Tamarack's Tele-learning Seminar Series runs once every month at 12:00 p.m. EDT so that people can participate from coast-to-coast. Tele-learning events are designed to highlight either an area of work in which Tamarack is currently involved (through its various projects) or to highlight the work of people and organizations we admire.

Tele-learning seminars are via telephone conference and are free (though long distance charges will apply). When you register for a seminar we send you dial-in information and preliminary material for you to review. Post-seminar, we provide you with links and further resources for learning.

People often connect on their own, while others use the opportunity to gather a group of community members to learn and explore the theme together.

Register today for our next tele-learning seminar!

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2008 Tele-learning Seminars

The Story of Somewhere - Eric Young speaks passionately about the need for a new narrative around community and shares his sense of the essential nature of community, the longing for community that is so palpable today, and the need for new ways of engaging together, even when our values and beliefs are very different. Learn more here.

Artful Leadership - Michael Jones, inspired speaker, facilitator and pianist/composer talks about the potential for a different kind of leadership based on the imagination and the capacity to awaken to the commons, where we can recognize what is universal and speak of our deepest aspirations. Learn more here.

A Great Time for Social Innovation - Al Etmanski and Vicki Cammack of the PLAN Institute share their excitement about the great potential for social innovation and change in today’s world. They discuss the Six Elements of Social Innovation that they have identified in over two decades of advocacy for people with disabilities and their families. Learn more here.

Community Conversations - Paul Born and Sandra Zagon explore the importance of community conversations, and look at informative and inspiring examples of community engagement and collaboration, with exciting tips to help you engage your community in creating and implementing a vision for positive change. Learn more here.

Engaging the Business Sector in Social Change Efforts - John Weiser and Garry Loewen discuss the role that businesses can play when addressing social issues. John and Garry share inspiring stories of contributions that businesses have made and offer practical ways to engage the business sector in social change efforts. Learn more here.

Transforming Community: The Centraide (United Way) Experience - Lyse Brunet, Dal Brodhead and Ira Barbell share the story of Centraide’s transformation into an advocate for and partner in community building and consider the role an organization can play in a community. Learn more about the new ways we can work with communities here.

Urban Nation: Give Power Back to the Cities - With the publication of his new book Urban Nation, Alan Broadbent, Chairman of the Maytree Foundation, shares with us his plan to maximize our economy and our cultural and social structure, as well as to reconnect us to our government and nationhood. Urban Nation is inspiring community thinkers, fuelling discussion amongst politicians and igniting the kind of controversy that leads to action. Learn more about the role and challenges our nation's cities face here.

2007 Tele-learning Seminars

Collaborative Communities of Practice - Cultivating communities of practice is increasingly recognized as the most effective way for organizations to address the knowledge challenges they face. Etienne Wenger is a globally recognized thought leader in this field and shares his thoughts on learning, knowledge and collaborative practice. Learn more about communities of practice here.

Collaboration in a Chaotic World - If we understood how life organizes, how might we organize differently? In Leadership and the New Science, Margaret Wheatley establishes a fundamentally new approach to thinking about organization and collaboration. Learn more about leadership and collaboration in a chaotic world here.

Power & Community Collaborations - What is the link between power and collaboration? When we consider powerfulness and its implications to communities, we must also be prepared to look at the role played by a sense of powerfulness. Kathleen Kevany, Director of Vibrant Communities, explores power and its importance in community collaborations. Learn more here.

Making Collaboration Work - The collaborative premise says: If you bring the appropriate people together in constructive ways with good information, they will create authentic visions and strategies for addressing the shared concerns of the organization and community. But what really makes collaboration work? Join Paul Born in conversation with David Chrislip, co-author of Collaborative Leadership, to explore what collaboration means, why it's important and what makes it work. Learn more here.

Measuring Learning: Developmental Evaluation - How many program evaluation reports are simply placed on a shelf, never to be read or used to shape change? Too many, perhaps - but that doesn't have to always be the case. Michael Quinn Patton shares with us that evaluations can evolve as learning occurs; they do not have to take place in situations where goals and outcomes are pre-set. Developmental evaluation does not replace other forms of evaluation. It seems best suited for initiatives that are at an initial stage of development or undergoing significant change, and can benefit from careful tracking. Learn more here.

Leading in a Complex Community Initiative - Brenda Zimmerman, co-author of Getting to Maybe: How the World is Changed, shares her insight on some principles of management that are consistent with an understanding of organizations and collaboratives as complex adaptive systems. While complexity may make life difficult for 'control freaks', she explores how accepting complexity and uncertainty can offer the possibility of transformation. Learn more here.

Shared Space - In her forthcoming book, Shared Space: The Communities Agenda, Sherri Torjman sets out a vision for the communities agenda in Canada and explores the role of collaboration and innovation in increasing resilience to build strong, vibrant communities. Learn more here.

Catastrophe, Creativity & Renewal - In his latest book, The Upside of Down: Catastrophe, Creativity and the Renewal of Civilization, Thomas Homer-Dixon explores how converging energy, environmental, and political-economic stresses could cause a breakdown of national and global order - a social earthquake that could affect millions of people. However, Homer-Dixon contends that such a breakdown does not have to be catastrophic and could even open up extraordinary opportunities for creative, bold reform, if we re prepared for them when they arise. Learn more here.

Communities Collaborating for Impact - Bringing people in communities to collaboration is an emerging field of practice. As we launch our 2007 tele-learning series, Commmunities Collaborating for Impact, Mark Cabaj and Paul Born of Tamarack consider the case for collaboration and identify some of the key ingredients for successful collaborations. Learn more here.

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2006 Tele-learning Seminars

Free The Children - As the largest network of children helping children through education in the world, Free The Children believes young people have the ability to bring about positive social change, and encourages youth to act now to improve the lives of young people everywhere. Learn more about Marc Kielburger, Chief Executive Director of Free The Children, and this unique movement for change here.

Changing the World Child by Child - Mary Gordon, founder of Roots of Empathy, has created a rich, rewarding classroom experience that fosters empathy within children. By bringing babies and students together in a symbiotic loving environment, the Roots of Empathy program aims to reduce aggression, and increase tolerance and emotional understanding in children. Learn more about Mary's vision of a society of compassionate and caring children here.

Getting to Maybe - Frances Westley, co-author of Getting to Maybe, argues that the trick to any great social project is to stop looking at the discrete elements and start trying to understand the complex relationships between them. This book applies the insights of complexity theory and harvests the experiences of a wide range of people and organizations. Learn more about this new way of thinking about making change here.

Fostering Inclusion, Understanding, and Belonging - L'Arche is a unique vision of care giving and community building that fosters inclusion, understanding and belonging. In nearly 200 small homes and day settings across Canada, caregivers and volunteers from diverse cultures and backgrounds share deeply committed relationships with people with developmental disabilities. Learn more here.

Thinking Like a Movement, Acting Like an Organization - What is the correlation between thinking like a movement and acting like an organization? What role does engagement play in creating movements for change? Paul Born and Mark Cabaj of Tamarack share their thoughts on movements for change and the challenges organizations face when thinking like a movement. Learn more here.

Communication & Movements for Change - What role does marketing and communication play in the development of a movement for change? How can communication support and grow a movement? Shauna Sylvester, Executive Director of IMPACS shares her thoughts on movements for change and the important role communication plays in creating social change. Learn more here.

Community Foundations - As President and Chief Executive Officer of Community Foundations of Canada, Monica Patten has presided over a period of unprecedented growth in Canada's community foundation movement. Considered one of Canada's premiere movement builders, Monica shares her experience and thoughts about movements generally, and the evolving community foundation movement in Canada. Learn more here.

Disseminating Innovation - The J.W. McConnell Family Foundation is one of Canada's leading supporters of movements for change. Katharine Pearson, who leads the Foundation's Sustaining Social Innovation initiative, shares with us the Foundation's evolving understanding of dissemination and sustaining social innovation. Learn more here.

The Social Economy - Neamtan, a leading expert on the social economy in Canada, is CEO of the Chantier de l economie sociale (Task Force on the Social Economy), which acts as a network of networks to promote the social economy within Quebec, encourage multisectoral collaboration, and ensure that the social economy movement remains one of the most visible progressive movements in today s Quebec.  Learn more here.

Thinking Like a Movement - Thinking like a movement necessitates the consideration of the complexities of systemic change including an exploration of sustaining social innovation and the role of leadership. Al Etmanski and Vickie Cammack are prime Canadian examples of social innovators and movement leaders. We spoke with them about what it means to think like a movement. Learn more here.

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2005 Tele-learning Seminars

Place-Based Approaches to Reducing Poverty - Sherri Torjman, Vice-President of the Caledon Institute of Social Policy, speaks about place-based approaches and how they are increasingly being applied to complex community issues such as poverty.

Enough Talk: The Toronto City Summit Alliance - As the head of the Toronto City Summit Alliance, David Pecaut has galvanized prominent Toronto citizens to take action on ideas to strengthen the city - ideas such as expanding the knowledge-based industry, reversing the decaying infrastructure of the city and creating affordable housing.

Collaboration: The New Leadership - David D. Chrislip, principal of Skillful Means, has spent twenty-five years helping people develop their leadership capacities and create visions and strategies for their organizations and communities. The broader purpose of this work, which focuses on civic leadership development, collaboratively addressing complex community issues and organizational strategy and development is to build civil society.

Calgary Urban Aboriginal Initiative - Coming together to effect positive change for Calgary s Aboriginal population. That's the vision for the Calgary Urban Aboriginal Initiative (CUAI) which strives to provide a home for ongoing discussion, coordinated and informed action in support of Calgary Urban Aboriginal issues and initiatives.

Movements for Change: Part 1 & 2- Each year at Tamarack we spend the summer researching an area of interest. This year we're looking at Movements for Change  what is a movement? How does one develop? How can we work together to develop movements that create positive change in our communities?

The Upwelling Process: The Saltwater Network - The Saltwater Network is a coalition of community-based organizations around the Gulf of Maine that works to support community based management and conservation in the Gulf. Arthur Bull, director of this unique network, shares the story of the Saltwater Network.

Community Visions, Community Solutions - Joseph "Jay" Connor, was the featured speaker in this tele-learning seminar. Jay focused on the important role collaboration plays in linking Community Visions and Community Solutions.

City Centre Education Project - The City Centre Education Project (CCEP) is a groundbreaking collaboration, launched in 2001, of seven schools in inner city Edmonton that have come together to create a positive learning environment. CCEP Coordinator Colin Inglis joined us to share this collaboration's innovative story.

Comprehensive Collaborations - This seminar featured Anne Kubisch, Co-Director of the Aspen Institute's Roundtable on Community Change. The Roundtable on Community Change is a forum in which people engaged in the field of comprehensive community initiatives (CCIs) meet to discuss the lessons that are being learned by initiatives across the United States and to work on common problems they are facing.

TRIEC: New Realities, New Opportunities - The Toronto Region Immigrant Employment Council (TRIEC) is tackling a specific need - the effective integration of immigrants into the labour market - but what makes this collaboration so unique is the diverse membership it has attracted and the number of initiatives and strategies it is pursuing. Ratna Omidvar and Elizabeth McIsaac joined us to discuss this remarkable model for multi-stakeholder collaboration.

Investment in Collaboration - As President and CEO of the J.W. McConnell Family Foundation, Tim Brodhead leads one of Canada's largest and most progressive foundations. The McConnell Foundation recently announced a growing commitment to the work of citizen engagement, resilience and community collaboration. In this tele-learning seminar, Tim shared why the Foundation chose to make this commitment and why they have invested in Vibrant Communities, a bold, national collaboration.

Check out more seminars here!

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