Imagine you're the crew of a ship sailing from Italy to Canada. You arrive in Hamilton, Ont., only to discover that complications related to the sale of your vessel means it's in limbo in the harbour, you with it. Who will look after you?
This happened to the crew of the 9,000-ton Italian freighter Ardita in April. The ship is still there.
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A winding path leads to Lynette’s brightly painted front door.
The bell is barely rung and there she is, eyes twinkling, smile beaming, extending her hand in welcome. ‘How lovely to see you,’ she says in her low, genteel voice. She takes my coat while asking how I am. She looks right into my eyes waiting for my answer and I am led to feel this is a question of great importance. She leads me to her sunny living room. “You must be cold. Let me get you something warm to drink.” Lynette returns shortly with my tea and sits squarely in front of me, giving me her full attention, ready for conversation. Warm and comfortable, basking in the rays of her attention, I realise I am in the presence of a true master of hospitality.
The astonishing thing is that Lynette, who lives with mental health challenges, has known more rejection than welcome in her life time. Over the years she has been institutionalized, bullied, ostracized and ignored. Yet she still gently welcomes others with a warmth and authenticity that would make Martha Stewart blush.
We are presently at the early edge of one of those big transformative shifts when the cultural landscapes of our communities and organizations are undergoing major changes. We experience it as a mounting pressure that may lead to the breakdown of existing structures and the unleashing of a global flow of new ideas, innovations and collaborative possibilities.
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Though seldom sensational, Canada's charitable activities are essential to our civil society. Our charities provide meaning, purpose, and belonging amid the dark labyrinths of alienation that characterize our time. Researching, thinking, talking, building, and envisioning in this space is no esoteric investment, a quaint concession or a salve for the guilt of our overextension and collective greed. In this paper, we explore the deep renewal we need in our conceptions of the charitable sector—how we fund, empower, and even define our charities.
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Today's workshop took me to Rotterdam, another city with many inspiring examples of burgerkracht (citizen power). Here, Joop Hofman and I facilitated a workshop for 80 community workers.
This city is home to the Opzoomeren movement through which the residents of 1700 streets have self organized to improve their physical environment, to support one another, and to sponsor all sorts of community activities. The residents of each street met to develop an agreement regarding their shared etiquette.
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This Q+A that came from our IMPACT-Ability webinar series is so great we just had to share! This question came from Hemant Kulkarni, the Project Leader for posAbilities:
Q: "One of the big challenges with human centered design innovations is once you've got a well working prototype, how do you sell it to policy makers/funders? It's the last bubble on the HCD approach diagram where things sometimes get stuck. Does he have any tips on how to convey things to policy makers/funders and other stakeholders who are unfamiliar with the process?
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