The Latest

10 Ways to Rekindle Democracy

In a recent webinar discussion hosted by Tamarack, Cormac Russell talked about his new book Rekindling Democracy: A Professional's Guide to Working in Citizen Space. Cormac, who describes himself as an itinerant storyteller, filled the book with stories from his travels while asking the question what these stories might call forth from us. His overarching thesis is that citizens must be at the center of any authentic democratic response to the challenges we face.

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Disaster Recovery the Pandemic Way

The pandemic has affected our jobs, families, and communities. We now see organizations and groups looking for the right way to move into the recovery phase of the pandemic. Since these are unprecedented times, there are no templates or formulas on how we can work through recovery. I have come across three publications that outline a path to recovery in which community is put at the center.

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Creating a Remote Built Environment Learning Academy

Open Architecture Collaborative Canada (OACC), is a community of socially-minded designers, architects, planners, creators, and innovators who strive to create equitable and mutually beneficial relationships between communities’ quality of life and their built environment. 

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Lessons from a Pandemic about Community

Over the past several weeks, as the world has been grappling with new realities, the Tamarack Institute has been listening and collecting amazing community stories. I have had the very fortunate opportunity to hear about how this pandemic has brought communities together and to observe the many resources being freely and widely shared. The sum of the amazing stories that I have come across are about the multitude of ways people are boosting each other’s morale and demonstrating solidarity. This pandemic has been a valuable teacher, bringing to light what it means to be community. I have read and been inspired by so many stories that demonstrate community as kind, generous, vibrant and resourceful. 

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Don’t Cancel Neighbours Day…Celebration is What We Need!

COVID-19 has brought on some positive changes like the gift of time, slowing life down, more time with family but it has also caused lots of sadness and disappointment due to cancelled group celebrations and fun. The weather is starting to warm up, the sun is out, and the flowers are blooming. This is the time of the year that cities are planning their Neighbours Day celebrations. 

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Journey of the Gown

This morning I felt the power of magic. A long time ago, two young pre-teen girls, twin sisters asked me to sew each of them a gown. It had to be Harry Potter gowns, from the books they had just read. The movie had not been made, so I had to be creative in the design following my imagination from how I saw the Harry Potter gowns; because I too had read the first book.

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