This past month the Tamarack Institute was joined by Max Hardy, a citizen engagement expert from Australia. During his webinar Max outlined some principles and practical steps we can take to ensure that we are meaningfully engaging and empower ordinary citizens in our community change work.
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We know that when tackling complex community issues, bringing a diversity of voices to the table is a key ingredient to finding the best path forward. We don’t however, always do a great job of intentionally creating an environment where people – with varying backgrounds and perspectives – can thrive and feel comfortable contributing. This is where leveraging tools and techniques from our friends in the theatre community can come in handy.
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How do we engage authentically?
There’s really no systematic way of doing so. No bullet list will unlock the secret for an organization or collective to engage authentically without each of us being authentic individuals. After all, organizations are simply entities comprised of people – comprised of us.
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What does it truly mean to be guided by community?
Last month I was lucky enough to speak with Diane Roussin, Director of the Winnipeg Boldness project. Diane shared stories of the work that the Winnipeg Boldness project is doing in the Point Douglas neighbourhood: how they gathered and shared community wisdom, how they have been working with residents and leaders to effect the changes that they feel are important, and how people across Point Douglas have guided their efforts at every step. There was so much to learn in what Diane shared, but two key points stood out to me for anyone interested in working with communities for change
This year both the Tamarack Institute and New Zealand-based Inspiring Communities celebrate milestones (15 and 10 years respectively) in our efforts to empower, grow, support, connect and learn from diverse community-led change efforts. Following on from our co-authored Reflections on Community Change paper released last month, the Inspiring Communities team shares more on the process involved in crafting community-led development principles for a New Zealand context.
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How does a community lead change on its own terms? The Winnipeg Boldness Project, a research and development initiative in Winnipeg’s North End, is working to do just that. Guided by community wisdom and inspired by Social Lab approaches, their story is an example of what is possible for communities that are inspired to lead change.
