About the Gathering
The Gathering is an annual pay-what-you-can event where Manitoba’s community builders connect, learn, and celebrate success.
It is open to all from staff of community organizations, to students, funders, civil servants, academics, or anyone interested in community development and community economic development.
For 24 years, Manitoba community builders have gathered every fall to learn from one another’s work, connect over a shared meal, and celebrate the challenging but necessary practice of building stronger communities.
In community work, we are called to collaborate: with our colleagues, stakeholders, funders, community members, or across movements. The Gathering helps to facilitate, solidify, and forge greater collaboration between and among community builders.
It has been a privilege for us at the Canadian CED Network to host this event, and to hold the stories and history of our community sector. Thank you to every single person who has participated, volunteered, coordinated, presented, worked, sponsored, provided feedback or contributed energy to this event. It continues to exist because of you.
Location and Date:
Our host location is St. John’s High School – 401 Church Avenue in Winnipeg.
We acknowledge the place in which we gather is on Treaty 1 territory, the homeland of the Red River Métis, and the ancestral lands of the Anishinaabe, Ininiwak, and Dakota Oyate peoples.
The Gathering will happen on Friday, October 23, 2026. Registration begins at 8:30 am, and the Opening begins at 9:00 am.
Check out the maps of the first floor and the third floor of the venue.
Transportation:
Check Winnipeg Transit for bus routes.
Carpool with other Gathering participants! Register with GoManitoba and contact on our carpool page.
Bike parking will be available! We have partnered with Bike Winnipeg for Bike Valet parking.
Bike Valet is available from 8:30am – 4:30 pm. Watch for signs near the main entrance at 401 Church Avenue.
Accessible parking spots are available. (Please indicate spaces needed by emailing )
Vehicle parking restrictions have been lifted for Church Avenue between Charles Street and Powers Street.
Please be advised that this does NOT allow for any vehicles to be parked in a Loading, No Parking, No Stopping (including rush hour and/or temporary no stopping), too close to a fire hydrant, stop sign or sidewalk.
Theme for 2026
Community Safety and Collective Well-Being: What Makes Us Safe
Across Manitoba, communities are navigating a time of growing complexity. Rising costs of living, housing pressures, climate uncertainty, political polarization, and increasing demands on community organizations are affecting our collective well-being. At the same time, communities continue to demonstrate resilience, innovation, and care in the face of these challenges.
Community builders know that safety is more than the absence of harm. Safety is rooted in strong relationships, secure housing, meaningful livelihoods, accessible supports, collective care, and communities where everyone can thrive.
Yet safety is not experienced equally. Colonialism, racism, and other forms of systemic inequity continue to shape who has access to opportunities, resources, and a sense of belonging. Building safe and healthy communities requires addressing these root causes while advancing reconciliation, racial justice, and community-led solutions.
Through the lens of Community Economic Development, Gathering participants will examine how we can address root causes of socio-economic issues, strengthen community resilience, advance justice and reconciliation, and build systems that prioritize people, communities, and the environment.
Together, we’ll explore important questions like:
- What makes individuals and communities truly safe?
- How can Community Economic Development strengthen collective well-being and resilience?
- What does prevention-focused, community-led safety look like in practice?
- How do we build stronger connections and shared solutions in an increasingly divided world?
- What role do justice, decolonization, and systems change play in creating safer communities for all?
- What would a truly decolonized vision of community safety and collective well-being look like in Manitoba, and what role can we play in bringing it to life?
Join us for the Gathering 2026 – Community Safety and Collective Well-Being: What Makes Us Safe – a one-of-a-kind annual event for Manitoba community builders.
The Gathering has been hosted for 24 years, originally a project of CCEDNet Manitoba and United Way Winnipeg. Now, CCEDNet Manitoba hosts the event with support from a group of fantastic community leaders from a variety of organizations.
The 2025 Gathering focused on transformative action – using Community Economic Development to confront the large threats in front of us.
