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How The Community and Local Businesses Can Benefit From Each Other

Posted by Brandon Howard on February 28, 2015

Local communities and businesses can greatly benefit from each other in a number of different ways. Often times I have noticed a business that is more involved in its local community, also has more value. I am not speaking of monetary value, but referencing the perceived value to the community as a partner. Reaching out to create partnerships among community organizations is not only a responsibility of a local businesses, but also of the community and or organization.Do you remember the days when local businesses supported youth and adult sports team? As a way of showing local support, businesses would put their logo on the local teams jerseys. This always provides a benefit to both the community partner, and the local business.

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Bringing Community to the Table - Revisited

Posted by Zoe Fleming on February 9, 2015

In 2011, Paul Born was interviewed by Hildy Gottlieb. The interview was Bringing Community to the Table. This is one of the first interviews I remember of Paul's.

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A New Model for Mobilizing Minority Communities

Posted by Russell Kueber & Mary Richardson on February 5, 2015

A Model Reflecting a Decade of Experiences and Successes

For more than ten years, minority English-speaking communities in the province of Quebec have been engaged in collective efforts to improve their health and vitality. As a minority linguistic community (13% of the total population) they face many challenges such as difficulties accessing essential services in their language; a sense of being socially excluded and stereotyped; and a lack of community leadership to affect change in a coordinated and proactive way.

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Metaphor as the Sail, Story as the Sea

Posted by Cameron Norman on February 2, 2015

Complexity is, by its very name and nature, a complex phenomenon to understand. Yet, many of the most urgent, challenging problems we face as a species – from climate change to social inequities and inequality through to health system sustainability – sit in the realm of the complex. Thus, if we are to make any positive shift in addressing threatening complex problems we need to be able to engage society in conversations about them and develop strategies to learn and adapt that work with complexity rather than fall into the trap of what Russ Ackoff called ‘doing the wrong thing, righter.’

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4 Careers with Big Community Impact

Posted by Brandon Howard on January 29, 2015

Sometimes, a job pays much more than just what’s in the paycheck. Millions of people have occupations that provide rewards that don’t show up on a W-2 form – the warmth of accomplishment, the knowledge that they are helping people, and the satisfaction of giving back to and improving their community.   For many of these jobs, the positives linger long after the workday ends. Let’s take a look at just four such careers:

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A Gift from a Stranger

Posted by Michael Jones on December 18, 2014

As we enter the season of celebration and gift-sharing, consider leaving a space at the table for the stranger: the one who communicates intangible gifts in the form of emotional truths about ourselves that we may not discover on our own. 

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