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How Conversations with Children Can Change the World

Posted by Zoe Fleming on June 15, 2015

After spending many hours with children of various ages, including my own 7 year old, I have been inspired to write. Before writing, I Googled various forms of 'children taking charge in the world' to see what had already been written. I found a lot of things that were very materialistic and devalued the amazing little humans we are surrounded by. There was one poem written in 2011 that put a McDonalds or a Pizza place on every corner, almost everything built out of candy, the place was a mess and everyone stayed up all night. I believe we are missing an incredible opportunity to tap into a valuable part of society.

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Dancing with Unusual Partners (Part 1) – Volunteer Centres

Posted by Liz Weaver on June 15, 2015

One of the challenges of working collaboratively in community is that most of us move quickly to the work and spend less time scanning the community to both identify and connect with unusual partners. Recently, I had the opportunity to present to the Corporate Council of Volunteer Canada. This second presentation occurred just a couple of days after a meeting with leaders of volunteer centres in Canada. 

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The Tango of Collective Impact

Posted by Liz Weaver on June 11, 2015

This weekend, I had the pleasure of watching couples dance the tango in a public square in London. The intricacies of the dance, coupled with the individual styles of each dance partner made for an intriguing couple of hours. As each new song filled the square, the couples would wait for a few strands of the music and then proceed to move together. Often with their eyes closed, each couple moved around the dance floor. 

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Community Needs Assessment or Community Understanding?

Posted by Tom Klaus on June 11, 2015

  I have a tolerate/hate relationship with community needs assessments. I really  wanted to write that I have a love/hate relationship with them but that would be  dishonest. I do not love them at all, but I do understand their importance and will  tolerate them...barely. In fact, I have designed them, conducted them, and used them  to inform and guide work on community projects and initiatives.

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Tales of Icebergs and Collective Impact

Posted by Liz Weaver on June 10, 2015

There are many interesting sights to see in Newfoundland and Labrador but in June the east coast of this province welcomes icebergs floating by in what is called ‘Iceberg Alley’ (http://www.newfoundlandlabrador.com/ThingsToDo/IcebergViewing). You can even follow the locations and tracking of these magnificent icons of nature through a website called www.Icebergfinder.com. It seems to me that Collective Impact and icebergs have a lot in common.

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Cities for People Design Jam

Posted by Sarah Bradley & Jayne Engle on June 4, 2015

Last December, the J.W. McConnell Family Foundation engaged the MaRS Solutions Lab to undertake a multi­step learning and evaluation process to guide our thinking about possible future directions for its Cities for People initiative. In this piece, we are excited to share a few highlights from the Design Jam, one of the components of this process, and how its outcomes will help shape our work moving forward. 

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