Engage! to create Vibrant Communities - Tamarack

View Engage! online at: http://www.tamarackcommunity.ca/newsletter/engage.htm!
In this Issue...
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Community Conversations a Canadian Best Seller
Speak. Share. Thrive: What Kind of Alberta Do You Want
Design Thinking and Social Innovation
Understanding the Value of Backbone Organizations
Innoweave Non-Profit Learning Opportunity
ShareThis
Featured Articles
Community Conversations a Canadian Best Seller [By: Paul Born]
Margaret Mead was right! "Never Doubt that a small group of thoughtful
committed citizens can change the world - indeed it is the only thing that
ever has." This simple quote sums up 10 years of Tamarack's work and the
strategy of just about every other community change effort we have written
about during that time.

To celebrate the work of these innovators of change, we have just released a second edition of Community
Conversations. The book I wrote 4 years ago has sold over 15,000 copies, making it a Canadian best seller.
As Tamarack's work in the United States continues to grow this edition is appealing to that audience and
beyond.
Community Conversations: Mobilizing the Ideas, Skill and Passion of Community Organizations,
Governments, Business and People has received a new cover and much of the original book's content has
been updated and, where needed, modified to allow a global audience of readers from all countries to enjoy it.
I have been surprised by how well this book has been received. The first section of this edition has four
chapters: converse, engage, collaborate and casting a vision. Each chapter shares stories and advice to
illustrate how to mobilize a community for change. The book's second section profiles 10 methods for hosting
community conversations and shares stories about using each method.
This new edition is now on sale at Amazon, Barnes and Noble and just about every other online book store. It
has also been released in e-format.
Related Links:
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Download Community Conversations 2 nd Edition to your Kobo, Kindle, Nook, or Sony e-reader
Order your copy of Community Conversations 2nd Edition now
Read the Globe & Mail article What Makes a Canadian Community Great
Find more resources for hosting community conversations at www.tamarackcci.ca
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Speak. Share. Thrive: What kind of Alberta Do You Want
[By: Leann Wagner]
‘What kind of Alberta do you want' This is the essential question at the centre
of Speak. Share. Thrive - the public engagement process now underway to
create Alberta's social policy framework. It is also a question that is generating
an incredible volume, depth and variety of response from people across the
province.
The framework will be a blueprint for governments, non-profit organizations,
social agencies, businesses and individuals who work together to provide social supports in areas like
employment, housing, seniors supports and child care.

A primary goal of Speak Share Thrive is to make the public an active partner in creating the framework,
through open, transparent and interactive engagement. The province of Alberta has merely provided the tools
and the opportunities for conversation; Albertans are the ones actually leading the discussion, shaping it and
driving it forward.
Engagement methods
Albertans are invited to host their own community conversations and have been provided with a discussion kit
and other resources to support them in doing so. To date, more than 2,200 Albertans have participated in 150
community-hosted conversations since June, far-exceeding expectations.
People also have the opportunity to share their ideas on an interactive website: www.socialpolicy.alberta.ca.
The site includes the first-ever Government of Alberta wiki, where members of the public can change or
comment on the draft framework's content. People can also create or comment on blogs, take a short survey
or post a document to generate discussion on the site. The range of comments being received can also be
viewed by all.
Results
Here is just a quick snapshot that highlights the results of the Speak. Share. Thrive. since its launch in June:
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27,459 visitors to www.socialpolicy.alberta.ca
3,971 online surveys completed
93 wiki edits
114 submissions to the library
Our approach to engagement - emphasizing transparency and involving the public early and often - has been
met with enthusiasm by citizens and we hope will promote a common understanding of the role of social policy
in our province's future and build a community of partners who want to work with government to achieve
Albertans' priority.
Leann Wagner is a member of Alberta's Social Policy Framework Project Team, Alberta Human Services.
Related links:
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Visit the Socialpolicy.alberta.ca website for more on Alberta's social policy framework and the Speak.
Share Thrive engagement process
Download Speak. Share. Thrive. A Working Paper for Alberta's Social Policy Framework
Check out the resources available in the Speak Share Thrive Discussion Kit

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View the results of the Speak Share Thrive community conversations here:
Follow Speak Share Thrive on Twitter at: @ABHumanServices
Email Leann Wagner to learn more about the Speak Share Thrive engagement process
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Ideas We're Following...
Design Thinking and Social Innovation [By: Sylvia Cheuy]
The discipline of design has traditionally focused on the form and function of products (think iPod). However,
design firms like IDEO are using the principles of design to create an innovative approach for addressing more
complex problems. This approach is called design thinking. As traditional programs and policies within our
social systems are proving less effective, a growing number of non-profit organizations are embracing design
thinking to generate new solutions.
As Cameron Norman observed in his recent blog Evaluation and Design for Changing Conditions, "The days
of creating programs, products and services and setting them loose on the world are coming to a close." As an
alternative he suggests that Design Thinking - a human-centered approach to innovation that brings
together what is desirable from a human point of view with what is technologically feasible and economically
viable - offers a "relevant and appropriate" alternative approach for those seeking to influence our world.
In Design Thinking for Social Innovation an article published in the Stanford Social Innovation Review, authors
Tim Brown and Jocelyn Wyatt of IDEO describe Design Thinking as an approach that "taps into capacities we
all have but that are overlooked by more conventional problem-solving practices. Not only does it focus on
creating products and services that are human-centered, but the process itself is also deeply human. Design
thinking relies on our ability to be intuitive, to recognize patterns, to construct ideas that have emotional
meaning as well as being functional."
The design thinking process is described as "a system of three overlapping spaces rather than a sequence of
orderly steps: inspiration, ideation, and implementation." Each of these spaces is described below:
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Inspiration: Identifying the Problem or Opportunity - Design thinkers believe that people
often have difficulty explaining their needs. To gain insight into the range of unmet needs, design
thinkers forgo surveys or focus groups in favour of listening to and observing behaviours of end-users
to better understand the problem and its context.

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Ideation: Generating, Developing and Testing Ideas - In this space, the insight gained
during the inspiration space is distilled into a plan for change. The emphasis in this space is on coming
up with as many ideas as possible and testing them against each other. The focus of this space
recognizes, to quote Linus Pauling, "To have a good idea you must first have lots of ideas."
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Implementation: Putting Solutions into the World - In the third space, ideas are turned into
products, policies and services. Prototyping and pilot testing in real environments are then used to
refine these solutions.
Jerry Sternin's Positive Deviance Initiative provides a powerful case study of design thinking in action. The
initiative's goal was to decrease malnutrition in Vietnamese children. However, rather than studying the
problem, Sternin sought out and studied families in the community who were not malnourished. He then
worked with these families to offer cooking classes to the families of malnourished children. By the end of the
program's first year, 80 percent of the 1,000 children enrolled in the initiative were adequately nourished and
the program had been replicated to fourteen villages. This is the power of design thinking: looking beyond the
problem to discover the seeds of the solution which already exist and working closely with the clients and
consumers to allow high-impact solutions to bubble up from below rather than being imposed from the top.
Related Links:
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Read Design Thinking for Social Innovation by T. Brown & J. Wyatt
Visit the IDEO website for resources and examples of design thinking in action
Read Evaluation and Design for Changing Conditions by Cameron Norman
Find more blogs by Cameron Norman on the Tamarack CCI website
Learn more about Jerry Sternin's Positive Deviance Initiative
Check out the Human Centred Design Website and toolkit of human-centred design thinking processes
and tools for NGOs and social enterprises
Listen to Design Thinking for Social Innovation a Tamarack audio seminar with Cameron Norman
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Understanding the Value of Backbone Organizations
[By: Donna Jean Forester-Gill]
Following on the heels of two successful reports - Making Collective Impact Work and Collective Impact - FSG,
in partnership with the Greater Cincinnati Foundation, has written a four-part blog series for the Stanford Social
Innovation Review - and developed a set of three video clips - to deepen understanding about the concept of
Collective impact and the central role that backbone organizations play in such efforts.

The first blog post describes the work of the
Greater Cincinnati Foundation, its commitment to
fund backbone organizations, and its partnership
with FSG to evaluate the work and effectiveness
of six backbone organizations in order to
advance the thinking around collective impact.
The second blog post describes key backbone
activities and expected outcomes. It also looks at
value-added activities that backbone
organizations share in common across sectors.
The third blog post shares highlights from the
evaluation findings which affirm the role and
value of backbone support organizations
particularly in the core areas of guiding vision and strategy; and supporting aligned activities. Factors such as:
the phase of the initiative; the capacity; geographic reach or scope; and, organization's structure were also
determined to affect the performance of backbone support organizations.
The fourth blog post shares the next steps and expands on lessons learned and outlines a path forward to
continue to further educate and engage key stakeholders in deeper explorations of collective impact and the
model being used by backbone organizations to drive positive change.
And, in a complementary effort to share insights and build a more nuanced understanding of collective impact
work, the Stanford Social Innovation Review has also just released Q&A Roundtable on Collective Impact
which captures a dialogue with a dozen social sector leaders as they "discuss the ways in which growing
numbers of communities are aligning resources and pulling together to create significant change on a
community problem - an approach called collective impact."
Related links:
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Access the Understanding the Value of Backbone Organizations in Collective Impact blog series
Read Q&A Roundtable on Collective Impact with Paul Schmitz and others
Download Collective Impact and Channeling Change: Making Collective Impact Work
Watch the 3-part What is Collective Impact video series featuring the GAIN and Elizabeth River
Projects

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Register for Investing in Change: Funding Collective Impact Efforts an FSG webinar - September 25th
at noon EST
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Innoweave Non-Profit Learning Opportunity [By: Liz Weaver]
Applications are now being accepted for up to fourteen non-profit and charitable organizations interested in
participating in the Innoweave Impact and Strategic Clarity module between November 2012 and March 2013.
This module is an important component of the broader Innoweave Program and is supported by United Way
Centraide Canada, PricewaterhouseCoopers Canada Foundation, United Way York Region, The J.W.
McConnell Family Foundation, and CISCO Canada. After completing this module, participating organizations
will be better able to explain their organization and its direction to funders and other stakeholders and will have
a clear plan for change. The deadline for applications is: Friday, September 14, 2012.
Related Links:
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Learn more about Innoweave's Impact and Strategic Clarity Model
Download an application form
From Tamarack's Learning Communities
www.vibrantcanada.ca ♦ www.tamarackcci.ca ♦ www.seekingcommunity.ca
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A Recipe for Community - Rachel Elizabeth shares a recipe - made with the key ingredients of
enthusiasm, diversity, compassion and action - for one of her favourite treats: community. Read the
Blog >>
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Time for a National Poverty Reduction Strategy - The group Canada Without Poverty calls
on policy makers and strategic planners to focus efforts on preventing, reducing, and eliminating
poverty and crime because intervention programs are not enough. Read the Blog >>
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Technology and Social Media for Community Engagement - Tierney Smith of TechSoup
Canada talks about the connection between Technology and Social Media for Community Engagement
and reveals tips and tricks for how organizations can use these "new" tools to enhance leadership,
communities and engagement efforts. Listen >>

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About Engage!
Engage! e-magazine is published by Tamarack - An Institute for Community
Engagement, to bring you inspiration, ideas, and resources to envision and create
vibrant communities. We would love your ideas to help us improve our new format.
Please send comments to: paul@tamarackcommunity.ca. Photo used in top banner
courtesy of Carl Hiebert.
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Tamarack - An Institute for Community Engagement
5 Father David Bauer Drive, Suite 106, Waterloo, ON
Tel: (519) 885-5155 | Fax: (519) 885-4454
Email: tamarack@tamarackcommunity.ca | Web: http://www.tamarackcommunity.ca