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.
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.
The Gathering 2026 — Community Safety and Collective Well-Being: What Makes Us Safe? — invites Manitoba community builders to explore safety as 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, 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?
You don’t want to miss the Gathering 2026!.
Please read the Call for Programming Proposals before completing the form.