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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When Stephen Covey published Speed of Trust in 2006, it marked a recognition that relationships are important to mainstream organizations and that trustbuilding is key to mobilizing their value. As the social sector increasingly builds networks of organizations to learn; engage with diverse others; and, to speed up knowledge development, we see how these loose relationships have value. But what do we really know about building trust in networks structures that are less "hardwired" than formal organizations and how to work well in relationships without the defining bounds of role and structure?
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The other day I did the unthinkable. I went to Walmart.
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Deep River Ontario is a small community of less than 5,000 people nestled on the shores of the Ottawa River. A 2 hour drive northwest of Ottawa, it is home to the Chalk River Nuclear Research Laboratory, Canada's foremost nuclear research lab.
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Canadians take great pride in our history of innovating for the public good. Today there are a wide range of people, projects, networks, and organizations working in the social impact space across diverse sectors – ranging from enterprises and social service agencies to schools and community foundations.
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How do we make good decisions when trying to tackle tough social challenges? This has been a central concern of management experts, policy analysts and community developers for nearly 100 years.
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