1:30 PM - 3:00 PM Eastern Time

The Mobilizing Local Capacity to End Youth Homelessness Program (MLC) is a national five-year pilot project that supports small and medium-sized communities across Canada to develop plans to prevent, reduce and end youth homelessness. The MLC draws on local resources, energies and capacity to raise awareness of the issues surrounding youth homelessness, and facilitates linkages to foster effective networks and collective action to address the housing and social support needs of youth.  

Kingston, ON and Kamloops, BC were the first two communities selected to participate in the MLC program, led respectively by the United Way of Kingston, Frontenac, Lennox and Addington and the City of Kamloops. We will be joined by them both in discussion on the multi-year community-wide processes they underwent that involved solid research, direct involvement of youth and broad community consultations as they bring their community plans to action.

The inaugural community action plans to prevent, reduce and end youth homelessness were launched in the Fall of 2014, and are available at the following links: Youth Out Loud: Taking Action to End Youth Homelessness in KFL&A and A Way Home: A Plan to End Youth Homelessness in Kamloops. Or visit Eva's Initiatives.

The MLC is the result of an exciting partnership between The National Learning Community on Youth Homelessness, Eva’s Initiatives and the Canadian Housing and Renewal Association, with generous funding from the Catherine Donnelly Foundation.

Speakers:

Bhavana Varma is the President & CEO of the United Way of Kingston, Frontenac, Lennox & Addington.  She joined the United Way in St. Catharines soon after she and her husband moved to Canada. She moved to Kingston in 1999 as the CEO of the local United Way. 

Bhavana works closely with a large team of volunteers and a small staff team on fundraising and community impact.  Working with community partners, Bhavana has developed and led shared community plans for poverty reduction, homelessness and youth homelessness.

Carmin Mazzotta is the Social and Community Development Supervisor for the City of Kamloops. His portfolio involves social planning, community engagement, and capacity building across a range of priority areas; two of these – youth issues, and housing and homelessness – are particularly relevant here.

Carmin works closely with local non-profit organizations, service clubs, community associations, and key stakeholders from the private sector, including land developers, property managers and local businesses, to address social issues and needs in the community through a collaborative, action-oriented approach.

Carmin has been involved in the planning and development of a number of municipal and community-based plans, including A Way Home: A Plan to End Youth Homelessness in Kamloops.

Space is limited. REGISTER NOW!

Please note that, as always, webinars are free for CHRA members. For non-members, the cost is $40 + tax.

10am Eastern Time

Bristol boasts the strongest economy of any UK city outside London, and is one of the country’s fastest growing city. Like many dynamic, booming cities its growth includes rapid demographic change, increasing diversity and a growing gap in prosperity. How do resilient cities address the challenges of deepening social and economic inequality? Why is diversity, migration and inclusion essential to a conversation about city resilience and livability? As one of Rockefeller Foundation’s 100 Resilient Cities, a program intended to help cities “better address the increasing shocks and stresses of the 21st century,” Bristol has a unique opportunity to put social resilience into an urban agenda for economic vitality, innovation and sustainability. Join us for a Big Idea webinar to learn how Bristol is managing these complex community challenges and building its capacity to leverage diversity and the economic and social innovations that drive urban prosperity.

Register here

Speakers:

Di Robinson
Service Director, Neighbourhoods and Communities, Bristol City Council (Bristol, United Kingdom)
Di Robinson has worked in the public sector over the past 17 years, mainly delivering in the areas of Neighbourhood Management and Governance, Service Transformation and Community Engagement. Her current role as Service Director for Neighbourhoods with Bristol City Council includes managing the city’s Neighbourhood Governance agenda, Community Development, Corporate Equalities, Voluntary Community Investment, Libraries and Regulatory Services. Prior to this Di worked in a variety of roles within in the public, private and VCS sectors.

Ian Roderick
Director, The SchuIan Roderick smmacher Institute (Bristol, United Kingdom)
Ian is the director of The Schumacher Institute, an independent research and learning organisation working with the ideas of E.F. Schumacher, author of Small is Beautiful. The Institute is in Bristol, UK.
He has a BSc in Mathematics, an MSc in Operational Research and an MSc in Responsibility & Business Practice. He started his career at the Building Research Establishment before joining Rank Xerox International, eventually to head up strategic forecasting and business modelling. He then co-founded a successful software development company which was sold in 2000 leaving him free to pursue his interests in systems thinking, environmentalism and social justice. Ian is the Chair of the Resilience Action Group, Bristol Green Capital, the agency leading Bristol: European Green Capital 2015 agenda.

He was President of the UK Systems Society (2005 – 2008). He is co-founder of a charity called The Converging World and is on the board of Low Carbon South West.

Mary W. Rowe
Director, Urban Resilience and Livability, Municipal Art Society of New York City (New York, United States)
Mary W. Rowe is currently Director, Urban Resilience and Livability at Municipal Art Society of New York City, one of the country’s oldest and most successful advocacy organizations, working to promote the livability and resilience of New York City through effective urban planning, land use, design and civic engagement. Current initiatives include Re-Imagining the Civic Commons, supported by the Knight Foundation, to explore the ever-changing uses of shared places – civic assets including libraries, community centers, settlement houses, and public spaces – in contemporary cities, and the possibilities for new models that enhance their value, ensure their sustainability, and contribute to creating successful cities.

Mary also coordinates the MAS Global Network, a peer-to-peer learning platform connecting urban practitioners contributing to the livability and resilience of cities around the country, continent, and around the world. Previously, she spent five years learning about granular approaches to urban innovation while supporting the New Orleans Institute for Resilience and Innovation, a loose alliance of initiatives that emerged in response to the systemic collapses of 2005, in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Originally from Toronto, Mary worked closely for ten years with Avana Capital Corporation and the Maytree Foundation on a variety of urban focused initiatives, and began her career working for the federal government in Canada on policy connections between immigration and employment. She has a particular interest in self-organization in cities, as the underpinning of urban social, economic, cultural and environmental resilience, and is a contributor to several volumes on urban life.

12pm to 1pm Eastern Time

Speaker: Al Etmanski
Host: Sylvia Cheuy

Al Etmanski has spent the last 10 years exploring the world of social innovation looking for useful insights about social change that lasts. He's met, read, studied, spoken, applied, travelled, stumbled and written. What emerged from his work were six recognizable patterns and a book that captures the energy of those interactions. In his new book, Al explores the paradox between short term success and minimal long term impact. He suggests that strategies have limitations and that it’s worth paying attention to the deeper patterns of change. Al is hoping these ideas will ignite a resurrection of the ordinary. This genuine Canadian perspective on social change is full of stories about Canadian innovators, activists and entrepreneurs including many Ashoka fellows, which is why we wanted to invite you to our first public discussion about the book’s framework and stories.

Join Tamarack Thought Leader Al Etmanski on Thursday March 5, 2015 for a pre-launch webinar and first public discussion on concepts emerging from his soon to be released book, Impact: Six Patterns to Scale Your Social Innovation.

Register now

About Al Etmanski

Al Etmanski is a community organizer and author. He is one of the first two Canadians welcomed into the Ashoka fellowship of social entrepreneurs. He is founding partner of Social Innovation Generation (SiG), BC Partners for Social Impact and co-founder of Planned Lifetime Advocacy Network (PLAN). He and his wife Vickie Cammack were recently awarded the Order of Canada for their innovative work with people with disabilities and their families. Al blogs at www.aletmanski.com.