Program 2020

We’re all deeply missing connection. While in the depths of Code Red, the need for collaboration in our communities is more urgent than ever.

At the same time, many of our communities are deeply practiced in resilience, solidarity, community building, and change through times of crisis.

Through the pandemic, we know you’re asking big questions: how to continue serving our communities when the reality of our work is constantly changing? How do we continue to weave our movements, and fight for a more equitable future on the many crises existing pre-pandemic? How do we envision a future when the present itself is overwhelming? Where does our economy and society go from here?

The Opening Plenary will ground us in considering these questions as we look ahead to a week of virtual programming. Traditional Indigenous ceremony and teachings will guide our opening, followed by words of wisdom in exploring the theme of Community Building in Times of Crisis & Change from keynote speaker Niigaanwewidam James Sinclair.

Speakers

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  Elder Mae Louise Campbell

  Clan Mothers Healing Village and Knowledge Centre
  Elder and Co-Founder

The ongoing Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement has ignited wide-spread conversations worldwide about racism, equity, and inclusion. Winnipeg saw likely the largest march and direct action since the 1919 General Strike on June 5, 2020 in support of BLM and police defunding. Many organizations and businesses shared information via social media platforms and launched solidarity statements with the BLM movement. The purpose of this session is to explore what community builders and organizations are doing (and can do) toward anti-racism internally and in community. What are strong examples of anti-racist practice and action that organizations have undertaken? What call ins/call outs are necessary to strengthen equity and inclusion in our movements and sector to help build the future we want?

Best laid plans often go awry – including program evaluations in the time of COVID-19. As organizations shift or suspend programming, we have to adapt evaluation frameworks and methods, reconsider how we engage evaluation stakeholders, and be able to talk about the changes we’ve made to programs.

Start your Gathering morning off in a good way. Join Jolene Wilson, Restoring the Balance Coordinator at West Central Women’s Resource Centre, for a morning virtual smudge on Wednesday, Thursday, & Friday.

Speakers

• 

  Jolene Wilson

  West Central Women’s Resource Centre
  Restoring the Balance Coordinator

Across Manitoba and further, government has started to interact with community builders to fund and finance your essential work in different ways. In this session, current trends in funding and financing will be unpacked and explored. This will be an opportunity for community builders to connect over some important questions such as: What arrangements with service providers or community-based organizations has the province made to do this work? What learnings can peers share to support each other? What cautions must be noted and shared?

Speakers

• 

  Michael Redhead Champagne

  Fearless R2W
  President

The pandemic has exacerbated existing rates of food insecurity across Manitoba. Government and community responses have largely focused on emergency food relief. However, this problem of insufficient and inadequate food is not about a lack of food but rather a problem of inequitable economic access. Let’s seize this moment of transition and temporary income support programs to advocate for long term systemic change – to reduce food insecurity beyond the pandemic.

How do we work together to advocate for the province we want? Finding a common agenda, coalition building, and working with government are all essential parts of our efforts to achieve our economic, social, and environmental vision for Manitoba. This is an introductory learning opportunity to learn the ins and outs of policy, why it matters, and how to advocate for change.

Speakers

• 

  Michael Barkman

  Canadian CED Network
  Manitoba Network Manager

Bring the beverage of your choice and your best-worst program or project tales. This work isn’t easy. We often have big ideas, take big risks, and they don’t always work out. This is a chance to trade battle tales and lessons learned with some of the people you met along the way.

Start your Gathering morning off in a good way. Join Jolene Wilson, Restoring the Balance Coordinator at West Central Women’s Resource Centre, for a morning virtual smudge on Wednesday, Thursday, & Friday.

Speakers

• 

  Jolene Wilson

  West Central Women’s Resource Centre
  Restoring the Balance Coordinator

Community economic development is often explained through the concept of the ‘leaky bucket economy’ — where wealth and resources are pouring through holes and cracks created by economic ownership far from communities, leaving many people and helpful organizations without everything they need. Finance is a really leaky bucket. And, the financial system including banks, investments, pensions & savings funds, philanthropic funds, and other tools can be contributors to inequality and discrimination. Social finance has recently taken center stage as an innovative way of tackling these challenges. But this conversation can get stuck on particular models, like social impact bonds. It often feels really remote and complicated or just impossible to engage in when we’re so busy working in community. This session is an opportunity to join folks involved in social finance and the federal Investment Readiness Program from various perspectives. We’ll explore the potential and pitfalls for big change if we can plug this leaky bucket with community-owned models and bold social finance ideas to pour finance back into our communities.

Speakers

• 

  Sarah Leeson-Klym

  Canadian CED Network
  Regional Networks Director

Calls to fund community-led safety solutions have been loud this year. There are strong examples of safety initiatives based in anti-oppression, equity, and CED in our community. This facilitated dialogue and training session will look at what community-based organizations have done to prioritize safety for community members and staff.

This session will help link big conversations about a Green New Deal, a Just Transition, and Climate Justice, with community work. How does your work relate to big change needed to address climate change? How can community-based organizations and the climate movement work together? How to support and implement practical solutions in the here-and-now while also working for large-scale policy change?

Speakers

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  Hannah Muhajarine

  Climate Reality Project Canada
  National Campaign Manager

• 

  Jessica Floresco

  Mother Earth Recycling
  General Manager

The past year has been hard. Sometimes the thing you need to put a smile on your face is to hear someone say “Hey, You’re Doing Great”. And, sometimes the thing to turn that smile into a grin is to hear about all the great things going on in our communities over and over. This session will help you catch up on all those connecting times you missed at events and meetings over the past few months, focusing on the stories of hope, resilience, and innovation through crisis. Come to casually connect with others working to strengthen our communities, share stories, and see how you might get involved.

Start your Gathering morning off in a good way. Join Jolene Wilson, Restoring the Balance Coordinator at West Central Women’s Resource Centre, for a morning virtual smudge on Wednesday, Thursday, & Friday.

Speakers

• 

  Jolene Wilson

  West Central Women’s Resource Centre
  Restoring the Balance Coordinator

Drawing on current examples in our community and across the country, this session examines the role of online campaigning and digital organizing in effective change-making initiatives. It presents tools and approaches for engaging and mobilizing people around political issues and movements. Participants will develop their understanding of the principles and best practices that lead to effective online organizing and the incorporation of digital components into broader grassroots and community efforts.

Speakers

• 

  Joseph Wasylycia-Leis

  University of Winnipeg
  Campus Sustainability Coordinator

Through the past four days, community builders have come together, strengthening solidarity and belonging. Gathering learning and connecting sessions have helped deepen our ability to work collaboratively and sharpened our understanding of challenges, priorities, and vision for our community building work.

While 2021 will be challenging for our movements, both the need and opportunity for the work and the vision of community builders will be huge. The pandemic has exposed the deep inequities of our economy and society while giving urgency to the need to continue our work building local economies that strengthen communities and benefit everyone. Now is the time to make sure our movements are collaborating and working together.

During the Closing Plenary and final Connecting Session of the Gathering, we’ll hear reflections from community leaders and give space to individual reflection on learning from the past four days. We’ll look collectively ahead to 2021 while weaving people, ideas, and action together to continue to build community power into the next year.