an Adjunct Professor and Artist in Residence at SFU and is leading the ASC! Project, a five-year research initiative on art for social change in Canada.

Marcuse has pioneered the application of arts-infused dialogue and other creative approaches for cross-sector collaboration and consults for private and public sector organizations across Canada and abroad.

12pm - 1:30pm Pacific Time

BALLE's search for the best social innovation of our time takes us to the people for whom the mainstream economy has never worked. Low income and communities of color have a rich legacy of advancing economic principles of fairness, sustainability, and democracy. These communities, who have historically been oppressed, have taken resourcefulness and creativity to a new level and will be our guides to a new economy.

This webinar is the first of a monthly series shedding light on What Works. The aim of the series is to give Localist leaders tools and insights to replicate and build upon proven solutions towards an economy with equity at its core. Hear about work being done to eliminate systemic barriers, invest in good jobs, and create a democratic economy where workers have just as many rights as those providing the capital. Learn how you and your organization can create thriving economies that align workers, anchor institutions, and independent business for shared prosperity. Participate in this important discussion about what we can learn from traditionally marginalized communities and why these communities must be removed from the margins for all of us to truly prosper.

SPEAKERS

• Crystal German, Vice President of Economic Inclusion, Cincinnato USA Regional Chamber of Commerce's Minority Business Accelerator
• Adele London, Business Advisor, Good Work Network
• Jay Bad Heart Bull, President/CEO, Native American Community Development Institute (NACDI)

Register now

Cost
BALLE Champion Member - FREE
BALLE Localist Member - $10
General Public - $20

Champion and Localist members please use your member code to recieve your discounted webinar pricing. Please contact Jocelyn Wong at jocelyn at bealocalist.org if you have questions regarding your member code.

BALLE Champion Members Go Deeper
After the webinar, BALLE Champion members will receive access to a 30-minute exclusive call with the presenters to ask more probing questions and get more 1-on-1 time with these leading lights of Localism. Call-in number to be provided upon registration.

Just another reason why it pays to be a BALLE Champion member. Learn more about Champion member benefits here.

Webinar instructions will be sent to you via email upon registration completion.

1:00PM - 1:30PM Eastern

Join us for a 30-minute webinar to learn more about our online application and Community Incentive program. Find out how your charitable organization can earn funds by helping the families you work with get the Canada Learning Bond! This session is open to everyone from non-profit organizations.

Click here to register

Webinar Details:

The webinar will take place online at 1 PM EST on February 26, 2015. To register contact us at info at smartsaver.org. You will receive the webinar link in your confirmation email.

About the Canada Learning Bond

The Canada Learning Bond is a federally-funded education savings grant for children of lower-income families receiving the National Child Benefit Supplement. The Canada Learning Bond offers up to $2,000 in RESP contributions, with no family contribution required, to children born after December 31, 2003. Once an eligible family opens an RESP the Government makes an initial deposit of $500, plus an additional $100 each year until the child reaches the age of 15, up to a maximum of $2,000. To learn more about the Canada Learning Bond visit www.SmartSAVER.org.

About SmartSAVER:

SmartSAVER is a creative marketing initiative involving public, private and community partners that helps lower-income parents become successful savers using Registered Education Savings Plans (RESPs) and the Canada Learning Bond (CLB). 

Join us for this 45-minute introduction (or refresher) on RESPs and the Canada Learning Bond with a focus on how they can benefit lower-income families. This session will provide a brief overview with time for questions and is geared towards those who work directly with lower-income families. Click here to register

Webinar Details:

The webinar will take place online at 1 PM EST on March 13, 2015. To register contact us at info@smartsaver.org. You will receive the webinar link in your confirmation email.

About the Canada Learning Bond

The Canada Learning Bond is a federally-funded education savings grant for children of lower-income families receiving the National Child Benefit Supplement. The Canada Learning Bond offers up to $2,000 in RESP contributions, with no family contribution required, to children born after December 31, 2003. Once an eligible family opens an RESP the Government makes an initial deposit of $500, plus an additional $100 each year until the child reaches the age of 15, up to a maximum of $2,000. To learn more about the Canada Learning Bond visit www.SmartSAVER.org.

About SmartSAVER:

SmartSAVER is a creative marketing initiative involving public, private and community partners that helps lower-income parents become successful savers using Registered Education Savings Plans (RESPs) and the Canada Learning Bond (CLB). 

Gregory Heming, Municipal Councillor, District 5, Annapolis County, NS. will be delivering a talk and hosting a discussion on alternative options for rural economies. Mr. Heming will talk about the reality of creating a new economic narrative, one that is happening in many communities throughout the Maritimes and across Canada.

"...business-as-usual is not quite good enough. [Local economies] have begun to embrace not only ecological economics but are also exploring the long-term effect of what some economists are calling 'restorative economies'; essentially restoring land and people to a new beginning and a more equal and prosperous longer-term. future." 
           - Gregory Heming in Rural Delivery Magazine, 2015

Gregory Heming

Gregory is a municipal councillor in Annapolis County, NS, and chair of the County’s Economic Development Committee. Holding a PhD in Ecology with post graduate studies in religion and philosophy, he has spoken, written and published extensively on economics, environment, and public policy.  Gregory is a member of the Club of Rome. He brings a strong voice for a new economic model based on steady-state economics and a more enlightened approach to revitalizing rural Canada.

Find out more >>