Pause

About the EpisodeIn our first, and maybe only, B side episode, ABSI Connect and AB Seed staff/members discuss what the social economy and social innovation is and how they go together like peanut butter and jelly. You’ll hear a bit about both the organizations as a whole, what their individual fields look like, and where the overlap and connection points are between the two of them. About AB SeedAB Seed (Alberta Social Economy Ecosystem Development) is a collaborative of social enterprise and social finance leaders seeking to develop a strong social economic ecosystem in Alberta.Resource Links* AB Seed: https://www.ab-seed.ca/

About the EpisodeBringing yet another new flavour to this season of Pause, this episode features Matthew Taylor, manager of Communities United (at United Way), who shares two stories with us. The first about the inception of Communities United and the second about how running a small pop-up market in the dead of winter with a sky dancer bloomed into their program Market Ready. With both stories taking the arch of fizzle (or rather starting as a small sizzle) to a full blown sizzle. About Communities UnitedCommunities United is a collaborative initiative in five Edmonton Neighbourhoods that is building connections and activities to strengthen the lives of individuals, families, and communities. Resource Links* Communities United website: ​​https://cuyeg.org/ (https://cuyeg.org/)* About their Market Ready program: https://cuyeg.org/local-economic-development/new-market-ready-business-program-stirs-up-excitement-for-local-entrepreneurs/ (https://cuyeg.org/local-economic-development/new-market-ready-business-program-stirs-up-excitement-for-local-entrepreneurs/).

About the Episode

Bringing a new flavour to this season of Pause, this episode features Miki Stricker-Talbot, an intrapreneur with the City of Edmonton, who shares two warm-up techniques from her facilitation practices. With more of a tutorial style ‘how to’ episode, her and I walk through both techniques talking about what they are, demonstrating examples of how you can use them in your own practice and the impact and importance of them both.

The first technique is a way to really check in with each other and see how we’re actually doing. It allows folks the opportunity give a surface answer if they don’t feel like sharing, but also space for a deeper answer if people are wanting to share.

The second technique was created in collaboration with her daughter. This technique helps people recognize that we are physical beings and brings people into a different way of being together.

Both allow a space for connection, camaraderie, humanness, and curiosity.

 

Resource Links

* Check out this blog post from Miki Stricker-Talbot that she previously wrote for ABSI Connect https://www.absiconnect.ca/news/2018/12/12/unicorns-in-government?rq=miki

About the Episode

We tried something new with this episode and Brandy and Michelle were true innovators stepping into uncharted territory. Brandy Old is the Manager of Agility at the University of Lethbridge, and a few years ago embarked on the journey of Indigenizing the campus grounds at U of L: now known as the Iniskim Campus Ecology Project. The goal of the project was to revitalize campus grounds with traditional Indigenous plants while creating a space for the community to learn about Blackfoot culture, traditions, and land practices. She graciously shares the stumbles she had along the way and the learnings that came from them.

Michelle Hogue is Cree Metis from Saskatchewan and she is an Associate Professor and the Coordinator of Indigenous Student Success cohort program at U of L. Her work is about enabling indigenous academic success in the space of bridging cultures both in Canada and Australia. She listened to Brandy’s story and shared her perspective on it as well as other thoughts pertaining to the subject.

About the Episode

What a treat it was to have James Stauch, a phenomenal storyteller, on this episode of Pause. James is the Director of the Institute for Community Prosperity at Mount Royal University. The Institute runs co-curricular and community focused learning programs primarily to connect students to broader community and social change initiatives.

The story he shared takes us back 12 years or so and into the northern parts of Canada. He was a part of a group that noticed a gap in the education system, that being there were few opportunities for advanced post-secondary education in the north which resulted in many students having to travel south for many years to access that level of education, and in a way that was not either culturally resonant or directly applicable to a northern context. They undertook research, system mapping, and communicating with the people who lived in northern communities. When it came time to “pass the project off” or let it start rolling into this grassroots movement, the boat hit some rocky waters. The realization at this point became “How much change can an external change agent really drive before it becomes inauthentic?”

 

Resource Links

* Is it time for a northern university? Article from Northern Public Affairs: http://www.northernpublicaffairs.ca/index/archives-volume-1-issue-1/education-is-it-time-for-a-northern-university/ (http://www.northernpublicaffairs.ca/index/archives-volume-1-issue-1/education-is-it-time-for-a-northern-university/ )

* Momentum Builds for an Inuit University: https://www.uarctic.org/news/2015/5/momentum-builds-for-inuit-university-in-nunavut/ (https://www.uarctic.org/news/2015/5/momentum-builds-for-inuit-university-in-nunavut/)

* Yukon College is now Yukon University: https://www.yukonu.ca/news/202005/yukon-college-now-yukon-university (https://www.yukonu.ca/news/202005/yukon-college-now-yukon-university)

In this episode, Diane chats about The Winnipeg Boldness Project, how their theory of change guides the way they serve the community, and shares the story of one of their prototypes.

About the Episode

It was incredible to connect with Anita Kemp and Dr. Amanda Williams to chat about the Women Entrepreneurship Knowledge Hub (WEKH). During our conversation they also pointed out that it was just in time for International Women’s Day on March 8, 2021. How fitting!

WEKH is an organization that is challenging the stereotypes of women entrepreneurs through many different initiatives including:

Sharing the stories of successful women owned businesses

Mapping the entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystem

Sharing resources widely on their website

Collecting and sharing data

Identifying who’s doing what, what’s working, and what are some of the promising practices.

In this episode they chat about the research they’ve conducted on women’s entrepreneurship in Alberta along with the intricate stories that were woven within the data about women entrepreneurs.

About the Guests

Anita Kemp is the Alberta program lead for the Women Entrepreneurship Knowledge Hub. She is an entrepreneur and life long learner at heart who quit her job in the corporate world of finance to start her own business.

Dr. Amanda Williams is an assistant professor in the School of Communication Studies at Mount Royal University. She is a key faculty member involved in the Alberta hub of WEKH. She has her toes in many pockets of research around women’s entrepreneurship both locally and globally. She is a member of the Canadian Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) team and a research fellow for the Centre for Innovation Studies. She has published many reports on the state of entrepreneurship that can be found at www.thecis.ca.

Resource Links

 

https://wekh.ca/

http://thecis.ca/

https://wekh.ca/research/gem-canada-report-on-womens-entrepreneurship-in-alberta-2017/

https://www.mtroyal.ca/AboutMountRoyal/MediaRoom/News/wekh-alberta-regional-hub.htm

What a hoot it was to have MelVee X and Tito Gomez on the show. They are both a part of the Artist as Changemaker (AAC) project that was created in partnership with the Trico Changemakers Studio and Calgary Arts Development. The project is an initiative to expedite the capacity of socially engaged artists to create meaningful social change. You can find more information here: https://www.tricochangemakersstudio.ca/artist-as-changemaker

MelVee X  is a multidisciplinary artist and creative professional based in Mohkinstsis (Calgary AB, Canada). Her primary means of expression are spoken word poetry, burlesque performance and photography – what she dubs ‘The MelVee Trifecta.’ You can find out more about her along with her portfolio at: https://melveeyyc.wordpress.com/ and you can find more information about her business ar https://mvxstudios.com/

Tito Gomez is a filmmaker, storyteller, and stand up comedian living in Calgary AB and boy did he deliver on the stand up comedian during this episode! You can catch some of his films online with these links:

The Healing (American Indian Film Festival, Indigenous Film Festival, Red Nation Film Festival, Calgary International Film Festival). https://youtu.be/tQckFO7ZiR8

Love Of Two - Telus Storyhive (Mesa International Film Festival, LA Skins Film Festival, Victoria Film Festival, Canadian diversity Film Festival) https://youtu.be/BJhlcz6mzBQ

Something ain't right. https://youtu.be/Sfz7xjPHs3Y

We’re shaking things up once again for this season of Pause. This time we’re chatting about social innovation techniques and the stories of how they sizzled or fizzled!

If you’re interested in being a guest on the show, please reach out to Elise ([email protected]) with a few details about yourself and your story.

You can check out our past episode on your favourite listening platform or on our website. (https://www.absiconnect.ca/podcast)

In this episode, we have Meredith Perich joining us from Momentum. Momentum is a community economic development organization that uses economic approaches to alleviate poverty in Calgary. Meredith’s question is a two part question, two sides to one coin, one side being negative and the other being positive. One the one hand, the pandemic has created incredible demonstrations of collaboration and innovation, but on the other hand it's also highlighted a lot of inequity, where we’re seeing that our systems really aren't set up to support everyone.

 

 

More Into:

About Momentum: https://momentum.org/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIv7HE6sLf6wIVrx6tBh3gTQcjEAAYASAAEgJYUPD_BwE

 

 

This episode was produced by Alberta Social Innovation Connect. You can learn more about our network, find our newsletter, get inspired by and connected to other Albertan changemakers by visiting our website: www.absiconnect.ca (http://www.absiconnect.ca). We’d also love to feature your big question on a future episode! Find us at absiconnect.ca/get-involved (http://absiconnect.ca/get-involved) for more information on how to be a guest.

Thank you to the students of The Virtual School Project for the land acknowledgments. For more information on the Virtual School Project you can contact Julia Dalman at [email protected].

We’d like to thank our funding partner the Suncor Energy Foundation, producer and editor Elise Martinoski of ABSI Connect, and theme music creator Eily Aurora.