Supporting the Black Social Services Sector with Agapi Gessesse, ED CEE Centre for Young Black Professionals
Release Date: 03/04/2021
Constant Strategic Innovation at the Centre for Social Innovation, or CSI at CSI.
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In this conversation with Tonya Surman, CEO of the Centre for Social Innovation, or CSI, we hear about the effect of COVID on their core social purpose coworking space and significant strategic changes happening at CSI. We see the value of CSi (and other nonprofits) owning real estate, unpack SI Canada’s new role, learn about their leadership on an Impact Dashboard with a Common Approach, and a pilot social enterprise in Muskoka for healing, connection and learning for impact leaders…and much more. Resources Tonya Surman : Centre for Social...
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In this episode, we talk to Paulina Cameron, a Globe and Mail ’22 Changemaker and CEO of The Forum, a Vancouver-based charity teaching, mentoring and supporting women entrepreneurs across Canada to take their businesses to the next level. We hear about the challenges and opportunities the organization and women entrepreneurs faced through COVID. We also hear about the systemic issues women entrepreneurs face, and work The Forum is doing in both supporting women to overcome these barriers, while at the same time providing training to banks to address systemic biases. ...
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Catalyzing Social and Environmental Change: a conversation with SI Canada’s Andrea Nemtin
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Our guest today is Andrea Nemtin, Executive Director of SI Canada. Sally and Andrea talk about what Social Innovation is, the history of the field in Canada, and how Social Innovation Canada (SI Canada) came to be. Andrea talks about the priorities of the organization as our country emerges from COVID, and how solutions to the complex challenges of social justice and climate change can be catalyzed and aligned through education, intentional networking at local and national levels across all sectors, and storytelling. Resources: Social Innovation...
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Successfully bringing Indigenous ways to a traditionally science-based culture at Sierra Club BC, with Executive Director, Hannah Askew
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Hannah Askew started as Executive Director at Sierra Club BC in late 2018 with a mandate to bring an Indigenous lens to the work of Sierra Club BC, alongside the traditional scientific lens. As a lawyer, prior to this role, Hannah practiced public interest environmental law and was deeply involved in learning from Indigenous communities about their systems of law and governance. You’ll hear that Hannah is a big proponent of the McConnell Foundation’s Innoweave program “Impact and Strategic Clarity”, which they completed in 2019. It’s how they developed...
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Gord Downie’s Legacy of #ReconciliACTION!
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Sarah Midanik, Executive Director of the Gord Downie & Chanie Wenjack Fund shares a message of hope, as she reflects on the important work of reconciliation requiring us all, and non-Indigenous Canadians in particular, to take action. We hear about the important work to be done to address systemic racism and how this national charity found a way, working from the ground up, to address the history not previously being told in the school curriculum, providing tools and resources into some 6000 schools within 4 years. And that’s just one example. Resources Gord Downie...
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Insights from Toronto’s Reconciliation Action Plan
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Selina Young, Director of the City of Toronto’s first Indigenous Affairs Office speaks with us about Toronto’s Reconciliation Action Plan, recently unanimously approved by Council. We hear about the process, informed by various Indigenous community leaders, which pushed Selina and her team to revise the plan, ensuring big, bold action towards reconciliation. It’s also made clear that this plan is not for Indigenous folks to undertake, but rather actions for non-Indigenous folks to be taking, namely by the City and its some 38k people, leveraging its role as service provider,...
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Creating an increased and lasting sense of civic agency in youth
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Veronika Berlicki, co-founder and leader of CityHive, shares how they are transforming the way young people engage in shaping their cities. Based in Metro Vancouver, this 5-year old nonprofit has revisited its initial strategic plans, to assess the impact its been making and see what changes that might mean for the way forward. They’ve engaged key stakeholders along the way and had some tough conversations as a team, looking at the change they want to be making and considering the trade-offs. They’ve developed a Theory of Change that is not only guiding their work but providing...
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Catalyzing Local Action on Climate Change through Collective Impact
Impact Conversations
Bianca Caramento is the Manager of the Bay Area Climate Change Council, leading the collective impact initiative to advance and accelerate climate change action in the cities of Burlington and Hamilton. She shares with us the structure behind this collective, with her “backbone” role housed in the Centre for Climate Change Management at Mohawk College, supporting a collective of 14 community organizations. We hear about their Theory of Change – the master plan for reducing green house gases in the community by 50% by 2030, towards becoming net zero cities by...
info_outlineThe Black Social Services Sector, as Agapi describes it, isn’t getting the attention it needs. The CEE (Careers, Education, Empowerment) Centre for Young Black Professionals is taking that on. Hear how they are supporting 3B organizations – that’s Black-focused, Black-led (including Board representation), and Black-serving organizations, including many that are not registered charities.
In addition to supporting the sector, CEE provides direct programming, targeting particular industriesand creating demand-led workforce development solutions, with high retention rates. These programs provide not just training, but person-centred wrap-around supports, considering a trauma-informed approach to Anti-Black Racism and an approach culturally- relevant to Black Canadians. These programs are also being made available to other organizations to deliver in their local communities.
Finally, CEE is tackling policy change, at all levels of government, recognizing that change at the individual level is not enough.
This podcast will shed some light on how you or your organization could be supporting (or ignoring) the Black Community.
Resources
CEE Centre for Young Black Professionals: https://ceetoronto.org
Kitchen Masters and other CEE Programs : https://ceetoronto.org/programs/
DESTA: https://destabyn.org
Network for the Advancement of Black Communities (NABC): https://networkabc.ca
Black to the Future: https://blacktothefutureto.com
Unfunded: Black Communities Overlooked by Canadian Philanthropy: https://forblackcommunities.org/assets/docs/Unfunded-Report.pdf
Agapi Gessesse: https://www.linkedin.com/in/agessesse
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Thank you for listening to Impact Conversations with Lynn Fergusson & Sally Fazal
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Find out more about our work at Social Impact Advisors: https://socialimpactadvisors.ca