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Kirsti Battista

Kirsti Battista
Kirsti works with the VC team as the Manager of the Cities Reducing Poverty initiative. Previous to this position she was a Community Animator for the Tamarack CCI learning community and the coordinator of Tamarack's multi-day learning events such as Champions for Change, Evaluating Community Impact and the first ever Collective Impact Summit.

Recent Posts

When Business is Engaged in Poverty Reduction

Posted by Kirsti Battista on May 9, 2017

Together with Mayor Fred Eisenberger’s Office, the City of Hamilton and Hamilton

Roundtable for Poverty Reduction, Tamarack’s Vibrant Communities Canada hosted its third annual summit, Cities Reducing Poverty: When Business is Engaged, at the Hamilton Convention Centre from April 4-6, 2017.

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Securing fair employment and income: Where Living Wage and the Fight for $15 and Fairness intersect

Posted by Kirsti Battista on January 26, 2017

If adequately addressed, income security through employment can produce benefits and outcomes that cascade into other areas of a person’s experience of poverty and ultimately, an escape from poverty. For example, we know that having secure employment that includes a full range of benefits and a possible career path, also known as a “Standard Employment Relationship” is a key to escaping poverty (The Precarity Penalty (May 2015). When an individual can secure sustainable employment that upholds their rights as a worker and pays a living wage, it is more likely that the individual will experience positive effects associated with economic independence such as increased opportunities for civic and community participation, stabilization of health problems, and even increased life expectancy.

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Parkdale and the People’s Economy Project: Highlights of a CCI Study Tour

Posted by Kirsti Battista on October 27, 2016

On Wednesday, September 29th, Approximately 30 individuals attending the Tamarack Community Change Conference filed onto a bus to travel to Toronto’s vibrant Parkdale neighbourhood for an innovations in poverty reduction workshop and walking tour. 

Our first stop on the tour was the Parkdale Activity Recreation Centre (PARC), where we were greeted by Executive Director, Victor Ellis. PARC was the ultimate host and starting place for the tour, considering the pivotal support it has given over the last 30+ to the neighbourhood’s high proportion of low-income and marginalized residents.

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Canadian Collective Impact Community of Practice

Posted by Kirsti Battista on March 3, 2015

Follow up post to Feb 18th CoP meeting.

The Canadian Collective Impact Community of Practice (CI CoP) is for practitioners who are using the collective impact approach to achieve large-scale system change in Canada. The members meet bi-monthly to discuss questions, challenges and successes in their collective impact work, and to connect with one another.

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Rethink Who You Call an Expert

Posted by Kirsti Battista on October 17, 2014

Community Animator's Note: This blog was originally published on FSG's Strategic Evaluation Blog by Katelyn Mack on October 15, 2014. It has been re-posted with permission.

Have you ever been called an expert? If you are reading this post, chances are you have. It may have been by a colleague, a boss, a client, a professor…or maybe, by a parent. I’m not sure about you, but I sometimes get an uneasy feeling when I am referred to as an “expert.” People usually mean it as a compliment. In essence, there is some innate knowledge I have from my training or experience that they don’t have.

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Sixteen Lessons Learned About Working in Collaboration

Posted by Kirsti Battista on October 15, 2014
From Mary Pickering and Robert Plitt - 2013
  • Collaborations SHOULDN’T be launched unless there is something that can be done together that can’t be achieved alone. There needs to be a clear assessment up front that working jointly – which requires time and effort from all participants – is going to improve outcomes.
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