Mark Holmgren
Mark Holmgren is the Executive Director of the Edmonton Community Development Company.
A recent headline: “Charity watchdog urges donors to think twice before giving to Calgary Flames Foundation.” Read it here if you haven’t already. The article does not paint the Flames Foundation in a positive light. That said, I am not here to debate if the foundation is a cash hoarder or an expensive charity. I am wondering why this is the article the Edmonton Journal chose to write. There are so many incredible stories to tell about the lives changed by charitable work. Stories about people who overcame racism, homelessness,… Read more Why do we love bad stories about charities? →
<repost> The word “innovation” conjures up positive imagery. We see it as something we want to be known for. It’s creative, desirable, inspiring, and we sense that if we can… Read more The Way of Innovation →
I have written in the past about what I call the pendulum swing or the bandwagon effect. I think this is what has happened with respect to collective impact over… Read more Collective Impact as Uprising →
I have always been tall and husky. I was my current height, 6 foot 7 inches, in my freshman year of high school, and I was a basketball player and… Read more My Basketball Coach →
There’s so much I wish would change. I am sure you feel the same way, too. Problem is sometimes what I want to change are those that would, if they… Read more To not be a racist you have to know you are a racist. →
Posted first on the blog of the Edmonton Community Development Company, where I am the Executive Director In my first three months as the executive director of the Edmonton Community… Read more Development as Community Strategy →
Some days are rich. I meet and talk with incredible people, people working hard to make positive change in their (in our) community. Yesterday I met with a delightful woman who is working with others to craft innovative approaches to ending racism. Ending racism is one of the game-change strategies of End Poverty Edmonton. Can you imagine how much better life would be if people celebrated our differences rather than lashed out at them? I met with another inspiring woman who is leading major development in our city, dedicated to… Read more Some Days Are Rich! →
Cross posted – also available at http://www.edmontoncdc.org Please consider following that blog if you want to keep up to date on my work at the Edmonton Community Development Company. ——– Strong Towns is an American movement that a colleague turned me on to the other day, and it is not only a provocative movement, it offers an array of new thinking about the rules that cities and towns have when it comes to development, whether housing and business development or the inclusion of city services in an area like a… Read more Automobile-Centric Development and Parking Requirements →
I just read in the paper Canada is changing its national anthem to make it gender neutral though I prefer “gender inclusive.” Real change means changing our symbols and our… Read more O Canada and the Mathematics of Change →
Funders should apply to community agencies to fund them. Can you get your head around that? What would that look like? Why would that approach be more impactful and cost-effective… Read more Upside Down Thinking: Funders should be Rebels →
When we look to another for wisdom, it is not data that we seek. We want more than information; we need more. We deserve more. Data sends signals, whether standing… Read more Data and Wisdom →
