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Towards Cooperative CommonWealth: Transition in a Perilous Century

Towards Co-operative CommonWealth: Transition in a Perilous Century social cardMar 25 - Jul 14, 2019

Towards Co-operative CommonWealth is a master class in movement building for a new model of political economy that is sustainable, democratic, and socially just. Offered by the Synergia Institute and Athabasca University, it sets out the practical models and pathways for meaningful systems change at multiple levels. The goal: to better secure our basic needs for land, food, livelihood, social care, energy, finance and more in these increasingly difficult times.

The course is suitable for newcomers to social change work as well as veteran activists, practitioners, policy-makers, and researchers. Individuals on their own and people working for social change through organizations, networks, and movements can leverage the course material and the expertise of the Synergia team to advance their own projects and activist work locally.

Enrol for Towards Cooperative CommonWealth

The course is offered in two sections: Section 1 is 4 modules over 4 weeks starting March 25th, followed by a 4 week intellectual pause to catch your breath from April 22 till May 20th, and Section 2 starts another 4 Modules from May 20th to June 22.

Following the course, feedback from the Synergia team will be available for three weeks to promote application of course ideas & models to your own projects or work.

*The course is free at the certificate level. The cost of degree accreditation is $269 CAD.​

OBJECTIVES

  • Outline and explain the problematic, and transformative vision.
  • Discuss emerging food system alternatives and strategies for transitioning to just, sustainable food systems.
  • Recognize the role of public policy and bottom-up innovation in renewable community energy.
  • Become familiar with the interplay of assumptions, interests, power, and technology feeding the growing precariousness of livelihoods and the implications for human wellbeing, and to explore emerging sector-, policy-, and place-based alternatives.
  • Outline the philosophy, rationale, and organizational forms of user-controlled models of health and social care.
  • Discuss enclosure, and the alternatives of commons and land trusts.
  • Describe community development finance and co-operative capital raising and their potential to secure democratic and socially directed investment for the common good.
  • Synthesize key ideas and practices that define systemic transition.

Target Audience: We imagine that if you were attracted to this course, you will be someone who shares our general world view and vision, and wants to broaden and deepen it and join us and others to develop it. That is its principal purpose, but a secondary purpose is to link people and projects that share these views in practical ways. You are likely to be people who are already engaged in social change work in three crucial movements – co-operation, commons, and sustainability. Most are already actively working to make this world view a reality. You may be active in the environmental movement, human or animal rights, social equality and development, the solidarity economy, co-operative finance and alternative currencies; the Transition Movement, permaculture, local food, eco-villages, the digital commons, peer-to-peer and open educational resources, community energy or many others.

For more information about Synergia Institute visit: synergiainstitute.org

Course is offered by Athabasca University in collaboration with Synergia.

"System Change Not Climate Change" Banner photo is copyright (c) 2009 by Kris Krüg and made available under a CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 license.

Community Housing for Resilient Communities

3:00pm to 6:00pm
Victoria Conference Centre, Sannich Room
720 Douglas Street​

Community Housing for Resilient Communities is a rare public event that features nine speakers from the community housing sectors of British Columbia and Quebec. They will share their inspiring stories about how they are acting to increase local control of urban land developmentt to ensure our communities remain inclusive, diverse and resilient through development of housing as community-owned assets.

At this TED-talk formatted event, each speaker will discuss how they got involved with the community housing sector, demonstrate the innovation of their respective organizations and provide insight about how they hope their work will benefit not only the residents in the buildings of their organizations but also the broader community.

This event is part of the Canadian Housing and Renewal Association’s 51st National Congress on Housing and Homelessness. It is being put on by BC Housing, the Real Estate Foundation of BC, Vancity, CMHC and CHRA.

The event is free for the general public, but RSVP is required due to limited seating (150 people). 

Register for Community Housing for Resilient Communities

More information about this event is available on the BC Housing Website.

National Congress on Housing and Homelessness

Join the Canadian Housing and Renewal Association at their 51st National Congress in Victoria, B.C. from April 2 – April 4, 2019

The National Congress on Housing and Homelessness is an exceptional opportunity to gather, learn and network with a growing Canadian body of practitioners, policy makers, front-line workers, government officials and key stakeholders in our sector. The 2019 Congress, already in its 51st year, is expected to welcome over 550 delegates from across Canada and the United States

Each year we develop a unique program with over 40 workshops, plenaries, learning sessions, mobile tours and keynotes to meet the educational needs and interests of our members and participants from across the non-profit, social and affordable housing and homelessness community.

Register for the National Congress on Housing and Homelessness

A new partnership with BC Non-Profit Housing Association

This year, the BC Non-Profit Housing Association (BCNPHA) has partnered with CHRA to deliver RENT education sessions at Congress. Join RENT on April 3rd for a broad range of interactive educational sessions, where you can learn about using your strengths to help inspire and lead others; work through issues and challenges to help improve your tenant relations; hear about new national and provincial homelessness funding opportunities, and explore how to engage local elected officials to be part of the solution to our housing crisis. Subsidies are available for BCNPHA members. Please email membership at bcnpha.ca for more details.

Social Venture Bootcamp 2019

Social Venture Bootcamp 2019SVB IDEA is for those who have a business or enterprising idea that aims to both make money and generate positive social, environmental or cultural impact. We refer to these types of enterprises as social enterprises.

Register for the 2nd Annual Social Venture Bootcamp IDEA

Social Venture Bootcamp is a 3-day program to help assess your idea by:

  • Pitching your idea
  • Understanding its value proposition
  • Clarifying your customer needs and wants
  • Understanding the market
  • Determining expenses and revenues, and profits
  • Getting feedback from entrepreneurs and expert mentors
  • Assessing the impact of your enterprise

The goal at the end of the 3 days is for you to be:

  • Be inspired
  • Be informed
  • Be supported
  • Be realistic
  • Make a plan to test your idea and move towards launch!

The Program will include guest speakers and one-on-one mentorship by industry professionals and entrepreneurship and impact-focused educators from Royal Roads University, University of Victoria, and Camosun College.

Bring your enterprise idea to change the world, or make your Vancouver Island community a better place! We’ll bring the knowledge, experience, and connections to help you and your team get more quickly to a great idea that can achieve both business and impact goals.

Register now to reserve your ticket. Tickets are $750/enterprise team - up to 2 people.

Registration is very limited, so participants are encouraged to register as soon as possible. Learn more about Social Venture Bootcamp at www.secatalyst.ca.

Celebration of Life: Professor Jack Quarter

Jack Quarter 1:00pm Eastern Time
OISE Library, 252 Bloor St W
and online!

In case you cannot make it to OISE Library (252 Bloor St W, Toronto, ON M5S 1V6) this Friday for Jack Quarter’s Celebration of Life, here are the instructions for viewing the formal part of the event from your computer. Also, see below for more information on how to make donations.

In lieu of flowers, please consider donating to the Professor Jack Quarter Memorial Bursary to support students in financial need; every dollar raised will be matched by the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE). You can also donate to the Temmy Latner Centre for Palliative Care at Mount Sinai Hospital www.tlcpc.org, which made it possible for Jack to spend his last days in the comfort of his home with his loved ones. All donations will receive a charitable tax receipt. There will be donation forms and envelopes available at Jack’s Celebration of Life event on Friday, March 8 at OISE.

Join the Zoom Webcast

All you need to do is to click on the URL above or copy and paste it into your browser. You just click yes when prompted. If there aren't any prompts, click download and run Zoom.

Please also check out the following website in honour of Jack Quarter: www.jackquarter.org

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