Tamarack - An Institute for Community Engagement

Learn the secrets of successful social innovations with two of Canada’s leading social innovators!

Al Etmanski has been a leading advocate for people with disabilities and their families in Canada for more than two decades. He is widely recognized as a visionary thinker in areas of social policy, community development ...and individualizing services for people with disabilities. Al is an author, advocacy consultant and social inventor who specializes in finding innovative, non-governmental solutions to social problems. He was the Executive Director of the BC Association for the Mentally Retarded (now BCACL – the BC Association for Community Living) for eight years before joining with Jack Collins and Vickie Cammack to found PLAN.

Vickie Cammack is the Executive Director of the PLAN Institute and is also a co-founder of PLAN and co-author of Safe and Secure - Six Steps to Creating a Personal Future Plan for People with Disabilities. She is a recognized Canadian source of inspiration, innovative ideas and demonstrable solutions related to community, citizenship and disability. Her innovative approaches to leadership development, social network facilitation and social accounting are key ingredients in her work of taking social inventions to scale.

Join us for this practical and inspiring conversation as Al and Vickie share the six elements of successful innovation.

For more information on this free seminar and how to register follow this link:
http://tamarackcommunity.ca/events/subscribe_activity.php?eventid=81&offsite=Read More

Topic: Collaborating with Business
Speakers: John Weiser, Garry Loewen

What is the potential of the business sector to help address social issues and assist in renewing marginalized communities? Garry Loewen and John Weiser believe that business can play a powerful role in communities.

Loewen’s latest publication, Collab...orating with the Business Sector, identifies how collaborating with business can enhance social change outcomes and provides tips on meeting the challenge that such collaboration creates.

This August Loewen will join John Weiser, co-author of “Conversations with Disbelievers” and the lead author of the Ford Foundation’s groundbreaking report, Part of the Solution: Leveraging Business and Markets for Low-Income People in a conversation on engaging the business sector in social change efforts.

They’ll share inspiring stories of contributions businesses have made to social change initiatives and supply some practical tools for engaging the business sector. Don’t miss out on this practical seminar.

Register today for this free seminar to be part of the conversation!

http://tamarackcommunity.ca/events/subscribe_activity.php?eventid=82&offsite=Read More

Topic: Neighbourhood Revitalization
Speakers: Lyse Brunet, Ira Barbell

In Montreal’s Saint-Michel neighbourhood, Centraide/United Way of Greater Montreal has played a unique transformative role, intentionally setting out to demonstrate and test a new way of working with communities and to explore a new role for itself as... an organization committed to reducing poverty and social exclusion.

The implications of this changing role for Centraide are significant. It has moved away from being primarily a fundraising and redistribution organization, to become an advocate for and partner in community building.

What role can an organization play in supporting community action? And what is the implication of that involvement for the organization itself and for citizens in a neighbourhood?

Join Lyse Brunet, Vice-President for Social Development at Centraide/United Way of Greater Montreal, and Ira Barbell, Senior Associate at the Annie E. Casey Foundation, and a key player in Making Connections, the Foundation’s flagship neighbourhood-based initiative as they discuss these questions and share their experience with community transformation.

This free seminar is part of Tamarack’s Practical Visionaries series where we speak with those who not only envision a better future for communities, but also create the means to help us get there.
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Collaboration is more than coordination or partnership. It is a way of working that engages and builds the will of people in a community to work together to bring about their desired future.

The 2008 Communities Collaborating Institute is targeted to individuals from a cross section of organizations using collaborative... and engagement processes to find new solutions to the complex issues that face communities.

As a collaborative leader, we encourage you to join our learning community.

The Institute is designed for those who:

- Desire to find new ways to engage and transform your community
- Are engaged in diverse community renewal work
- Work on issues such as poverty reduction, crime prevention, the well-being of urban Aboriginal people, youth engagement, the arts, environmental restoration, community health and related community building activities.
- Manage or lead a collaboration
- Volunteer with, or are a member of, a collaborative roundtable
- Are contemplating the start-up of a collaboration
- Are a key supporter of collaborative work, including business, funders, and national, provincial and regional government, and intermediary organizations

We encourage you to register to the Communities Collaborating Instiute! For more information, please visit http://tamarackcommunity.ca/cci2008.htmlRead More