Keeping It Rural Conference Coming in October!​

Please join Keeping It Rural October 7 & 8 in Kelowna, at the Four Points by Sheraton Kelowna Airport Hotel for two days of inspiring presentations and workshops on rural community development, featuring outstanding presenters from across North America.

The Conference will run from 8:30 AM Monday, October 7th to 4:30 PM Tuesday, October 8th 

Website link: https://www.bcruralcentre.org/2019/09/09/keeping-it-rural-conference-coming-in-october/

REGISTER

2:00pm - 3:00pm Eastern Time

Why is understanding power dynamics so important for systems change?  

Join the upcoming webinar discussion Examining Power Dynamics in Systems Change on September 16 with FSG and New Profit as we take a deeper dive into one of the most critical systems change components – Power Dynamics, and the unique role that they play in systems change efforts. During this discussion, we will have an opportunity to hear from three social change leaders who will share how power impacts their work and how they navigate power structures to achieve their goals.

Register for Examining Power Dynamics to Advance Systems Change

Can't make the actual virtual coffee time? Registering also means you'll be notified when the recording is uploaded to the Collective Impact Forum resource library.

Featured Speakers

• Adam Foss, Executive Director, Prosecutor Impact
• Chekemma Fulmore-Townsend, President and CEO, Philadelphia Youth Network (PYN)
• Tulaine Montgomery, Managing Partner, New Profit
• Simran Sidhu, Director, The HIVE at Springpoint

This online event is hosted in partnership with the Collective Impact Forum, FSG, and New Profit

Want to learn how you can benefit from the new Social Finance Fund and millions in grant dollars to ready your organization to access social finance?

If yes, you should register for the Social Finance Investment Readiness Exploration webinar!  Come learn about social finance and explore how your organization can use it to enhance your impact.

Event details:

• When: Wednesday, September 25th, 2019, from 1:00pm - 2:30pm ET.
• Where: Online (Webex)
• Cost: Free
• Register: Sign up here

In this webinar, you will explore:

• How social finance benefits social-purpose organizations
• The repayable Social Finance Fund — a $2 billion funding opportunity
• The $50 million Investment Readiness grant program to access investment-readiness services
• Ideation exercises for how your organization can benefit from social finance
• How Innoweave helps organizations get ready to access social finance

The webinar will be highly interactive and you are encouraged to ask questions to explore the topic further!

If you have any questions, please reach out via email.

1:30PM to 2:30PM Eastern Time

Manufacturing remains a vital part of the American economy and is an important industry of opportunity, as it can provide jobs with decent pay and benefits to people with less than a college degree. Yet, despite growing support for manufacturing and industrial districts, relatively little is known about promising strategies to connect nearby low-income residents to the jobs these investments create. In a new white paper, LISC Research and Evaluation examines emerging strategies that connect industrial district revitalization to local workforce efforts and how investments in industrial districts can fuel programs designed to train low-income residents and ensure they access local jobs.

Register for Connecting Local People to the Prosperity of Place

This webinar will present research findings and a discussion with practitioners, employers and advocacy organizations about lessons they’ve learned while devising and implementing strategies to connect investments in industrial districts with workforce development programs.

2:00pm to 3:00pm Eastern Time

Canadian regional development today involves multiple actors operating within nested scales from local to national and even international levels. Recent approaches to making sense of this complexity have drawn on concepts such as multi-level governance, relational assets, integration, innovation, and learning regions. These new regionalist concepts have become increasingly global in their formation and application, yet there has been little critical analysis of Canadian regional development policies and programs or the theories and concepts upon which many contemporary regional development strategies are implicitly based. This webinar highlights the results of five years of cutting-edge empirical and theoretical analysis of changes in Canadian regional development and the potential of new approaches for improving the well-being of Canadian communities and regions, with an emphasis on rural regions. Specific key learnings and policy recommendations will be highlighted

Register for The Theory, Practice and Potential of Regional Development

PANELISTS

David J.A. Douglas is a Professor Emeritus at the University of Guelph, Canada, and has extensive experience in rural development across most Canadian regions, the EU, and other contexts (e.g., Indonesia, Iran, Ukraine, Pakistan).

Ryan Gibson is the Libro Professor of Regional Economic Development at the University of Guelph. His research interests include rural development, governance, and philanthropy.

Sean Markey is a Professor, and registered professional planner, with the School of Resource and Environmental Management at Simon Fraser University, Canada.

Sarah Minnes is a Research Associate and registered planner, with the School of Environment and Sustainability, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada.

Bill Reimer is a Professor Emeritus at Concordia University in Montréal, Canada. From 1997 to 2008, he directed a Canadian research project on the New Rural Economy which included 13 universities, 35 partners, and 32 rural communities from all parts of Canada.

Kelly Vodden is Associate Vice-President (Grenfell) Research and Graduate Studies and Professor (Research) with the Environmental Policy Institute at Grenfell Campus, Memorial University, Corner Brook, Canada.