Our current systems, how we govern, fund, and organize community work, were built for a different era. Over the past 50 years, and especially since COVID, times have changed. Now, these systems are showing cracks: people feel disconnected, local economies are struggling, and natural systems are under pressure.
Join Tamarack’s Ruté Ojigbo and Heather Keam in conversation with author Matt Biggar, whose new book Connected to Place: Regenerating Nature, Communities, and Local Economies through Systems Change explores how we can reimagine the systems that shape our lives. Together, we’ll explore what isn’t working, why, and what a new, place-based approach could look like.
Dive deep into how individuals, organizations, and governments can embrace new roles in creating regenerative, thriving communities and regions.
Matt Biggar. Founder, Connected to Place
Matt has thirty years of professional experience as a facilitator, author, speaker, researcher, organizational leader, and educator. He has managed dozens of projects and led and advised successful strategic initiatives throughout his career. Matt's various roles have been in the service of advancing equity, building community, and regenerating nature.
Heather Keam. Consulting Director of ABCD, Tamarack Institute
Heather Keam is the Consulting Director of Asset-Based Community Development and Belonging at Tamarack Institute. She has a passion for the power of people and believes that people and communities are the solutions to local problems. She believes that in building a sense of community belonging, people feel connected to their community, and their place within it and get involved in decision-making. She also believes that municipalities need to shift the way they show up in community from doing “for” to supporting communities to do for themselves.
Ruté Ojigbo. Associate Director, Digital Sales, Engagement and Learning, Tamarack Institute