
Circle of Actions
A Communities Building Belonging Cohort
March – December 2025
Apply for the 2025 Cohort
join us to advance community-led plans and interventions for belonging
The Circle of Actions cohort is designed to catalyze community leaders’ efforts to create plans and carry out interventions that foster a sense of belonging. Over ten months, participating leaders will engage in workshop sessions, coaching support, and access to the latest thinking, tools, and resources, all designed to increase your skills and competencies in developing a local plan and an intervention for belonging.
Through this learning journey, we hope to explore:
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Who do we choose to be amidst the spread of polarization, loneliness, hate, and extremism in cities across Canada?
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How can we build more equitable, regenerative, and caring communities for all living beings?
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What does it take to build courageous, place-based, multi-sectoral collaboratives that advance belonging as an outcome and a policy priority?
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How are leaders from across sectors already building belonging, and what conditions are needed to amplify and sustain it?
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How can we create next-generation social infrastructure that is rooted in our individual gifts and amplifies a renewed sense of collective purpose?
The Circle of Actions is part of Tamarack's commitment to raising awareness and will for a Canada-wide Strategy for Belonging. The successes, challenges, lessons learned, and impact of participating teams will collectively make the case for all levels of government to recognize the importance of belonging and support community-led efforts to foster it.
Learn more about the takeaways from our 2024 Circle of Actions cohort and see the recording below of our Q&A Session that took place on February 4, 2025.
- Doing Things Differently - What Is the Circle of Actions?
- Selection Timeline
- Why Join the Circle of Actions?
- Session Breakdown
- Who Should Apply?
- Q&A Session
- Deadline
- Contact Us
- Application Form
The Circle of Actions invites leaders from across sectors to champion efforts to build belonging and steward more equitable and regenerative communities. It embeds an asset-based community development (ABCD) lens to finding, connecting, and resourcing strengths.
Through this ten-month learning and action journey, participants will develop solutions that focus on belonging as the antidote to loneliness, polarization, hate, and extremism. The Circle of Actions will include workshops on:
Asset-Based Community Development
This is an approach to the development of communities based on their strengths and potential. It involves assessing the resources, skills, and experiences available in a community; organizing the community around issues that move its members into action, and taking appropriate action.
Collective Leadership
This is about uniting people to address complex issues through collaborative processes. Success is maximized by working collectively across diverse groups, emphasizing equity, and incorporating the voices of those most affected. Effective collective leaders prioritize trust-building, power navigation, deep engagement, and the development of impactful collaborative governance practices. By fostering collaboration and shared responsibility across diverse perspectives, collective leadership can bridge divides, mitigate the spread of harmful ideologies, and promote a more just and equitable future.
Weaving the Social Fabric through Community Engagement
Neighbourhoods and cities are home to an abundance of people with shared experience, while at the same time offering great diversity in experiences, gifts, and backgrounds. Authentic community engagement ensures that the people who are closest to an issue, place, or opportunity, are involved in creating bold visions for their future. This includes learning together, building capacity, building relationships, and making decisions.
Community engagement increases community cohesion and allows community members to have ownership over the outcomes that will ultimately impact them.
Municipalities Supporting and Doing Things Differently
This is about harnessing community assets to build strong neighbourhoods. When individuals are connected and working together, they strengthen their communities’ economic, social, and physical infrastructure. Understanding the functions and roles that people play in the health of their neighbourhoods will allow municipalities to shift the way they show up in community.
When Communities Lead
This is about shifting from a service mindset to one that recognizes that communities have what it takes to solve challenges. It involves identifying community champions and building community from the ground up.
why join the circle of actions?
The Circle of Actions is a unique learning opportunity in Canada that brings together collaboratives to develop plans and interventions for fostering belonging through an asset-based lens. Participating teams will benefit from access to a range of learning, coaching, and networking opportunities. These include:
- Monthly sessions with guest speakers and group coaching calls
- Exclusive access to select webinars, events, and publications
- Access to resources on developing plans, consultations, and interventions for building belonging through an asset-based community development lens
- An opportunity for rapid prototyping and feedback on intervention design, piloting, and launch
- A leadership cohort for residents with lived and living experience to deepen the skills of facilitation, systems thinking, and collaborative leadership
- Updates on the latest news and events on building belonging
- Networking opportunities with changemakers across sectors and institutions
The Circle of Actions is a ten-month program that will begin in March 2025. Our curriculum will consist of five 90-minute sessions in which we will explore key skills to develop plans for belonging and five 60-minute coaching sessions focused on testing tools, validating assumptions, and networking with practitioners across Canada.
Our five 90-minute sessions will run at noon ET on the following days:
- March 18
- May 21
- July 15
- September 16
- November 11
Our five 60-minute coaching sessions will run at noon ET on the following days:
- April 15
- June 17
- August 19
- October 21
- December 9
Session Overview
Below you can find an overview of each session description, providing a glimpse into what awaits participants.
Session 1: Raising Awareness and Will for Belonging
We will begin by grounding ourselves in place as we explore the 'why' of building belonging through an equity lens. This will help us understand how to create more caring, regenerative, and just communities for current and future generations. We will also examine how place is crucial for building belonging, drawing on examples of community-led action. Place holds nature, fosters relationships, and provides a connection to the wider world.
Coaching Session: Framing Our Aspiration for Belonging
We will begin by reflecting on our own positionality. We'll explore how our backgrounds, education, experiences, and relationships to the places and spaces we inhabit shape our understanding and perspectives of the world. We will also examine how our relationships to systems of power influence us, and vice versa. By understanding our own positionality within the context of framing our aspiration for belonging, we can collaborate in ways that are effective and regenerative.
Session 2: Mapping Our Gifts, Strengths & Assets
This session will introduce the ABCD (Asset-Based Community Development) approach, highlighting the crucial role of "Connectors" – individuals who bridge relationships and mobilize resources. We'll delve into understanding our own unique gifts and explore how we choose to use them within our community. Through a participatory exercise, we will map the existing gifts, strengths, and assets within our community, ultimately connecting these resources and identifying themes to guide collective action and build a thriving community.
Coaching Session: Building Courageous Plans for Belonging
This session is an invitation to explore the concept of 'Communities Daring to Live Their Future Now,' emphasizing the importance of reclaiming our agency and actively creating the desired future for our communities. We will activate our imagination as we reflect on critical questions to frame our plans for belonging. By shifting our focus from identifying problems to envisioning possibilities, we can create a future that celebrates belonging.
Session 3: Enabling Collective Leadership for Belonging
We will explore how a whole-of-community approach that is grounded in an asset-based community development methodology can equip you to create local opportunities and respond to needs and challenges in your neighbourhood. At the end of this session, you will be equipped with the tools and resources you need to dive into your neighbourhood’s history, key assets, and vision for the future.
Coaching Session: Broadening Our Horizons
Join us for a valuable peer input session where we will share our idea(s) for building belonging in our community. This session will provide a space to validate assumptions, gain insights from colleagues, and collectively explore new and creative practices that move beyond traditional solutions. By engaging in open dialogue and sharing perspectives, we can collectively push the boundaries of what's possible and develop impactful strategies for belonging.
Session 4: Engaging Everyone
We will learn about the purpose of community engagement, determine who your key actors are, and identify important considerations for how to design and deliver an engagement process. Recognizing the need for a renewed approach to leadership in the face of increasing polarization and extremism, we will delve deeper into how our engagement processes can foster meaningful dialogue, build trust, and cultivate a shared sense of purpose.
Coaching Session: Fostering Sustainable and Resilient Collaboration
We will explore the factors that contribute to sustainable, resilient, and impactful collaborations. You will also learn about tools and mechanisms to foster financial sustainability and organizational resilience.
Session 5: Celebrating Transformative Action
As we celebrate the insights and efforts from participating teams, we will come together to learn from the collective wisdom cultivated over ten months. We will also reflect on the importance of amplifying community leadership while being mindful of individual and collective well-being. Our final session will be marked by a spirit of kinship, solidarity, and excitement for what’s next.
Coaching Session: Data and Storytelling for Impact
Join us for a final coaching session where we will explore how collaboratives can effectively utilize data to document their impact and communicate powerful stories of social transformation. We will delve into practical strategies for collecting, analyzing, and interpreting data to demonstrate the positive change achieved through collaboration. We will also discuss key recommendations for crafting compelling narratives that effectively communicate the impact of collective efforts and mobilize others to lead with courage.
"I used to ask, 'What is wrong? How can I fix it?' Then I realized the right question was: 'What’s possible and who cares?'" – Marvin Weisbord, author |
who should apply?
The Circle of Actions welcomes both current and prospective Tamarack members. Support is available for communities and individuals who may encounter barriers to participation. Please reach out to Jorge if you’d like to discuss this opportunity further.
The Circle of Actions is designed for collaboratives across Canada (made up of municipal staff, resident-led groups, nonprofits, and/or institutions) that are interested in developing a local plan and testing out a belonging idea by implementing an intervention. You must meet the following criteria:
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A stated commitment to centering equity and justice in building belonging
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A stated commitment to embracing a solutions mindset through asset-based community development
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A stated commitment to engaging residents with lived/living experience in plan development and intervention implementation
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The capacity and commitment to meaningfully engage in the Circle of Actions offerings (e.g., monthly calls, homework assignments, etc.)
Having a cross-sectoral team of participants from your community will be considered an asset. Some examples include:
- A neighbourhood/city-wide group with someone from local government and someone from a community organization and/or an institution.
- A Canada-wide network/organization working with local/provincial authorities and/or community organizations.
- A regional health authority working with local governments, universities, and/or community organizations.
- An entrepreneur or thought leader working with other changemakers and engaging their local government or other local organizations in building belonging.
- A social enterprise collaborating closely with their local ecosystem of community champions and local governments in ways that centre equity and belonging.
We acknowledge that diverse teams extend beyond the outlined categories, and we welcome groups with all perspectives who share our commitment to building awareness and will for belonging in Canada. Learn more about the 13 participating communities from 2024 and explore our takeaways from the 2024 Circle of Actions.
Q&A Session
Webinar: Circle of Actions Q&A Session
Date: February 4, 2025 | 1:00 ‒ 2:00 p.m. ET
This interactive Q&A session provided an overview of the Circle of Actions, a ten-month learning AND action journey. It was facilitated by the Tamarack Institute's Communities Building Belonging team.
Deadline
We are inviting new and existing members to complete an application by February 28, 2025
All applicants will be notified by email of their application status. The participating communities will be announced on March 5, 2025.
Learn more about the benefits of membership.
Support is available for communities and individuals who may face barriers to participating. Please contact Jorge to learn more.
meet the faculty
Sylvia Cheuy
Sylvia is a Consulting Director of the Tamarack Institute’s Collective Impact Idea Area. She is passionate about community change and what becomes possible when residents and various sector leaders share an aspirational vision for their future. Sylvia believes that when the assets of residents and community are recognized and connected they become powerful drivers of community change.
Lisa Attygalle
Lisa is a Consulting Director of the Tamarack Institute’s Community Engagement Idea Area. Over the last six years, her work has focused on creating authentic engagement strategies and training staff teams, teaching and writing about innovative engagement methodologies, designing and facilitating workshops with a focus on raising the voice of the context expert, integrated communications planning, and the use of technology and creativity for engagement.
Jean-Marie Chapeau
Jean-Marie s a Consulting Director of the Tamarack Institute’s Evaluation Idea Area. He has been involved in community development and social change for 25 years. Jean-Marie mobilizes his experience, passion, and curiosity to promote evaluation as a tool for empowerment in communities and to accompany individuals and groups in their learning processes.
Myriam Bérubé
Myriam is the Consulting Director for Quebec at the Tamarack Institute. She’s passionate about community innovation and development and brings her understanding of the diversity of experiences made in Quebec into Tamarack’s five interconnected areas of practices leading to community change.
Sonja Miokovic
Sonja is the Consulting Director of the Tamarack Institutes’s Community Innovation Area. She is a dynamic educator, social scientist, and innovator with over 16 years of experience in the sector. Having lived, worked, and played in over 80 countries, she has a broad spectrum of international experience that cuts across the public, private and civil society sectors.