Pathways for Change

A Communities Building Belonging Cohort

April – October 2025

The call for applications for the 2025 Cohort is now closed.

Join Us for an Opportunity to Accelerate Your Leadership Skills for Transformation in Your Community

We are inviting residents with lived/living experience to join us in a seven-month cohort to accelerate your leadership skills as changemakers in your communities. This opportunity is open to individuals who are part of a team in the Circle of Actions and have been selected by their team to participate.

Through this opportunity, you will join a network that will support you in:

cultivating relationships with other changemakers;
learning approaches to systems change;
identifying your local systems change and drafting a systems change plan; and
putting your plan into action.

If you have any questions or would like to learn more about this opportunity, please contact Jorge Garza, Director of Communities Building Belonging, at jorge@tamarackcommunity.ca or book a meeting with him.

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 Pathways for Change Cohort is a seven-month program that will begin in April 2025.

Our curriculum will consist of six 90-minute sessions that will run at noon ET/10 a.m. MT/9 a.m. PT on the following dates:

April 2
April 16
May 14
June 11
June 25
September 11

We also have three open office hours where you can drop in for help on your progress with the Cohort material:

May 28
July 9
October 8

Session Overview

Below you can find an overview of each session description, providing a glimpse into what awaits participants.

Session 1 (April 2): Getting started and understand your community

We will get to know the participants and learn about the communities we live in and why we want to see change.

Pre-work questions to think about a pre-systems map- no perfect answer
- Who is impacting your community?
- What problem are you trying to solve? What are you trying to improve?
- Who in the world will benefit from this work?

Session 2 (April 16): Dipping your toes into the sea of systems change

We will learn about the fundamentals of systems thinking and decide on which model we want to use.

Homework

What are the systems in your community?

Session 3 (May 14): Identifying your systems change levers and blockers

You will reflect on the problem and work through identifying levers and blockers

Share system- peer review
Levers and blockers

Homework

Reflecting on the change that is needed- Are you trying to make incremental change VS large change and timeline

Open Office Hour (May 28)

To explore what has happened, answer any questions, and share thoughts and ideas.

Session 4 (June 11): Exploring Asset-Based Community Development to support systems change

Learning about the ABCD lens, you will identify your communities’ gifts, map your connections to your neighbourhood, and identify opportunities to mobilize other residents to support systems transformation.

Session 5 (June 25): Action for Change- drafting your plan

You will reflect on your experience connecting assets and gifts and identifying levers and blockers for change, you will put together a plan for action.

Open Office Hour (July 9)

To explore what has happened, answer any questions, and share thoughts and ideas.

Session 6 (September 17): Reflecting on lessons learned and systems changes

As we celebrate our collective efforts, we will reflect on the processes, lessons learned, and impact from your learning to in help shape the next cohort.

Open Office Hour (October 8)

To explore what has happened, answer any questions, and share thoughts and ideas.

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:

A stated commitment to centering equity and justice in building belonging
A stated commitment to embracing a solutions mindset through asset-based community development
A stated commitment to engaging residents with lived/living experience in plan development and intervention implementation
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.