BLOGS
Let's Clear The Constraints to Innovation — Volunteerism, Emerging Leadership and Funding
Now is the moment for community organizations to open their mandates wider to citizen input and involvement. Individuals and groups can take the lead on initiatives that impact their own destinies. It’s not an easy feat but is achievable when organizations that are innovation-ready are supported with the right guidance.
When local emerging leaders are inspired and supported they can embrace opportunities to innovate.. Then, challenges themselves can become a kind of inspiration; ones that invite deep inquiry, new connections, energized conversations and small dynamic actions that can be taken by everyone affected. The community’s capacity to act collectively is enhanced and its resilience becomes stronger.
Given the degree and complexity of the unsettled nature of our social communities, the practice of community development requires innovation. Our models for change and the way we design, organize and govern our interventions need to go back on the drafting table. We are seeing a new kind of organization and different forms of community emerge.
Reports and stories of past work
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Blueprint for Resilience — Disaster response lessons from community organizations–Fort McMurray Fire
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Stories from people working in the community sector.
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In collaboration with the Manitoba Agricultural Societies, four community engagement sessions as a central component of building their strategic plans, social capital and leadership.
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Codesign approaches to reducing vulnerability to falls, medication mismanagement, and other triggers of decline.
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Enriches: Reducing social isolation of marginalized senior caregiver. Resources and tools from a team of Developmental Evaluators. for the. An initiative to Reduce social isolation
Articles
These articles and reports capture lessons learned from over 60 projects that applied our Developmental Evaluation and Action Research methodology (DEAR).
Developmental Evaluation 201 — Key practices identified and developed through a three-year multi-site case study involving developmental evaluators at six sites across the country.
The Art of the Nudge: Five Practices for Developmental Evaluators — The Canadian Journal of Program Evaluation Vol. 27 The study presents five practices found central to the art of the nudge: (a) practicing servant leadership, (b) sensing program energy, (c) supporting common spaces, (d) untying knots iteratively, and (e) paying attention to structure. These practices can help developmental evaluators detect and support opportunities for learning and adaptation leading to right-timed feedback.
Renewal of a Youth-Serving Organizations: Lessons and Stories Shared Shared through an Eco-cycle Metaphor — Voices from the Voluntary Sector: Perspectives on Leadership Challenges
University of Toronto Press, 2011
Explores the renewal of conventional youth-serving organizations. Youth-infused and community based management interventions founded on the principles of youth inclusion and empowering leadership are discussed.
Conversations Worth Having. Managing complex change in the space between routine and innovation — An Advance Care Planning project with Hospice Waterloo.
Newsletters
Newsletter #1 Theme: Young Chefs. Read here.
Newsletter #2 Theme: Cooking for Others. Read here.
Newsletter #3: Theme: Looking back. The first 3 years. Read here.