News

From the Amazon listing:

"This is a riveting and redemptive family memoir. Donna Thomson’s vivid descriptions of her own experience in treading delicately through daily care, medical emergencies and the medical bureaucracy as she and her family cope with her son Nicholas’ cerebral palsy is both inspirational and instructive. From the first tentative diagnosis to Nicholas’ celebration of his 21st birthday last summer, Thomson examines how she and her family have tried, with various degrees of success, to cope with Nicholas’ needs, while at the same time ensuring that their lives (as well as Nicholas’) have value and dignity. Donna Thomson’s own experience with adversity takes on new meaning when viewed through the lens of Nobel Prize-winning economist Amartya Sen and other philosophers’ roadmaps of how to realize a good life against all odds. This lens includes not only people with disability, but also the enormous generation of post-WWII Baby Boomers who are beginning to sense the health care crisis that is looming as they deal with their own aging and increasingly infirm parents. Donna Thomson’s brilliantly written family memoir provides a strong, original message that touches on the lives of anyone caring for the needs of another."

About the Author

DONNA THOMSON began her career as an actor, director and teacher. But in 1988, when her son Nicholas was born with severe disabilities, Donna embarked on her second career as a disability activist. A veteran of numerous local committees promoting inclusion for her son, Donna became interested in how families, communities and governments can work together to find new ways of supporting our most vulnerable citizens.

Parents of special needs kids start co-op to create work experience
By Walter Cordery, The Daily News June 25, 2010

A group of parents in Cedar who have special needs children have banded together to form a co-operative in an attempt to give their children some skills that they can use.

The Cedar Opportunities Co-op has recently become a registered co-operative. The vision of COCO is to contribute to the full inclusion of people with disabilities who live in the Cedar/Yellow Point area by providing opportunities for employment and work experience.

Patricia Johnston, the parent of a 20-year daughter who has Down syndrome, is the treasurer of the new organization, which recently received $2,000 in seed money from Mid-Island Co-op.

The parents' vision includes opening a cafe in the Cedar area that will be owned and operated by persons with disabilities and allow them to be productive members of the community, said Johnston.

"It's very difficult for children with special needs to find employment and we think this will be an opportunity for them. Besides, Cedar could do with a good coffee shop," said Johnston.

Support workers and family members will assist people with special needs run the business.

Although all those involved in the business can be members of the newly-formed co-op, only those members with a developmental disability can share in the proceeds of the operation.

"We started out with a core group of about 10 families who have special needs children," said Johnston. There are more than 50 members now, all have paid $100 for their membership.

The COCO Cafe will provide coffees, teas, home-made desserts, muffins, soups, and sandwiches.

The co-op recently developed a business plan and hopes to establish the cafe in the same mall that the 49th Parallel Grocery Store is in Cedar.

"We are currently negotiating the terms of a lease and trying to see how our membership grows to give us an indication of what we will be able to afford," said Johnston.

WCordery@nanaimodailynews.com
© Copyright (c) Canwest News Service

The Spring issue 2010 of A Human Future presents National Chief Shawn A-in-chut Atleo, hereditary Chief from the Ahousaht First Nation in B.C. speaking on the future of the First Nations youth.

Read also about Ed Johnson, an important member of both communities— L’Arche Cape Breton and the Waycobah First Nation.  

25 years after his arrival in L'Arche, Ed continues to speak his Mi’kmaq language and participate in First Nations rituals and ceremonies. And he nourishes the links between his L’Arche and the Mi’kmaq communities, kindling a desire in young people arriving at L’Arche from around the world to learn about this vibrant First Nations community.

Click here to read or download the Spring Issue of A Human Future

Vickie recently presented on Tyze in Portugal and France. Here is a good photo of her presentation to APDC - the Association of Portuguese Telecom Providers. The name of the conference was 'Services to the Citizen.'

Al and Vickie were awarded with the CPA Humanitarian Award today in Winnipeg.  Congratulations!

CPA Humanitarian Award
This award shall be conferred upon outstanding individuals who are not psychologists or organizations which are not psychological organizations whose commitment and persistent endeavors have significantly enhanced the psychological health and well-being of the people of Canada, at the local, provincial or national level. The recipient of the award should meet the following criteria:

   1. The individual must hold Canadian citizenship or resident status at the time of the award;
   2. The organization must be registered as an organization in Canada at the time of the award;
   3. The contribution must be shown to have made a significant and demonstrable impact on the psychological health and well-being of the Canadian community; and
   4. The goal of the contribution must be to enhance the psychological health and well-being of the Canadian community and not for self-advancement.

Members of the Committee on Fellows and Awards and members of the CPA Board of Directors are ineligible for nomination.

The Humanitarian Award is made by the Board. CPA Members and Fellows should send nominations to the Chair of the Committee on Fellows and Awards.

Past Recipients
2009 - André Picard, Reporter for the Globe and Mail
2008 - Lieutenant-General the Honourable Roméo Dallaire
2007 - The Honourable Michael Kirby
2006 - United Nations Special Ambassador Stephen Lewis for his work with the United Nations on HIV and AIDS in Africa
1999 - Canadian Red Cross on behalf of the volunteers involved in the aftermath of the Swissair Flight 111 tragedy near Halifax
Nova Scotia
1998 - Canadian Armed Forces for their work on behalf of Canadians during the Manitoba floods and the Ontario/Quebec ice
storm
1997 - L’Ordre des psychologues du Québec for their involvement in many tragic incidents in Quebec
1995 - Tim Horton’s Children’s Foundation for their work on behalf of children in Canada

A bold announcement to build 1000 new units of supportive housing in Vancouver was made this week.  One commentator called it the biggest drive to build social housing in a generation.The details are of course important but how it came together is more instructive for those interested in addressing the causes of social and environmental problems instead of only managing their effects.

First the details: eight new housing projects for people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness; an ambitious 3 year time frame; $205 Million contribution from the BC Government; $20 Million from the business/philanthropy sector; land from the City of Vancouver valued at $32 Million; eleven non profit housing providers.  A key innovation is the recognition that housing by itself is not a solution.  Supports that make a house a home and give people a sense of belonging are as important as the physical structure.

The artistry behind this announcement is as fascinating as getting inside the heads of Michelangelo or Leonardo as they launched the Renaissance in Florence.  If we are to tackle tough persistent social challenges we need to be just as innovative about how we do the innovation as we are about finding innovative solutions.

One of the key players that brought an innovative approach to bear on homelessness is the relatively new Street to Home Foundation. I have been following their creation and evolution for a number of years.  They conceptualized a comprehensive approach to homelessness that moved beyond the provision of housing - an approach with limited success - to include the needed supports to address isolation, addiction, illness and poverty.  They also began convening key players - new and old.  Streetohome Foundation is committed  to bringing together government, business, citizens and non profits.  Read also their Guiding Principles if you are interested in how they balance addressing the immediate while going 'up stream' and breaking the cycle of homelessness.

Here are some of the elements used to ' stir it up' in Vancouver yesterday. These principles are universal and apply to other challenges and other jurisdictions:

Partnering Across Sectors: in this case the BC Government ; the City of Vancouver; businesses like Vancity; the Vancouver Foundation; Vancouver Police Department; non profits; individuals.  Have a look at Street to Home's Board of Directors.  These are not just your usual players addressing social solutions.

Leveraging: Combining existing resources in creative ways to attract new resources and leverage existing ones. This included the City of Vancouver providing the land; the BC Government coordinating various Ministries to build the housing and provide the supports; philanthropists ; non profit housing providers; and Street to Home.

Re-framing: There is a big difference between creating homes and building housing.  Re-framing assists in focusing on the tangibles and intangibles that turn houses into homes.  And that surely is what  everyone wants including those who are homeless.

Convening: we should never underestimate the value of bringing existing and new players together to nurture trust, respect, and innovative solutions.

Non-partisanship: It was heartening to note politicians from different levels and different loyalties past and present came to together or were acknowledged at the press conference.

Change that combines these elements accelerates, leverages and multiplies individual, organizational and sectoral contributions.

There is a back story to this announcement.  I have met many of the individuals involved in this initiative.  Their involvement has been a labour of love.  It was characterized by humility - what we have been doing has not worked?; By curiosity - what do we need to learn to make sure we don't repeat the mistakes of the past?; By boldness - let's respond to everyone who is homeless in Vancouver AND address the root causes; By perspective - they're in it for the long haul.  What has taken generations to develop will not be undone overnight or in one year; By collaboration - let's put aside our differences to make a difference; By stirring it up - let's mix, blend, create, in ways we've never imagined; By action - the time for talking and piece meal solutions is over..

Could this point the way to a renaissance in how we tackle the persistent social and environmental challenges of the 21st century?   Will Vancouver be the new Florence? Or will your city take the lead?

“The film goes beyond disability” - Chris Burke, Actor & Self-Advocate (star of Life Goes On).

DOXA Documentary Film Festival

Public Screening

Sunday, May 9, 2:00pm

Vancity Theatre 1181 Seymour Street @Davie

Vickie Cammack and Al Etmanski have been chosen by Ashoka as one of a group of 25 fellows, from the network of 2,500 social entrepreneurs, who are ready to scale their good ideas and replicate their success all around the world. It's an amazing group.  See the list at Ashoka's Globalizer.

Here's a word on the prestigiousness of being selected and the opportunity afforded to spread the PLAN wisdom:

"Over the past three decades, Ashoka has developed its fellowship to include over 2,500 individuals in more than 70 countries – the world’s pre-eminent network of social entrepreneurs.  Through an internal application process, the Ashoka Globalizer program identifies those fellows within this network with the greatest potential for catalyzing global systems change.  Upon being nominated as “on track to globalize” by their local fellowship representative, Fellows are integrated into a new on-line community, using Ashoka’s proven changemakers.com collaborative model to leverage insights from the broader fellowship and further refine their leading social innovations.  They outline their global scaling plans in official applications to be reviewed by the Globalizer Leadership Team, 25 leading Fellows are selected as “ready to globalize”, and their scaling plans are collaboratively refined with input from the entire Globalizer online community.  They also receive pro-bono support from Ashoka’s leadership and partner organizations to develop strategic and communications plans on par with their global ambitions.   Finally, these Fellows are aggressively marketed throughout the Ashoka network to ensure that their compelling social innovations are recognized by the broadest possible global audience."

EVOKE is a call to young Canadians aged 13 to 25. We want to hear your perspective on human rights through art. Reflect on the past and present. What do you see for the future?

This is your chance to EXPRESS YOURSELF, BE CREATIVE and HAVE YOUR ART RECOGNIZED!

The contest opens April 14, 2010 and closes May 25, 2010.

Winners from each province and territory will travel to Winnipeg during summer 2010 and have their art exhibited in front of thousands of people at a ceremony for the Canadian Museum for Human Rights!

Jean Vanier - wise humanitarian and all-round mensch
By BERNIE M. FARBER, FreelanceApril 13, 2010

It has been said that one true measure of civilization is how well we treat the most vulnerable members of our society.

If there's one man who truly understands the importance of kindness, compassion, understanding, and, as we say in Hebrew, "tikun olam," or repairing the world, it's Jean Vanier, the Founder of L'Arche.

By creating L'Arche - a remarkable and unique network of homes where the developmentally disabled live comfortably, together with volunteers and staff - Vanier has given those who are often forgotten and locked away as worthless, the miraculous opportunity to play an important role, by touching others.

I, too, was touched recently by the remarkable work being carried out through L'Arche and Vanier's vision. As a leader in the Canadian Jewish community and during my travels as a social worker with the Youth Services Bureau and Children's Aid Society of Ottawa, I have seen much.

It was through long-time friends Bob and his son Marvin that I learned of L'Arche. Marvin was born with a developmental disability. He was also visually impaired, making life that much more difficult. His parents were wonderful people who cared deeply for their only son whom they had late in life. Marvin's mother died when he was young. Bob devoted his life to his son but as the years crept up on him, he was running low on the energy needed to support Marvin. That's when they connected with the good people of L'Arche.

Almost immediately, it became their new and loving home. Marvin even found satisfying work there and found joy in the horses he was introduced to. Thanks to the people and community of L'Arche, he learned to care for his new four-legged friends as well as ride them. They became a strong passion and suddenly this remarkable man had a sense of purpose and fun, both of which were new to him.

Marvin, while Jewish, was never able to celebrate his bar mitzvah, the right of passage for every Jewish boy who turns 13. Despite being in his late 50s, Marvin always wanted to have his bar mitzvah but, up to this point, with his developmental and physical challenges it had never been given serious thought.

Thanks to Vanier and L'Arche, the thought of Marvin not enjoying this important part of a Jew's life was out of the question.

Working with a local rabbi, Marvin worked hard to learn the required biblical chants from the Torah. Finally, at the age of 60, Marvin, L'Arche, and the rest of his family and friends gathered at a local synagogue to celebrate his bar mitzvah.

This was not a case of 47 years too late; in fact, the timing couldn't have been better.

This remains one of the most moving experiences of my life and, ironically, it was made possible through L'Arche and Vanier's strongly held Christian values.

Vanier had his beginnings in Montreal where his mother Pauline met her husband Georges, a future governor-general of Canada. Jean received much of his early ethical and spiritual guidance while growing up in Quebec.

In the Jewish tradition we speak of an individual like Vanier as a "mensch." This is a special honour recognizing the unique qualities of a man who has devoted so much of his life to helping those whose lives are filled with unique challenges. Our sages tell us, "He whose deeds exceed his wisdom is like a tree whose branches are few but whose roots are many. Even if all the winds of the world come and blow upon it, they cannot move it from its place."

Through his wisdom and deeds, Vanier has planted the roots of tolerance, decency, compassion, and understanding and it is up to each of us, regardless of background, affiliations, politics or religion, to see to it that those roots and branches grow long and strong for generations to come.

While the merits of the Nobel committee having bestowed the honour on U.S. President Barack Obama will be the fodder for high-school debate clubs for years to come, I can think of a man who better exemplifies all that the prize stands for. That man is Jean Vanier.

Bernie M. Farber is CEO of Canadian Jewish Congress.
© Copyright (c) The Montreal Gazette

Read more: http://www.montrealgazet...

DOXAFestival - Shira Avni, Canada, 2009, 16 minutes

Sunday May 9, 2:00 PM, VanCity Theatre, Vancouver, BC

This short documentary is an intimate glimpse into the exceptional mindsets and emotional lives of four adult artists with Down Syndrome. An artful, four-way essay about ability, this animated film explores how it feels to be a little bit unusual.

Golden Dove Award, 2009 International Leipzig Festival for Documentary and Animated Film

It doesn't take too long in London before noticing the emergence of a new math.  Social Innovators in England are busy creating new equations to address tough, hard to solve social and environmental challenges.  To start they exposed the fallacies of the 'old' math.

Here is one equation that is no longer useful and which prevents the civil sector from fulfilling one of its key functions: preventing social problems.

Costly crisis intervention reduces the resources available to address the root causes resulting in more crises which equals another round of costly crisis interventions.

This insidious, vicious circle sucks up all the resources and prevents innovative responses to address the causes.  It doesn't add up.  Our social systems are concentrating on the symptoms with little attention paid to prevention.

If we are to bring creativity and innovation into play we need a new math similar to what is being developed here.  We need equations that free up resources to address the up stream causes thereby preventing the down stream crises.

One creative British alternative to the old math is the Social Impact Bond which is under development by Social Finance UK.  The concept is elegant.

A 'promise' is secured from government to reward initiatives which result in better social outcomes, while reducing costs, particularly in the medium to long term.  Government pays only when success is demonstrated.  For example, keeping first time offenders from re-offending.  Imagine the savings if a young person becomes inspired to develop their talents rather than spend a lifetime in and out of prison?

Funds are then raised from non-government investors who provide the working capital to finance the intervention and demonstrate the success. If successful, government pays up, the investors get their money back and additional capital is available to maintain the successful solution.  The size of the payment depends on how successful the outcomes are. 

Social Impact Bonds are a relatively risk free way for governments to finance preventative approaches; they encourage and reward the genuine innovators; and they break the vicious cycle of the old math.

I will write more about Social Impact Bonds in the future since two papers are about to be published by my colleagues at Causeway about adapting Social Impact Bonds to British Columbia and Canada.

In the meantime Vickie and I are off to Oxford to present at Canada Day just prior to the start of the Skoll World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship.  For extensive reporting from Skoll including a team of 30 bloggers follow Social Edge.

Most great ideas, movements or individuals have a trusted companion and talented scribe equally engaged in creating knowledge and discerning wisdom and insights.  In fact making sense out of what is happening and identifying the deeper patterns is an essential and often looked element of successful social change.  Engaged reporting, a variation of appreciative inquiry, provides activists and strategists with reflective comments, evaluation and critique - all necessary to achieve social, economic and ecological justice.

David Bornstein fulfills that role for the global social enterprise movement.  Not only, is he an accomplished story teller but also, he sees order, logic and patterns amidst the swirl that accompanies change.

After writing several successful books on the emerging social enterprise movement, David and companions have now launched Dowser an e-zine specializing in social innovation and stories of change.  Unlike main stream media,  Dowser will specialize in finding problem solvers, change-makers and social innovators.  Dowser is an alternative to people who want more from their media than following the activities of celebrities, chronicling what is broken or sensationalism.

Dowsers use divining rods to uncover water.  In David's hands, Dowser will uncover stories of change.  A divine idea! Check it out here http://dowser.org/

For those interested in David's other work:

The Price of a Dream: The Story of the Grameen Bank  http://www.betterworldbo...

How to Change the World: Social Entreprenurs and the Power of New Ideas  http://www.betterworldbo...

And you can't read David's books without encountering the leading social enterprise organization in the world: Ashoka.

In Canada: http://canada.ashoka.org... Globally http://www.ashoka.org/

The Quetton Family

I don't believe them when they say it. We're not amazing special needs parents. We're just parents, doing for our children what they need. Read Mathew's story here.

From PLAN...

At PLAN we hear repeatedly about the profound transformation having a child with a disability has on a family. Everything is thrown up into the air and what comes down is a life that looks vastly different than that imagined. Different vacations, different friends, different house, different dreams for your child and so on. Into this mix comes a new way of parenting- a way that mines the depths of patience, scales the heights of love and manages to be malleable to meet the needs of each child in your family. John shares his own transformation of parenting along with Matthew and Melanie. For more on this transformation, Ted Kuntz's "Peace Begins with Me" available at PLAN under Resources provides inspiration and vision for anyone walking this journey.

The Patterson Family

I slowly got better at the "how to" manage our very busy schedule and incorporate Joanne's leaning into the everyday events in our lives; however, her brother was her primary teacher and role model for the majority of her life. Read Meloney's story here.

Taking Action

People have been asking us what Taking Action is all about. It is meant to introduce a different way of thinking about the topic at hand. The action? We are close to creating a feedback channel where you can respond with your thoughts and join a larger conversation and community of families. This month, Matthew does double duty by contributing his ideas and questions about parenting. From all the possible parents out there, you were chosen as a special sign of your exceptional character and strength. Because that's what you want to believe, need to believe. Read more here.

To support Ted Kuntz's bid to be The Next Top Spiritual Author, click here.  Here is a message of endorsement from Al Etmanski:

"In the spirit of Easter I ask you to vote for my friend Ted Kuntz to become the next spiritual author. As winner, Ted would get a publishing contract with Hampton Roads Publishing, a major publisher of spiritual and self help books. More important, the world would be introduced to this precious, wise man.

I have known Ted for over two decades as a father, peace activist, award winning community inventor, psychotherapist, inspirational speaker and now best selling author.  I watched Ted embrace the craft of writing methodically, carefully, and deliberately.  For two years he taped every presentation, went home listened, reviewed, revised and learned how to write in clear compelling language. The result, Peace Begins With Me, a book I paid tribute to as follows:

"Those of us who seek peace in our lives and yearn for more peace in our world need look no further than this candid exploration of one man's personal journey to discover the source of his own peace. It is bound to inspire."

Ted's journey is one many of us can identify with.  From anger, and grief when his son Josh became disabled to a life embodying peace.

Have a look at Ted's website. http://www.peacebeginswi... Read his book when you get a chance.

And if you like what you see please vote.  It will take less than a minute.

http://www.nexttopauthor...

PS: if you click on the link above you can also connect to a You-Tube video of one of Ted's speeches on peace.  You'll quickly learn why I voted for Ted.

Happy Easter!"

A good portion of last week was spent searching for independent references for the parent advocacy or family movement because the good folks at Wikipedia ruled we didn't exist without them.  This was a surreal experience.  As nonsensical as: My art isn't art until some objective source says it is. My hardship isn't real unless someone in academia or the media writes about it.

Here's the link to the Family Movement wikipedia entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/...

Seven decades of fighting discrimination and developing community supports for our loved ones isn't legitimate unless verified by an outsider.  Yikes!  I understand prudence and fact checking but we are far from a passing fad. Most of the references we found were biased (in wiki terms) because they were 'self promoting' -  that is they came from individuals, organizations and commentators who were part of the parent/family movement.   So we went searching for independent references - from academics and the media.  We found some but not as many as we had hoped.

However, we did find surprises such as the links between President John F. Kennedy, Roy Rogers and Dale Evans, Nobel Prize author Pearl S. Buck and the family movement.  As well as many great stories about our origins in the late 40's and early 50's when spontaneously, around the world parents rejected prevailing medical, scientific and academic knowledge and decided the best place for their sons and daughters was to stay with the family and not be sent to an institution.

Our revised Wiki references some of these early families including President Kennedy who broke all social rules of the time by publicly declaring his sister Rose had a disability.  Check out our revised, heavily referenced wiki submission on the parent/family movement.  http://en.wikipedia.org/...

You will see we are now classified as an orphan by the wiki folks.  Will they accept our revisions or not?  Stay tuned.  In the meantime do send in your own stories, and references.  We may still need further proof of our existence!

Below is an article from the Globe and Mail that links poor health to isolation.  Strategies to address isolation are at the core of both Weaving the Ties That Bind Online Course and our Family Leadership annual retreat coming up April 25-30, 2010. 

"Absence might make the heart grow fonder, but loneliness could do it serious damage, according to a new study.

Researchers at the University of Chicago looked at 229 people aged 50 to 68 and found that over a five-year period the loneliest individuals saw their systolic blood pressure rise by 14.4 mm more than those who were socially contented. That rise could push anyone with normal blood pressure, that below 120 mm, into the category called pre-hypertension.

“The lonelier you are, the bigger the effect," says Louise Hawkley, a psychologist and lead author of the study, published in the journal Psychology and Aging.

While loneliness has been linked to other factors that could cause an increase in blood pressure, such as stress and depression, those factors could not account for the rise observed in the study.

“It’s certainly the case that loneliness is related to depressive symptoms and depression, to stress, to hostility, to how much social support you perceive you have. And we looked at each of those as possible explanations for the effect, and it wasn’t there," Dr. Hawkley says. “It seems to be that there’s something unique about loneliness."

For the purposes of the study, loneliness was roughly defined as “perceived social isolation," Dr. Hawkley says. “Not everybody feels isolated even if they’re alone or if they don’t have a lot of friends. They just don’t have a need for a lot of connections. They’re perfectly content. Other people can have a lot of connections, a lot of relationships, and yet feel lonely."

To determine the level to which they perceived themselves as lonely, study participants were asked to respond to a series of statements, including, “I have a lot in common with the people around me," “My social relationships are superficial" and “I can find companionship when I want it."

Over the course of the five-year study, during which blood pressure was measured four times, the degree to which individuals perceived themselves as lonely was directly linked to how much their blood pressure increased.

The loneliness that participants reported feeling at the beginning of the study predicted “how much their blood pressure is increasing over those intervals," Dr. Hawkley says.

High blood pressure affects health in several ways, Dr. Hawkley says. Not only does it increase the risk of heart attack and stroke, but any measurement over 115 mm increases the risk for cardiovascular disease. As well, hypertension, or a systolic blood-pressure measurement greater than 140 mm, is the primary or contributing cause of roughly 18 per cent of deaths in the United States.

“Every millimetre matters in terms of health outcomes," Dr. Hawkley says.

Unlike other causes of high blood pressure, such as smoking and alcohol consumption, loneliness is far more difficult to treat.

“Unfortunately, there aren’t a lot of people yet who have done loneliness interventions to any great success. So even if we know that we should be doing something about it, to find somebody who’s effective at helping may be a challenge," Dr. Hawkley says.

Researchers suspect that evolution may explain the link between loneliness and high blood pressure.

“Loneliness reflects a very fundamental need to feel connected," Dr. Hawkley says. “In evolutionary terms, you had to have the sense that you had your back covered. You travelled in groups, in tribes, in families. Anything to fend off threats from the environment … and that, I think, persists. We still need to feel like we belong, like we’re connected."

From an article published in the Peak Online:

Leaders recognize full citizenship includes use of social networks

A new approach to improving health outcomes and reducing isolation through online personal networking is being led by the Powell River Association for Community Living (PRACL)—one of the first organizations in Canada to use Tyze Personal Networks, www.tyze.com. Tyze’s founder and chief executive officer, Vickie Cammack, is a leader in the area of creating belonging for people with disabilities, and will be travelling to Powell River in March to share her expertise with the team and community at PRACL.

Since 1954, PRACL has been a pioneer in creating belonging and making connections for the people it serves. PRACL has advocated for and provided a range of day program and residential supports.

The organization’s mission is to:

• Provide high quality, respectful services that are life-long if needed.

• Ensure every person has the opportunity to reach his or her full potential.

• Promote, develop, educate and advocate for the people it serves to ensure their full citizenship.

PRACL’s senior leaders recognize that full citizenship in today’s technology-rich world includes having the opportunity to experience and benefit from online social networks. That’s why they launched PRACL’s Tyze.

People served by PRACL can now use their very own online personal network to reach out to friends, family, neighbours and caregivers.

“Tyze Personal Networks provide private, secure, online networks that link family, friends, care providers and professionals together to support a specific individual.” said Cammack. “Our technology-enabled service creates secure, personal networks that create and coordinate secure, online networks for people who are isolated, vulnerable, and/or experiencing life challenges. We have seen incredible benefits to this approach, including improved health and well-being.”

Cammack will be in Powell River delivering the keynote address at the upcoming PRACL general meeting after dinner at 6 pm on Thursday, March 25 at Community Living Place. As someone who finds and implements innovative solutions in the social sector, Cammack will be sharing her thoughts about personal network innovation and how people with disabilities and their families are strengthening their communities.

In 2008, the Women’s Executive Network named Cammack one of Canada’s top 100 most powerful women. As a co-founder of Planned Lifetime Advocacy Network (PLAN) and executive director of PLAN Institute of Citizenship and Disability, Cammack is a recognized Canadian source of inspiration and demonstrable solutions related to social networks, social innovation, citizenship and disability.

Lilla Tipton, PRACL’s executive director, is delighted to be welcoming Cammack to Powell River. “We’re looking forward to an opportunity to learn from Vickie and to share our own Powell River success stories in creating opportunities for the people we support to have more friends and supportive relationships,” she said. “PRACL received the award for Powell River when the Canadian Association for Community Living named our community the most inclusive in BC. We are a welcoming community and there is always more to learn.” PRACL invites members of the Powell River community to come out and learn more about how to get involved in the personal networks of people supported by the organization or to build their own personal networks for their loved ones and friends who may be living in isolation.

From the Vancouver Sun:
When: Open daily Mon to Fri, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Sat and Sun, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., until March 21.
Where: University of B.C., Robson Square
Tickets: Free

For disability rights activist Catherine Frazee, the personal overlaps with the political even when she doesn't intend it.

That happened with Frazee's recent journey to Vancouver from Toronto for Out From Under, a unique exhibition on the social history of disability in Canada.

As one of its three curators, she felt it was important to be here for the exhibition's opening during the Paralympic Winter Games.

Frazee, the director of Ryerson's Institute for Disability Studies, can't fly for medical reasons having to do with living with spinal muscular atrophy, a genetic neuromuscular disease characterized by the degeneration of the motor neurons. When she travels, she is accompanied by an attendant and Patricia Seeley, her life partner.

The only option for her was to take the train.

Frazee was willing to make sacrifices to travel out west, such as sleeping in her electric wheelchair. She can't be separated from her wheelchair, which is uniquely customized to her body's needs. At times, for example, she has to tilt it slightly back to help with her breathing.

When she contacted Via Rail, she was told that she and her wheelchair had to travel separately.

"There was a failure to understand the intimate relationship between me and my chair," Frazee said in an interview.

"It might be an exaggeration to call it a form of life support, but it is pretty close. To be separated from my chair for four days was impossible. So we attempted to cajole, persuade, challenge VIA to find ways to solve the problem, to make it their problem and not my problem, but we were unsuccessful."

Like anyone faced with a roadblock, she decided to find a way to go around it. Everyone advised her to go south to the U.S. where Amtrak has sleeper cars adapted for people in wheelchairs. Since the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in 1990, the U.S. public transportation system has been required by law to provide physical access for disabled passengers.

From Toronto, Frazee and Seeley drove south to Chicago where they got on a train that had a railcar with an accessible room. They travelled across the U.S. to Seattle, where they rented a van with a ramp and drove north to Vancouver.

The irony of not being able to cross the country for a disability exhibition during the Winter Paralympic Games wasn't lost on Frazee, one of the country's most articulate advocates for the rights of the disabled.

"I felt a kind of sadness," Frazee said.

"The railway is such an integral part of the Canadian identity, I was looking forward to crossing the country and going to Vancouver. There was something magical about that. I felt a loss. But nevertheless I was very, very glad to get here."

On her journey across the U.S., Americans were constantly surprised that Frazee couldn't travel across Canada by train.

In Chicago, they got a little surprise before heading off on their cross-continental trip. The porter brought Frazee and her partner a little bottle of Amtrak champagne so they could toast the 1990 ADA, whose long title is "An Act to establish clear and comprehensive prohibition of discrimination on the basis of disability."

"It was a lesson," Frazee said.

"In many ways, making a journey in this way may ultimately help raise awareness of the issue and help us get further reform in this country."

The reform Frazee refers to is an integral part of the story of the exhibition Out from Under at Robson Square.

The exhibition's unique idea was to organize history around 13 groups of objects that represented the untold political, social and personal stories of the disabled.

There's Mae Sophia Brown, for example.

In 1972, she became the first deaf-blind Canadian to earn a university degree when she graduated from the University of Toronto. The exhibition includes her brailler, a typewriter-like office machine she used to type out braille.

I couldn't help but marvel at how she typed out the equivalent of the 26 letters of the alphabet with only nine levers. Close by is her wristwatch. On its face, beside the Arabic numerals, are their equivalents in raised braille dots. Because the glass cover is open, it made me think of Brown herself opening the cover and feeling the time.

Another person I'd never heard of is Rev. Roy Essex.

His daughter Sheila caught polio and was facing a future in hospital should her chest-sized ventilator or cuirass break down and leave her unable to breathe.

He brought her home to be with her family and one day, the ventilator broke down as predicted. Essex found himself talking to the U.S. manufacturer, who helped him repair his daughter's cuirass by phone. He then spent the next 30 years as a volunteer servicing and repairing ventilators for the Ontario March of Dimes.

Perhaps the most difficult part of the exhibit to look at is called Naming, which is all about how language is used to classify and marginalize.

It includes a poster from a 1924 public education exhibit by the Canadian National Committee for Mental Hygiene.

Influenced by the western world's eugenics movement, the committee used words such as "idiocy,"

"Mongolian imbecility," and "moron" to classify people and legitimize their forced confinement.

"Disabled people today remain wary of powerful people with good intentions," the exhibition says. "Wouldn't you?"

The exhibition also includes the best audio tour I've ever heard.

Designed to explain the exhibit for people with intellectual disabilities, it's clear, informative and straightforward without being condescending. It's formatted as a discussion with Jake Anthony, an autistic actor from Vancouver who is terrific.

The exhibition had its premiere in 2007 at the Abilities Arts Festival and was then showcased at the Royal Ontario Museum a year later.

Out from Under is social history by disabled people. It isn't history by victims, although it doesn't in any way sugar-coat what people with disabilities have and continue to experience.

It's history by a feisty, outspoken group of Canadians who refuse to stay forgotten.

"We felt as curators," said Frazee, referring to to Kathryn Church and Melanie Panitch, "and our contributors felt this, that it was really important to bring to the surface those stories, not to make everyone feel bad, but to make everyone realize the incredible resilience of disabled people, of what we have survived, shared.

"That is a very important part of declaring our place and demanding respect for what we have endured."

kevingriffin@vancouversun.com
© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun

By Tim Brodhead, Special to the Sun, March 16, 2010

Last week's federal speech from the throne, like others before it, made reference to the critical role of innovation in ensuring a healthy economic future for Canada. Unlike other speeches, however, this one went beyond the usual suspects in identifying likely sources of great new ideas. Encouragingly, the government explicitly cited "innovative charities" and the importance of supporting community solutions to social challenges.

These words now need to be translated into action. Canada's community sector has been taken for granted for too long. It is made up of organizations that address every aspect of individual and community well-being from home care and co-op housing to neighbourhood improvements and immigrant settlement.

Consider that charities (excluding universities, colleges and hospitals) employ 1.2 million Canadians and have more than $120 billion in annual expenditures. This makes the sector a more significant economic driver than our retail, mining or oil and gas sectors.

And yet, for the better part of 10 years -- well in advance of the current economic crisis -- Canada's community sector has been absorbing significant funding cuts, and struggling to "do more with less." Nor did it benefit from any of the government stimulus money distributed last year in an effort to buffer the impact of the recession.

Canada needs the systemic supports of the community sector that have been introduced in the United Kingdom, the U.S., and other countries. In 1999, British leaders concluded that dealing with their economic and social challenges required a collaborative approach and large-scale investment in the capacity of what they call the "Third Sector."

A decade later, a series of investment funds is providing loans, equity, business advice and office and infrastructure support to charities and social enterprises. Meanwhile, in the U.S., one of President Barack Obama's first acts was to create the White House Office of Social Innovation and set up a $50-million US Innovation Fund to encourage and support new approaches to solving social problems. In both countries, citizens and community organizations are increasingly treated as indispensable partners, alongside governments and business.

Senior public officials, business executives and community leaders have called on Canada to embrace innovation, a call that is echoed in several of the ideas contained in the throne speech. Specifically, Canada's community sector could be helped to live up to its potential by the following four measures:

1. Level the playing field by extending to social enterprises the same incentives and supports available to small and medium-sized businesses.

2. Modernize the rules governing charities both to unleash their creativity and entrepreneurial capability and allow them to address today's more complex needs.

3. Create a legal framework that encourages social enterprises, making it easier for them to generate earned income.

4. Enact policy measures that promote the contribution by Canadians of time and money to the public good.

As in Britain and the U.S., building the capacity of the sector should be viewed as an important means to strengthen citizen engagement and the vitality of our neighbourhoods.

Business has a role beyond acknowledging the marketing value of the "triple bottom line." Employees increasingly value socially engaged employers who take seriously their responsibilities to all stakeholders, facilitating time off for staff to volunteer, matching staff donations, and collaborating in community building. The encouragement that the private and government sectors routinely provide to business entrepreneurs should be extended as enthusiastically to social entrepreneurs.

Tim Brodhead is the president and CEO of the J.W. McConnell Family Foundation, a longtime funder of community sector innovation and a partner with Vancouver-based PLAN in a national collaboration, Social Innovation Generation.
© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun

New York, NY and Toronto, ON – March 11, 2010 – Today, at the United Nations headquarters in New York, Canada ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.  This is a historic and profound moment in our country’s history.  It is Canada’s declaration to Canadians and the international community that disability is at last to be recognized as a matter of fundamental human rights – at home in Canada and internationally. By ratifying this first international treaty that comprehensively recognizes the rights of persons with disabilities, Canada binds our governments to its implementation.  The Canadian Association for Community Living (CACL) applauds the Government of Canada for this landmark decision, and indeed all Provincial/Territorial Governments for their support in taking this step.  The Convention creates a new and lasting foundation on which to build an inclusive and accessible Canada where rights can no longer be diminished on the basis of disability.

Click here too view the Government of Canada Press Release announcing ratification.

“Across the country, Canadians with disabilities and their families are celebrating,” said CACL President, Bendina Miller who participated in the ratification ceremony at the UN Headquarters in NY this morning with the Honourable Lawrence Cannon, Minister of Foreign Affairs.  “This is a historic moment we should be proud of.  Canada played a lead role in developing the Convention and is recognized as an international leader on disability and human rights.  By ratifying the Convention, Canada commits to holding itself accountable to making real the rights of persons with disabilities.  We are grateful for the efforts of the many people involved in getting us here today, including those in the government of Canada, from all the political parties, and our many partners and advocates in civil society. We are excited to continue to work alongside governments in Canada on implementing and monitoring the Convention.”

Michael Bach, CACL Executive Vice-President, reflected on the development of the Convention: “The Convention was influenced by a Canadian perspective and is a document that all Canadians should be proud of.  Canadian concepts about inclusive education, living in the community and supported decision-making infuse the Convention.  The Convention also recognizes the valuable role that families play in making rights a reality for their family members with disabilities.  The Convention is also unique for the way it was developed.  It is the first time in UN history that people affected by a treaty were actively engaged in the development of its text.  It is a Convention that is informed by the lived experience of people with disabilities and their families.”

Moving forward, the Convention provides people with disabilities and their families a new tool to promote and advance the rights of people with disabilities and to building an inclusive and accessible Canada.  Miller commented that: “The Convention is much more than a listing of entitlements.  It is a road map that explains where, why and how the rights of people with disabilities have been neglected and what steps are required to realize human rights for people with disabilities in meaningful ways.”

Bach is optimistic that, “ratification provides Canada an opportunity to play a critical leadership role domestically and internationally on key issues in the Convention.  The 2010 Federal Budget has already shown that Canada is providing leadership on key disability issues it advanced in the Convention.  We hope to see Canada on the Committee of Experts associated with this Convention and demonstrating leadership on removing barriers and securing the full inclusion of people with disabilities.”

The 2010 Paralympic Games begin officially this Friday March 12th.  Starting immediately there is a lot going on - more than enough to interest the sports fan, party enthusiast or arts connoisseur!  The combination of events will banish once and for all, any misconceptions about the talents and contributions of people with disabilities.

Don't forget Ice sledge hockey and wheelchair curling will be contested in Vancouver while the skiing events will take place at Whistler.  Here is my personal guide to make the most of what will be another fabulous two weeks in Vancouver and Whistler.

First be sure to bookmark the folks at CityCaucus.com   They had the most popular guide during the Olympics and thanks to Daniel Fontaine they intend to do the same during the Paralympic Games. Discover the most popular pavilions, where the free venues are and best bets for the sporting events, all in one place. http://citycaucus.com/pa...

Tourism Vancouver is also worth a look:  http://www.tourismvancou...

My Games begin this Tuesday March 9th  when I keynote a conference on Accessibility and Inclusion. This is a Government of Canada event and alas, it is already full.  I will summarize my presentation which is focused on the creativity of families, in a subsequent blog.

The next day, Wednesday March 10th, Shannon Bromley, Daniel Noon-Ward, Vicki Mooney and me  will each carry the torch on behalf of PLAN, RBC and our personal source of inspiration.  Come cheer us on from 10:30 - 12:30 - Riley Park Community Centre, 50 East 30th. Up to date details at www.plan.ca

On Thursday evening March 11th, I'm attending opening night of SPINE another 'tour de force' from the talented James Saunders who starred in the ground breaking Sky Dive.  It continues until March 20th. www.realwheels.ca

Friday March 12th is the Paralympic Opening Ceremonies where athletes from 45 countries will be entertained by world class talent from all over the world - there are lots of surprises planned!.  Still lots of inexpensive tickets left:  vancouver2010.com/tickets

While you are enjoying the sporting events don't forget the accompanying Cultural Olympiad and the 2010 KickstArt Festival for artists, musicians, comedians, dancers and other performers.  Two I am particularly interested in are: One,  Bill Shannon the 'CrutchMaster' who is reinventing the world of hip hop dance:  http://www.youtube.com/w...

... and two, the Exhibit: Out From Under: Disability, History and Things to Remember. The creativity and resilience of Canadians with disabilities will inspire you as much as any gold medal performance. Unleashing the extraordinary indeed.  Full program at: www.kickstart-arts.ca

The piece de resistance will be the Cultural Olympiad Gala, hosted by legendary storyteller and comedian David Roche. www.davidroche.com   It takes place on March 21st and there may still be a few tickets left.  Bill Shannon is one of the featured performers! www.vidf.ca 604- 662-4966

Oh yes don't forget the sledge hockey game March 20th.  Let's see if we can make it 3 for 3.

Hope to see you at some or all of these events.  The disability community has been working hard to 'leverage' these Games to advance the agenda for all people with disabilities.  Come see what they've created. You won't regret it.

Download Paralympic schedule.

PLAN recently published its monthly ezine for March 2010.  It revolves around leadership and advocacy for our loved ones with disabilities. Below are a couple of the lead stories, if you'd like to receive the newsletter regularly, visit PLAN.

The Quetton Family: "We realized suddenly and completely, that advocating for Theo was our job, would always be our job..."
Click here to read more>>

PLAN advocates for individuals and families both individually and through public policy changes. Greg's story highlights some of the key lessons PLAN has learned in advocating for individuals.

The Best Buddies Blues Band from LeBoldus High School in Regina will play three times in March in Vancouver and Whistler in conjunction with the Paralympics.

Please pass this information on to your PLAN and ACL members (and any others you think of), who would likely find this inclusive lively band encouraging and inspiring, as well as an awful lot of fun.

· Play at West Vancouver Secondary School – 1:30 – 2:15 Thursday March 18th

· Best Buddies Gig – 6:30 – 9:00 – we play the first 45 minutes. Friday March 19th at the Sandman Hotel in downtown Vancouver. Tickets for students and buddies are $10. Tickets for adults are $20. Doors open at 5:30 pm. Appetizers and drinks will be provided. Raffle prizes available to win. Tickets are now available from Vancouver Best Buddies Chapters.

· Play at Saskatchewan Pavilion at the golf course in Whistler – 3-4 Saturday March 20th

Here’s the contact for Western Canada:

Amy Lynn Taylor, Western Canada Program Manager
Toll Free: 778-318-3683
Fax: (416) 531-0325
info@bestbuddies.ca

Website:
http://www.rcsd.ca/lebol...

Video:
http://www.youtube.com/w...

CTV interview:
http://www.youtube.com/w...

TeleMiracle performance:
http://www.youtube.com/w...

The Family arm of the Disability Movement in British Columbia has a long and fruitful history.

Together we have: closed all institutions and segregated schools and invented numerous organizations, services and programs to enhance the safety and well being of our family members. But we have never written our history, shared, studied and learned from it. So we are launching a ‘Family Movement’ Wiki encyclopedia.

This Wiki is an opportunity: to study the deep patterns of successful social movements all over the world to write, honour and learn from the history of the family arm of the disability movement around the world and in British Columbia; and finally to chart the direction for the next stage of the family movement in British Columbia.

We encourage all students of social movements to contribute their knowledge, links, pictures etc. to this WIKI and help us revive a strong family movement. And of course we would benefit from your connections, suggestions and background on the history of the ‘family movement’ in British Columbia or wherever you live.   Better still, if you live outside BC why don't you submit an entry for the history of the family movement in your area?

The link to the Wikipedia entry is: http://en.wikipedia.org/...

Catherine Frazee is headed to the Vancouver Olympics to tell the hidden stories of disability in Canada with her art exhibit, Out From Under: Disability, History and Things to Remember.

Ironically, because of her wheelchair, VIA Rail can't accomodate her travel plans. So she'll be driving to Chicago, taking an Amtrak train to Seattle, and then driving to Vancouver.

The obstacles Frazee faces ahead of the Olympics underscores the many challenges people with disabilities face on a daily basis in Canada.

The art projects' co-creators, Kathryn Church and Melanie Panitch, will also be making the trip to the Vancouver 2010 Cultural Olympiad, though by plane. The opening on March 8 is set to coincide with the Paralympic Games. 

Besides the arduous travel, all that separates the team of curators now from the Cultural Olympiad is a wall of work -- building shipping crates, fundraising, promoting.

“We’re trying to construct a whole tour here,” Church said. “This is the first stop. But we have a piece of work we think should travel nationally. And what we’re trying to do is create that.”

“I think things are really picking up steam now, aren’t they?” mused Frazee.

Out From Under: Disability, History, and Things to Remember from NOW Magazine on Vimeo.

The exhibit was featured at the ROM in spring 2008. It is a genre-bending exploration of Canada's vast unknown past of disability successes and failures.

Or, as the Cultural Olympiad team puts it, this "luminous and elegant display of 13 diverse objects pays tribute to the resilience, creativity and cultural contributions of Canadians with disabilities.”

Traveling to Vancouver will take the exibitors out of a somewhat staid institutional context and present a compelling portrait for the world.

Not bad for a show that started out as a Ryerson University seminar in December 2006. But just like its content, Out From Under has gone from the realm of niche curiosity to profound commentary. 

“We start from these somewhat ordinary objects that are kind of embedded in various contexts that have to do with disabilities,” Church said. "We worked outward from those objects, so in a sense the growth of our understanding of the history started in the particular. And then gradually we came to understand as we worked with those objects and stories that we had grasped a history that was more general.”

In this context at least, "general" means internationally resonant.

Take the "Digging" showpiece, for example. Here Terry Poirier, an autism consultant with the ErinoakKids Central West School Support Program in Burlington, has presented a heavily worn shovel as a symbol of deplorable memories we bear and inspiring steps we are taking, to improve the lot for folks with handicaps of all sorts in this country.

An image titled "The Oppressive Shovel" supplements the object, and shows headstones of unfortunate residents at Woodlands Institution, in New Westminster, B.C., neglected in a park as fallen leaves pile up around them. Many of those institutionalized had been "forced to take very cold showers and skin-burning hot baths, and sexually assaulted, resulting in injuries and pregnancies."

The display will be all the more relevant for Olympic tourists and gallery aficionados since the work will be on display at the University of British Columbia's Robson Square. After all, by the time the photo was taken, many of the bodies had been dug up and sent to UBC to be used as cadavers.

As desperate as such revelations seem, especially considering the institution was only closed in 1996, "Digging" still manages to blaze new pathways.

"The Ceremonial Shovel" is an image depicting the sod-turning for an accessible housing development in Yellowknife, N.W.T.

"The Proud Shovel" shows a new shovel design for wheelchair-bound individuals.

It was Toronto the Good that allowed such a unique museum piece to take root, argues Frazee.

"I think social justice activism is alive and well here," she said. "Where else but in Toronto are we going to have that rich ground to seed something like Out From Under?"

"Here you have people with disabilities building the city," said church. "Toronto has enabled a coalescence."

Indeed, Out From Under is quite the "brazen insurgency of outliers taking centre, refusing periphery," as the curators describe their exhibit.

The work has not gone unheeded. This week museum studies guru Richard Sandell's book Re-Presenting Disability: Activism and Agency in the Museum will drop, including a chapter on the Out From Under exhibit.

Re-Presenting Disability: Activism and Agency in the Museum

Each step along the way the exhibit has bulked up, gaining traction in the process. Just in time to go global, they are adding an interactive element to their presentation, with the help of OISE student Margot Whitfield.

The student, currently completing a practicum in social media, is excited by the openness of Canadian youth to accessibility issues.

“I think younger people are more aware of these issues and look at it a different way," she said. “When people go to use social media they will go to use the one that’s most accessible.”

And while it appears the world is ready to hear the stories told in Out From Under, as dreadful as some are, there are still some surprising challenges ahead.

But history is alive and breathing, being churned up, rewritten to our chagrin, and reinvented with every breath we take.

While those who attend the Olympic version of Out From Under will be confronted by just how far we have yet to go to reconcile the past and conquer accessibility issues, there is a message of hope as well.

"We ask, what is your response -- what is your story in this context?" said Church. "We're using it to learn."

Copyright 2010 NOW Communications

Al Etmanski will be the keynote on the first evening of an event being organized by the Government of Canada and its partners - the province of British Columbia, 2010 Legacies Now, the Canadian Paralympic Committee, and the Active Living Alliance for Canadians with a Disability.

Al among other leading innovators will highlight advances in accessibility and inclusion in sports and recreation, tourism, transportation, housing, employment, and many other areas. The event will include an exhibit to showcase assistive technologies.

Come, be amazed by the Kickstart Festival Experience!

Kickstart is thrilled to announce Kickstart Festival 2010 - an inspiring array of exhibits, performances and workshops that will be presented to Vancouver audiences, as well as to our 2010 Winter Paralympics guests, from March 8 to 27.

Visit www.kickstart-arts.ca or email us at info@kickstart-arts.ca for more information.

"In Canada and around the world, artists and performers with disabilities are contributing to one of the most radical and effective aspects of disability culture – challenging conventional notions of beauty, form and motion."

- Catherine Frazee, Professor of Distinction, School of Disability Studies & Co-Director, Ryerson RBC Institute for Disability Studies

By Nell Edgington
http://www.socialvelocity.net/2010/01/convergence-cant-be-denied/

There is a fascinating debate going on in the blogsphere touched off by Michael Edwards, author of  Small Change: Why Business Won’t Save the World and former director of the Ford Foundation’s Governance and Civil Society program.

In essence, the debate is about whether the convergence of the private (business) and the nonprofit sectors is a good or bad thing, whether market forces help or hurt social change efforts.  Michael kicked off the debate on Monday with the first in a week-long series of posts called “Should Civil Society Be Reduced to a Subset of the Market?” In subsequent posts he went on to attack the emerging social capital market among other things.  You can read the whole series here.

Sean Stannard-Stockton, of the Tactical Philanthropy blog, took up the charge and debated many of his points.  Then the two have gone back and forth over the issues. And the debate expanded on the New Philanthropy Capital blog where Tris Lumley wrote that Michael’s argument “boils down to social capital markets vs civil society – impact measurement vs social justice, data vs values, competition vs solidarity. And in this binary view of the world, he threatens to undermine the very real progress that’s being made towards a much more balanced and realistic perspective.”  Michael responds and so does Tris.

It seems to me that fundamental to Michael’s argument is his fear about the growing convergence between the nonprofit, private and government sectors.  That somehow the “market” will sully social change efforts.  Michael argues that civil society and the market are separate entities: “Civil society operates on solidarity and commitment—the willingness to hang in there for the long haul even if results don’t go your way. Markets work on the opposite principle, “exit”: consumers are free to move from one supplier to another whenever and wherever they like. Otherwise the efficiency of resource allocation would suffer.”

But the fact is that social change efforts and the nonprofits leading them have always existed within a market economy. Resource allocation to nonprofits is very much based on a market. If nonprofits can’t convince donors or governments that their work is important or has meaning, they won’t receive resources.  Nonprofit funders are consumers who are “free to move from one supplier to another whenever and wherever they like.”  It would be great if social change efforts could exist in some sort of vacuum where their good work automatically finds resources, but the world doesn’t work like that.  And as resources for social change efforts become increasingly competitive, nonprofits, and for profits working towards social change, have to become smarter about responding to the marketplace. And as the marketplace demands more social change efforts, which is increasingly the case, more resources will be brought to bear on those social change efforts, thus the creation of the social capital market.

The growing convergence among the public, private and nonprofit sectors is a reality we can’t avoid.  Nonprofits have to respond more effectively to market forces, governments have to be more efficient in their allocation and use of resources, and businesses, in order to survive in a marketplace that increasingly values social good, have to understand and respond to the effects their products and services and business model have on the broader society.

Binary systems and separated sectors just don’t exist anymore.  The lines are blurring.  The market is part of the reality of social change efforts.  To deny that is silly.

................................................................
Another contribution on the topic from Lucy Bernholz...see attached "Changing The Ecosystem of Change"

To share successful practices and facilitate networking across sectors, the Public Policy Forum, in collaboration with Social Innovation Generation (SiG), organized a national dialogue on social innovation with support from Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (HRSDC), Imagine Canada, and MaRS.

Accelerating Social Innovation: Smart Ideas for Canada - Part One from MaRS Discovery District on Vimeo.

Entitled Accelerating Social Innovation: Smart Ideas for Canada, the multi-sector conference served as a timely platform to explore ways to build on existing innovations and develop new approaches to improve the way we support and work with each other in the 21st century. The conference report highlights successful innovations, captures key recommendations for supporting innovation in Canada, and presents areas for further exploration.

The Conference Report from Accelerating Social Innovation: Smart Ideas for Canada is now available for download by clicking here.

Here is a presentation by Al Etmanski on the multi-sector conversation about social innovation and how it can change the way we support and interact with each other in the 21st century.