The challenges we face with respect to building more affordable housing are complex to state the obvious, and resolving them calls for an integrated set of strategies that go far… Read more Affordable Housing is an Economic Problem →
We live in a world – especially in the western world – where it is just given that economic growth is a sacrosanct necessity in order to ensure continued prosperity.… Read more Rethinking Economic Growth →
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 →
Your freedom of choice (or mine) does not trump the human rights of another. Human rights are fundamentally and legislatively enshrined and set the stage for how we live together. Human rights are hardwired into our collective identity. The very act of challenging the human rights of another human being is, in effect, questioning or challenging who you are as a human being living with other human beings. In Alberta, legislation has been passed that will no longer allow child-free rental housing in the province. The fact that legislation was… Read more Freedom of Choice and Human Rights →
Such a simple question, four small words that get at the core of our community change work. It’s not a question confined to a step in a visioning or planning… Read more Why are we here? →
In July and August, I sought out individuals in my personal and professional network to contribute to a major paper I was writing on Collaborative Leadership and Co-Creating Cities of… Read more 35 Voices On Collaborative Leadership and Co-Creating Cities of the Future →
In an article written for Fast Company, Kaihan Krisppendorff, identifies four steps to building an effective social movement, which I have adapted below: 1. A community forms around a common… Read more Movement Building and Collective Impact →
Posting #1 in a series on Resource Development It’s tough out there for non-profits and social causes when it comes to raising money, especially money for core operations and services.… Read more Five Elements of Strategic Resource Development →
Complex and Simple By acknowledging that societal issues and solutions are complex, do we then believe complex solutions are the only options? Is it true that a complex issue cannot have a simple solution? * Data Data is neither good nor bad. It offers no explanation and on its own cannot provide a definitive sense of progress or under performance. We determine such judgement by holding pieces of data in comparison to one another. We are selective. We have to be, but what we select is also always about what… Read more Leanings toward heresy →
What a summit it was! 260 people from Canada, the United States, Denmark, Guatemala, Singpore, New Zealand and beyond, working and learning together, inspired by the likes of Al Etmanski (my favorite speaker at the event), Fay Hanleybrown, Stacey Stewart, and Karen Pittman – all of whom gave keynote addresses. Dozens of workshops were led by Paul Born, Mark Cabaj, Liz Weaver, and other Tamarack learning leaders. I was honoured to be one of two artists in residence, doing music and spoken word throughout the week and to be able to give two… Read more Tamarack 2015 Community Impact Summit. Phew! →
