As we approach the upcoming holiday season, a reoccurring theme of narrative comes flooding through my mind in a series of palpable examples. When I think about what I want to read or engage with during this reflective time of year, I often see stories as paramount to stirring up emotion and bringing people towards a cause.
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Looking out the window at the snow-covered ground, it feels as though ages have passed since my time at the Community Change Institute in Vancouver. Although, the seasons have quickly changed and new day to day operational priorities have skipped to the head of the line, there are many messages that remain in my mind about the content shared that week.
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During my time at the Tamarack Community Change Institute, I noticed that many peoples’ focus was squarely on bringing techniques, tools and strategies back to their communities that could strengthen not only the work that they were doing, but act as a framework for future opportunities amongst partners, participants and others that have not yet come to the table.
Although, this insistence on an applicable, packaged toolkit may steer us in a direction that helps to bring ideas and actions forward quickly, it also has a downside. There is a way of approaching change, a concentration on philosophy, on values, on process that needs to be melded into the activities that we do in order to see sustainable impact.
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The concept of innovation, especially the idea of social innovation, is one that both intrigues my sense of professional adventurism and ignites an excitement for progress. Throughout the Community Change Institute (CCI) this reoccurring theme of creation, development and strategy has underlined all of the workshops and toolbox sessions that have been presented as forums for learning.
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The ideas are quickly flowing from the jumble in my mind to the neat lined pages of the notebook sitting on the table in front of me while I listen to the day’s overview at the Community Change Institute (CCI). As I take in the list of different tools, topics and learning modalities available to attendees, I recognize this is not just any run of the mill conference.
Although I had been lucky enough to join the CCI crew the year before in Toronto, this year would take on a new light as I prepared to become a first time learning lab leader and had a solid understanding of how the week was going to unfold.
As I readied myself for five days of learning, growth and interactions with bright, innovative people I wondered… What new inspiration will this year bring?
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