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Citizens Participation in the 21st CenturyA North American Journey
A 2001 Winston Churchill Fellowship to Canada and the United States August to October 2001 by Roger Tweedy, Chairperson Work & Age Trust New Zealand Inc.
CONTENTS
Acknowledgements Introduction Planning the Fellowship under the themes
The Journey from Summer to Fall Learnings - Issues and reflections
Four Areas of Study 1. Work and Age Issues 2. Community Economic Development 3. The Canadian Voluntary Sector Initiative 4. Volunteering in Canada 2001 Index of Resources
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSMy journey to the USA and Canada started from a desire to explore the areas of work that have excited me over the past decade, in a wider context. After years of having a form on my office desk, and a particularly unrewarding year working in the community, I finally completed my application for the Churchill Fellowship in 2000. Just prior to the Christmas break 2000, I received this tremendous gift. Having colleagues such as Darren Quirk and Libby Clements who had experienced a Churchill was tremendous value in the planning stages. As the plans took shape, I received tremendous encouragement from people in North America. On the financial side, in addition to the wonderful support of the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust, I thank the Department of Labour - Community Employment Group and Labour Market Policy Group. Special thanks to Charlie Moore and Liz McPherson for a contribution to the labour aspects, and to Susan Ansell of the Minister's Discretionary Fund, Lottery Grants Board, and Daniel Lambert for assistance in the volunteering area. One of my organisations, Work & Age Trust NZ, supported me both financially and personally, in particular, Michael Cash, David Littlejohn and Tom Law, the latter who also kept the 'shop open' while I was away. Patient assistance with my report writing was provided by a Helen Frances, another Work & Age colleague. My appreciation the many people in North America who provided hospitality and friendship, in particular: John McBride, Sherri Torjman, Nancy Amos, Brenda Cameron Couch, Kenn Allen, Anthea Hoare, Yuko Osawa, Susan Carter, Ian Smillie, Allan Day, David Pell, Roberta Bustard, and Sol Kasimer A special thanks to Margot Szamier and Mark, my hosts through the trauma of September 11 in New York, and to Garry, Pam, Kamaia, and Keilan who hosted me in their Glen Williams haven three times during my trip - a great spot for both home comforts and reflection. It is at times such as these that one appreciates some of the special rewards that are gained from working in a community setting. Perhaps the sign which Einstein had hanging in his study at Princeton says it all. "Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts" Thanks to all who contributed to an experience of a lifetime. Winston Churchill Fellowship to North AmericaAugust - October 2001Introduction The fellowship was planned to focus on two aspects of work futures that have captured my attention, yet are not on many other radar screens in New Zealand. These two aspects are, to my mind, vital to any discussions on work in the future. I wanted to explore how these issues were being addressed in the larger, and possibly more experienced societies of the USA and Canada.
My interest in the first aspect has arisen from a deep involvement in work and age issues. My involvement has been more recently, at the older end of the worklife continuum, and in the previous decade in youth, transition, and enterprise issues. I have also become interested in 'inter-generational' activities, and the effect of the changing nature of work on the demography of the workforce, in both paid and unpaid areas. My interest in the second aspect was sparked by a thesis promoted by Jeremy Rifkin, in his best selling book 'The End of Work'. His notion that 'civil society organisations' will become the major future workplace, especially for young people, was one I could relate to. It is from this sector that I have gained most of my work rewards, mainly voluntarily, during the past three decades. On a personal basis I sought the Fellowship, as I needed an energy charge after 13 years working within the community sector. One can become stale and inward looking, even negative. I needed a charge to burst into the 21st century, fresh and with new visions of possible futures gained from other countries. My planning matched my preferred style of learning, which is very holistic. Issues and questions were addressed in different settings and from different perspectives. By taking a very holistic approach, with many visits/interviews covering a range of topics, I realised the report may be difficult to follow. In particular the connections I make may not be obvious connections for other readers. The trip was undertaken to meet peers in 'real time', to share stories, to discover new ways, and above all to recharge my batteries for the next stage of my journey in the world of social enterprise. My report intends to tell a story, to stimulate ideas, and to provide a resource of contacts and projects. It is a snapshot of my life work in progress. Methodology, Context and Definitions My study objectives were to discover insights from Canada and the United States in relation to two specific questions I had about the future of work.
The Approach My approach to the study tour was very much based on 'action research methodologies' , aiming to integrate action and reflection. The other 'methodology' I used was a 'business as usual' approach, operating much as I do at home. I contacted people, knocked on doors, gave and received information, recharged myself and, hopefully, in return charged others in our global village. Also by maintaining daily contact with projects back home, I also embraced the future in a practical e-work style, which increased both personal and technological learning. The Ageing WorkforceThe perspective I take on this topic is multi-faceted and is not only focused on the older worker. It ranges from the changing employment conditions and work motivations for older workers, to young people's acquisition of experience; from gender issues around ageing, to employer and public education. Because of this diverse approach it was difficult to pin down specific agencies to visit, however this pre-trip research provided a number of valuable web sites and resources for my future work. The Role of the 'Third Sector'The 'Third Sector' (or civil society) role as the major provider of work in the future, is a scenario proposed by Jeremy Rifkin, the President of the Washington based, Foundation on Economic Trends. His proposal is that whilst the market, especially in the knowledge sector, will create many new jobs, the number of jobs will likely be too few to absorb the millions of workers displaced by the new technologies. Rifkin believes the so-called "Third Sector" may be the best hope for absorbing millions of displaced workers". Part of the trip's objectives was to check out Rifkin' s theories among the sector employers and leaders. # The terms - Third Sector, Not-for-profit Sector, Voluntary & Community Sector, Civil Society Sector are all used at various stages in this report. There is no standard term in use either in New Zealand or internationally, another approach in definition is to ask what the sector is NOT _ the market or government.The Journey - from Summer to FallA trip of this nature is very like life itself. Having a plan is important, but allowing plenty of room for 'happen stance' , is critical. The unplanned space, as usual provided some of the most valuable learning. This approach also allowed my plans to be adjusted by the events of September 11th, which necessitated spending less time in the USA than I had originally intended. It also allowed time for reflection on some of life's great paradoxes in the beautiful Canadian fall. The journey was an end and a new beginning for me in many ways. The framework of my itinerary was based around four Conferences, two on arrival on the Canadian West Coast, Volunteer Canada_ s National Forum, and the World Assembly of CIVICUS. The other two were the United Nations NGO Conference in New York 10-12 September, and the annual conference of the Association of Volunteer Administrators in Toronto early in October. I visited Vancouver, Toronto, spent a few days in London, New York, Washington DC, several smaller communities in the province of Ontario, and Ottawa during the eight weeks. I had more than 50 individual meetings; many phone and e-conversations; was hosted by colleagues, and family, and was quickly involved in community life, particularly in the Canadian VSI project. Near the end I took part in a HR Think tank on future work within the voluntary sector. I also saw the sights, rode for miles on mountain bikes, played golf with the squirrels, took many fall photos and got to know a niece and nephew. LEARNINGS - Issues and ReflectionsIssue One: The "Third Sector" as employer of the futureFew among the sector leadership understood this issue. There were no signs of a popular, growing workplace in this sector, but rather the type of elite workforce, Rifkin suggests in "The End of Work" . I saw no signs of research into this area among planners and policy makers, no research into the barriers and potential. The sector has undergone real growth in the United States and Canada. Virginia Hodgkinson, from the International Society of Third-Sector Research, quotes that the sector employed some 11.7% of the US workforce as compared to 16.5% working for the government sector. I found however little awareness of this issue and no sign of future planning. The Canadian VSI Human Resource Think tank promised an opportunity to think out towards a possible Rifkin future. However this event took a short term - inward looking focus, on issues around capacity building and benefits targeted at the sector's paid workforce. Ian Smillie, a highly experienced international development worker, remarked that this suggestion came from someone with little knowledge of our sector. He went on to say that many management gurus(Drucker, Handy, and Rifkin) have over the years proposed that the voluntary/third sector is our future. His reflection was that they all see the continuing massive replacement of people by machines, and because they all tend to be positive people wanting to see a full employment future, predict our sector as providing the answer. He believed that these guru's have little or no knowledge of our sector's vulnerability, capacity or needs. I don't totally agree, but found his comment interesting to reflect on. Issue Two: Planning around the Ageing Workforce Activities of note were:
I didn't come across great examples of inter-generational programmes, and in fact observed many wasted opportunities to connect young and older people. A prime example of this would be the Toronto Youth Business Centre, which could I felt been much more successful by having older mentors on board. Key Learning Outcomes1. Canada - A Divided Community The Canadian model, in my experience, has often been considered best practice, something for New Zealand to aspire to - a working social democracy. I was therefore surprised to witness 'a possible future' that I didn't like at all, that of a more divided nation with a growing gap between the haves and have nots. The single biggest impact for me was the street people in the big cities, certainly much more visible than on my last visit in the late 80's. More frightening than that, people were living on the street was that many 'middle Canadians' were very accepting of this situation. I often heard remarks such as "They choose to live there", or, "There are plenty of jobs". The jobs I saw were the 'help wanted' in the cafes, supermarkets etc.; shift work 'macjobs' , on minimum wages. To live in Toronto, one young woman told me, bonds of several thousand dollars where required, making it impossible for people on low incomes to break the cycle. Many of Vancouver' s street people, were I discovered, mental health consumers who have been de-institutionalised into their communities. A walk through Vancouver's eastside, was one of the stronger motivators to continue the fight for equality I have ever experienced. A report prepared by the Canadian Council of Social Development in October 2001 entitled 'A Community Growing Apart: Income Gaps and Changing Needs in the City of Toronto in the 1990' s highlights these issues. 2. We can have a more recognised voluntary sector On the positive side it was stimulating for me to see developments in the role and profile of the voluntary and the volunteering sectors in Canada. This was best described during the meeting I attended of the Capacity Round Table, part of the VSI programme. Senior officials from both government agencies and voluntary sector were working as one at this meeting. This showed me the potential for both sectors to work together in New Zealand. The volunteering community has a tremendous profile through the leadership role of Volunteer Canada, and could be an inspiration to a fledgling VNZ. 3. Silos are not the preserve of government agencies "Silos" are created in a number of ways and occur in a number of environments . They occur within communities, between agencies within the voluntary sector, and also intra-sector. The latter for instance applied to knowledge of the VSI programme, with neither the Community Economic Development agencies I visited nor by the International Development people in met being aware of the initiative, let alone involved in the process. I return keen to find ways to break down the silos among the voluntary sector groups I work with. On the government side the silo effect is similar to NZ, and of course multiplied by eight on population terms. In Canada they also have of course the provincial - national layer of government to add to the systemic pie. 4. The challenge of changing the paradigm We often despair at how difficult it is to change societies' long held views when working with limited resources, for example, employers' views on older workers. My visit to the American Retired Persons Association (AARP) in Washington DC, made me realise how difficult this is, even for an organisation with 1600 employees and tens of thousands of volunteers. The ultimate NGO services and lobby groups with a massive publicity and resourcing machine have had great difficulty finding employers who demonstrate best practice with older workers. 5. There is nothing (or little) that is new During my travels I was reminded that little is new. Many programmes are recycled as institutional memories dim. Several of the 'leading edge' projects I visited were very well known to New Zealand communities, especially those in the 'unemployment' arena. The often raised myth that we introduce failed international models, applies equally the other way. I also observed, sadly, in the 'work futures' area, how similar city economic development thinking is in Canada, Australia and New Zealand. How many film friendly cities can we have? Education, ITC areas prevail and the 'cluster model' is universal. The underlying principles of Putman's clusters model, that healthy economies are built on healthy communities, seems little understood. 6. The challenge of 'universality' The international working group I participated in at the AVA Conference in Toronto was a tremendous learning experience. There was debate about the different stages of development of 'north and south' ; the importance of words and language; how our struggles with bi-cultural understanding give us a special knowledge that other countries don't have; how similar yet different we are in the global village. As New Zealanders we have the size, the unique culture, and the knowledge that place us in a tremendous position to take a leadership role in many future forums. We only need to deal with our own confidence. 7. In today's fast paced work world, we all need time out to think During my trip I made many observations about the paradoxes of work. I had time to think in a stimulating environment. This time to think, away from 'the day to day' was one of the most treasured memories. How can we build 'sabbaticals' into all peoples working lives?
Key Recommendations for follow up
These are targeted to various parties, including my own organisation, the WORK & AGE Trust. Several have already been made in other forums.
Target for Actions - The C-G Relationship Group, The Voluntary Sector Roundtable, and government agencies. At the time of writing this report several actions have taken place _
Target - Discussions to be held with Statistics NZ and the appropriate politicians. Many community people believe until we obtain some meaningful data on the impact of both the sector and of the volunteering inputs the third sector will not be adequately recognised. Many other ideas, opportunities and contacts will flow in the future. Through my networks I will continue to target and facilitate opportunities to support closer NZ _ Canadian relationship. We have much to learn from each other.
WORK AND AGE ISSUESThe main areas I wanted to investigate were those of planning, preparedness, and initiatives around knowledge transfer through intergenerational programmes. I was keen to find out about practical initiatives that could both heighten awareness and be applied in New Zealand. The question I wanted an answer to was: How well are people in North America planning for the effects of the workforce ageing phenomena? The Ageing WorkforceThe perspective I take on this topic is multi-facetted and is not focused only on the older worker. It ranges from the changing employment conditions and work motivations for older workers, to young people's experience acquisition, from gender issues around ageing, to employer / community education. Because of this diversity it was difficult to pin down specific agencies to visit, however the pre-trip research provided a number of valuable web sites and resources for my future work. See Future of Work resources. American Association of Retired Persons _ Washington DC (AARP)Whilst the vastness of this organisation made it difficult to discover the right people to engage with, I had several very positive meetings. Being in Washington on the 13th September the shadow of 9/11 also made things difficult. AARP is a massive not for profit organisation with 1700 staff. The HQ premises cover a city block in downtown DC. I was told they are both the US's biggest NGO, and its most influential lobby group. The most valuable meeting was with Deborah Russell, a dynamic 30's black American women and Bernie Nash, a 32 year veteran of AARP (79 years young). They both work in the Economic Security & Work Division of AARP. AARP produce a wide range of booklets and other material on the range of work and age issues. They kindly forwarded some of the range on to me- see attached full list of publications I have available. The 3 booklets listed below would be valuable for the Work & Age Trust to uplift and promote in NZ -
The latter programme was due to hold its inaugural awards ceremony in New York on the evening of 11th September, and needless to say this was cancelled. Deborah described the trials and tribulations of the program, which received approximately 15 entries finally for a variety of reasons.WHICH ARE?? I believe this is one programme that the Work & Age Trust could consider in the future. That a program, promoted throughout the USA, had received such a small show of interest, reinforced for me, the need to challenge and to change employer attitudes. Deborah was genuinely excited about our EEO Flexible work project and looks forward to sourcing the resource on the Web site next year. Bernie's enthusiasm and knowledge was a tremendous example to all. I also met with Clare Hushbeck, the AARP Economics Issues Team Leader. We discussed the difficulty of getting the message out on the changes happening around 'changing work' and getting the stats in a form that better describes the work/life patterns of the older worker. Her team's major role is in supporting the state centres, including convincing state governments about the importance of the issues around age and change. State awareness is very inconsistent. A major issue for AARP centres around their constituency - the 'third age' . The organisation_ s brand is one of the most recognised in the US, along with the Cokes, and Nikes, yet the definition as representing 'retired persons' is an oxymoron. Their membership is open to people over 50 years, and their increasing challenge is the effective representation of both the 'baby boomers' and their parents' needs. This conflict is particularly around work. Why should any resources be going into 'employer programmes' or the Small Business Centre they run? This is a challenge also facing NZ NGO's who have this major group of older people who still want to participate in all forms of work, and not just assume roles perceived as being suitable for 'older people' . The AARP Web site is an award winning one (www.aarp.org) and has a wealth of information on all issues affecting older people. Canadian Voluntary Sector Initiative _ Future of Work within the Sector As part of this major government voluntary sector project, I was privileged to be a participant in an HR think tank, with a particular focus on the perceived 'skills shortages' within the sector in the future. This driver, 'future skills shortages' seemed much more of an issue to Canadian organisations, in all three sectors of society, than in NZ. The two main major causes of concern, seemed to be those of workforce ageing, and the 'brain drain'. The latter group was represented at the Think Tank by Canada 25, a campaign organisation, driven by young people, entirely devoted to the question of How Canada can attract and retain young talent. www.canada25.com Several research papers produced as background to this process are valuable resources for understanding changing workforce and workplace issues in Canada. Jeremy Rifkin - The Foundation on Economic Trends, Washington, DCRifkin, in his book "The End of Work" proposed a scenario that was one of the main themes of my fellowship. He proposes that in a technologically driven workplace of the future, the market will only require a small, elite workforce. He suggests only 20% of the working age population. In this picture of a future world, Rifkin expresses real concern for young people, and how they will engage in society in the 21st Century. The two solutions he suggests are: 'spreading the work' through the shorter working week (eg. French model), and by 'creating' work within civil society. I was interested to discover if any follow up work had been done on this thesis, since he first raised these issues in 1995. Unfortunately I was due to visit the Foundation on 13th September and Jeremy was delayed in Europe following the major airways disruption after 9/11. I spoke with Alexia Robinson his assistant (they are the only staff in this area of the Foundation), who was able to update me and give copies of articles, speeches etc. from recent work. In short no more work has been done by the Foundation to explore this area of work participation potential. Several experienced sector people I spoke with in Canada, suggested this idea would only be raised by someone with no 'third sector' knowledge and with no knowledge of the vulnerability and the lack of sustainability of the sector in its current form. Canadian Council on Social Development - OttawaThe council was an initial contact, made during my last visit to Canada in 1987, through a report on the 'Future of Work' . After trying to make contact I was advised when in Ottawa that they were not doing work in this area any more. Later, I met their Executive Director Marchel Lauziere in Toronto, who advised me of their current work in this area. I also had contact with CCSD's Research Director, Andrew Jackson, who has real interest in this area. Since my return I have started to receive their e-news flash which is a useful source of information on a range of 'social development' issues, including a Conference in November 2002 "Towards a Vision of Social Inclusion" . The Canadian Council on Social Development (CCSD) is one of Canada's most authoritative voices promoting better social and economic security for all Canadians. A national, self-supporting, non-profit organization, the CCSD's main product is information and its main activity is research, focussing on concerns such as income security, employment, poverty, child welfare, pensions and government social policies. www.ccsd.ca This type of organisation, which provides non-government social policy development and promotion of issues (there is a number of such agencies in Canada ), is unfortunately missing from the New Zealand policy arena. Canadian Government - Human Resources Development CanadaThis organisation is massive. It combines many of the roles of our Ministry of Social Development, Work & Income, Skill NZ, Industry NZ, Careers Service, and probably several other agencies in a country 8 times bigger. Finding the right contacts was almost a research project on its own, but with great assistance from the VSI Secretariat Team, who are located within the Community Engagement Division, of HRDC, I arranged three separate meetings with people, all in Strategic Policy, at the Hull City based national office. I also met key people at other meetings and conferences in Canada.David Wallace Senior Research Officer - Applied Research Branch, Strategic Policy. This Branch generates 'policy relevant research'. Research covers several areas of interest including: changing nature of work; labour market adjustment (transitions); lifelong learning; skills requirements in the knowledge-based economy and society, and youth & the labour market. I had a wide-ranging discussion with Dave and discussed my interest areas. He had been specifically involved in the work futures and flexible work areas. David gave me copies of The Evolving Workplace Series, produced in conjunction with Stats Canada. He also referred me to the other research themes of the Branch - see www.hrdc-drhc.gc.ca/arb. One area of particular interest made clear the connections between productivity and well-being.Debbi Bryson Chief, Learning Employment and Labour Policy, Labour Market Policy I was unable to get a meeting with Barbara Glover, the Director of Employment Policy in the Labour Market policy area, however we spoke briefly on the phone and she arranged for me to meet with Debbi. Again we had a wide-ranging discussion on work and age issues, workforce transition etc. Debbi has a particular interest in the careers field, and was in regular contact with Lester Oakes from Career Services in NZ. This and other conversations lead me to the opinion that the ageing workforce area is a much higher priority in Canadian employment policy than it is in New Zealand. (I appreciate this can to some degree be countered by a different age demography between countries) Peter Larose Associate Director General, Skills and Learning Task Force I finished my visit by catching up with Peter who spent some time working in social policy in New Zealand. We discussed the similarities and the differences. A major difference in his work area in Canada, is not having a NZQA equivalent body, and we discussed the many pros and cons. Other people I unsuccessfully tried to track down were in the social entrepreneurship and youth programme development. Community Engagement Division - Social Development Directorate While I did not meet with this team during my time in Hull, I met with many team members throughout my trip and I am indebted for their assistance in _ engaging with Canadian communities_ . I briefly met with their Director Nancy Gardiner at the Capacity Table meeting in Toronto, her first meeting as Co-Chair of this group. Roberta Bustard, the Executive Officer for this table is an HRDC staff member and her team particularly Nancy Amos (seconded from Volunteer Canada) , and Brenda Cameron-Couch, the officer responsible for the HR Think Tank, provided the inside knowledge to break into the HRDC bureauacy, and genuinely included me in all processes I wished to engage in. The latter two being 'community people' made this particularly special. Caledon Institute - Ottawa Sherri Torjman, at Caledon, was one of the key people I had targeted when planning my trip. As I travelled through Canada discussing my interests, Sherri's name came up time and again as a key player in Canada. I spent a morning and lunch with Sherri whom I had previously met in New Zealand at a New Zealand Civic & Social Policy Institute Conference. The Institute is a small, independent organisation with five permanent staff, yet produces a volume of work much greater than one would expect from its size. Two features of their work programme are their " Community Stories" series, promoting a wide range of community enterprise (February title is "Enterprising Non-Profits"), and their Speaking Out Reports, which raise many key policy issues. The work is more in-depth than popular journalism, and often provides critic of government policy, or challenges its lack of analysis. The ageing area has not been specifically reported on recently. The issues are, however, covered in reports on Community-Based Poverty Reduction, Strategies for a Caring Society, and more particularly in the area of Job Insecurity. We discussed the issues that Sherri had identified in a paper I had sourced from their Web site entitled "Pension Systems in Crisis", which she had presented in 1997. The paper identifies a trio of challenges that I feel are very pertinent to the issue of age and work, and are often not considered in the debate in New Zealand.
Another area of Caledon's work is "Special Projects" . Three current projects are:
We touched briefly on the first two, and Sherri was particularly interested in our Computers in Homes (2020 Communications Trust) Programme, and the Immigrant Work Mentoring Programme being developed by ESOL Home Tutor Service in Wellington. The Opportunity 2000 Project in the Waterloo area was the one I had most interest in and had previously been in touch with Eric Leviten-Reid, the Caledon Research Associate. Eric has carried out a major evaluation role to identify success factors as the program rolls out into other Canadian communities. OP2000 (see full report ) has been a remarkably ambitious and, in many respects, successful community-based poverty reduction project. In short, it mobilized a large multi-sectoral network in an effort to substantially reduce poverty. (Target focused on reducing poverty for 2000 people by the year 2000 as an alternative to an employment creation target). The projects ran the gamut from community and micro-enterprise initiatives to personal and employment counseling to job enhancement for the working poor to 'customized training' programs. The project also built the poverty reduction capacity of its nonprofit partners, raised awareness of poverty in the community generally and built relationships among four key stakeholder groups (nonprofit organizations, government, business and low-income residents). In my later visit to the Waterloo Region only one project caught my interest as being applicable to our work in New Zealand. This was the 'individual development account model' similar to a UK government model - details below; Lutherwood CODA: Low income residents receive training in money management skills, save a sum of money to be matched by the project's financial partner on a 3:1 ratio, and plan for the investment of the resulting financial asset in potentially life altering initiatives, e.g., return to school/training, starting a business. In one project, sole support mothers saved $250 over the course of a year, which was matched with $750. Each planned her own investments. In a second project, participants were simultaneously enrolled in a computer training project and used the assets they built to purchase personal computers. This project is continuing as part of a national demonstration project funded by HRDC Sherri Torjman has a broad contribution to make to social and economic policy development, and would be a tremendous speaker for future conferences in this area in New Zealand. The Caledon Institute is a great resource for our work in New Zealand, and a model of an independent policy agency, an organizational type we lack here. University of Waterloo - Environmental Studies School Sally Lerner, Associate Professor EmeritusI was particularly interested in this area, as Rifkin's model can only work if there is an income transfer for those working in 'civil society'. Sally is an international expert on basic income issues whom I had met previously at a basic income conference in NZ. I also meet separately with the director of their Masters Programme in Community Economic Development (see CED section of this report). It was interesting that both these people were based in the environmental studies school of the University. - WHY? Sally talked of her worldwide networks and the slow take up of issues around a notion of basic incomes. She co-authored the book "Basic Income - Economic Security for all Canadians'", which outlines all the key aspects of this alternative. Sally has been totally committed to this key plank of the future of work and over many years has highlighted the difficulties in promoting systemic change. The book explores how the establishment of an adequate Basic Income, can be an effective response to the three major challenges facing Canada in the era of new technologies and a global economy. The first challenge is how to maintain full engagement of Canadians in their families, communities, and the larger society if employment for all in secure, adequately waged jobs becomes an unrealistic goal. The second challenge is how to plan effectively for the better quality of life that the new economies and technologies can offer, if these fundamental changes are steered in positive directions. (This includes volunteering and "flexecurity", i.e. more security for those in the flexible work employers are now requiring). The third challenge the authors see is how to respond to the necessity of caring for the environment, of maintaining ourselves in ways that are less destructive to our children_ s future. Sally doesn't argue that basic income is the answer, but sees it as part of the debate that society must have to secure a sustainable future. As Sally has recently taken early retirement from the University and is 'working portfolio' she was very interested in the work of the Work and Age Trust and our NEWORK Centre for those working on the outside, and very keen to keep in touch. The MAS (Management Advisory Service) ProgrammeA partnership program with Volunteer TorontoThe program is covered in more detail in the 'Volunteering in Canada' section of my report, however it is one initiative that embraces several aspects of my study interests in recent years' capacity building in the voluntary sector, intergenerational mentoring (experience not being lost to communities) and a volunteer program that is attractive for older men to engage in. My main critique is that it is delivered on a pro-bono basis, meaning that involvement is difficult for many pre-retirees without an income source. The idea came from a Canadian public service overseas aid programme, and has been adapted for the _ domestic_ community. University of Toronto - David Foot, Professor of EconomicsDavid gave a keynote speech at the AVA Conference, and is the Canadian guru (author of several books) on "demographics". I have since followed up with him and agree with him on many issues around the 'boomer effect' on both paid and voluntary work. See www.footwork.com. YOUTH PROGRAMMESI also sort out some initiatives focusing on youth people and was especially interested in finding intergenerational programmes. Youth Business Enterprise - The Canadian ExperienceThe Toronto based YOUTH BUSINESS CENTRE www.yes.on.ca is one of the few youth based business incubators in Canada. It was established under the auspices of YES Toronto, a major youth employment centre, and the Rotary Club of Toronto. I met with both the Centre Director , Johanne Larouche and the President of YES Toronto, Nancy Schaefer. I was also able to talk briefly with other staff (total 2.5) and a young client of the Centre. The centre has been operating for around 3 years and arose from a need seen by the parent organisation to focus on assistance to young people looking at the self - employment option. At this time there was seen to be a shortage of 'start up space' in the central city, and this encouraged a focus on provision of space as a key service. In hindsight this part of the service has been less important to the clients, and also problematic for income recovery. Another change has been that the age criteria has been extended to 35 years. To quote Johanne, "You often have to know that you don't like to work for a boss before you have the motivation to work for yourself". The major uptake of the services provided (80% of activity) has been around the 'hands on' workshops and seminars conducted by both the Centre's Development /Training Officer and experienced people (all volunteers) from the business world. They are currently setting up a 'mentor programme', which they hope will also be well supported. Of those organisations that get 'up and running' , only around a third see their key need as securing incubator space. Core funding of the service is provided in a way familiar to the New Zealand setting - through government grants, charitable foundations, and a little corporate funding. The fees for services from clients, even after 3 years still remains around 10% of running costs. The 'full-service' package is $100 per month (work station, reception, voicemail, post box, storage etc). Johanne felt that redesigning the space to allow more privacy for users, would result in a higher up take. The key message was the gestation time to get a business up and running. From YBC_ s point of view, the generation of some income from the incubates, and the development of a few success stories to take to funders/sponsors has been painfully slow and taken much longer than predicted. A similar centre has been established in Wellington 'The NRG Trust', based at the railway station. Canadian Youth Business Foundation, meeting with CEO David Pell. www.cybf.ca or www.youthbusiness.com . This is a national organisation 'that enables young entrepreneurs to pursue their ambitions of building successful enterprises by providing business assistance not otherwise accessible to them'. The Foundation is funded by corporate Canada and has three main deliverables: Loans - up to $15,000 Mentoring Web site - YouthBusiness.com specifically for the young entrepreneur age group 18 -29. It is modelled on the Prince's Youth Business Trust in the UK. This is a highly professional organisation, A local example, providing different services, would be Enterprise NZ Trust. It works through community partner organisations in its loan and mentoring programmes, which handle the on the ground support, under approved guidelines. The Youth Business Foundation has some exciting features including - Almost a total independence through corporate funding (government has approached them to become involved, not the other way around). Through their 'community partners' - volunteers are involved at all levels eg. Young accountants from big CA firms are involved in assessing and distributing loans to their peers. The Mentoring service can be provided nationally through both these 'partners' and through 'on-line' mentoring by senior business people. The central provision of training, standards eg. Loan policies. The ability to be a lender of last resort to young people and their _ unproven ideas_ . An awards and recognition programme that promotes youth enterprise. David believes that the organisation owes its success to a clear focus on the proposition that 'youth are the future of business' (good corporate citizen), and that the Foundation is seen to provide a strong link between enterprising young people (the youth market) and business. The Foundation and its sister organisation - Canadian Youth Foundation - which focuses on instilling enterprise habits and education to young people still at school, has a staff of 20 and turnover of around CND$ 2mil The other two agencies I had some involvement with are reported elsewhere Canada 25 and Santropol Roulant from Montreal.
Some random stories& & & Work in the age of paradox
Told to illustrate some of my relections around future work and citizens involvement issues
Border Crossing Travelling back to Canada a week after the events of 11th September, was always going to be eventful. Trading my air ticket for an Amtrak one, I enjoyed a wonderful day on the train, laptop plugged in through beautiful fall scenery along the Hudson River and beyond. All passengers on the train were extensively checked by the US Border guard as we reached Niagara Falls, and then 100 metres later the Canadian agriculture and customs people came on board. Ninety minutes later we departed, due to their deep superstition of a group of young English travellers. This group had been in New York and Washington, the week of 9/11 (but so had I), and whilst they didn_ t help themselves with _ smart answers_ to some of the questions, the primary line of the questioning was around their _ livelihood_ . Two of the three worked as _ temp pharmacists_ in UK, usually as on call locums in the absence of an owner. This was just too difficult for the border people, and their "what do you do, where do you work?", line of questions. For these young guys, to work around their other interest, _ seeing the world_ , put them in the suspicious category, and emphasised how much work needs to be done in educating people on how people are now a gaining a livelihood.. (Note; Charles Handy talks about how more than half of the British workforce now work in _ non-standard_ ways)
Taxi driver - Washington DC I hailed a taxi across the road from my hotel in Washington DC. The driver after telling me not to stand on this street as I was in the worse part of town (I followed up his challenge later and found a great contact , see National Center for Neighbourhood Enterprise), gave me some interesting insights. After the usual Australian comments he enquired why I was in the US and when the found out he almost stopped the cab in reaction to my reason. Why would someone from a place with it all going for it, come to a country in such a mess to learn from the Americans. We were the future, in his eyes, they the past. One may have read his comments as those of telling the customer what he wanted to hear, but when he didn't charge a fare, I felt he was pretty genuine. Interestingly also he was a 'fourth generation' American, who had lived in the UK for 10 years and felt he had a more international perspective than many of his countrymen.
History - London During a three-day stopover in London I spent some time in the British Museum reading room. It could have been days. The reading room has been restored as part of a millennium project and history oozes from every wall. To be in a room where people such as Karl Marx and of course Churchill spent time in, doing research was awe-inspiring. I even found that a distant relative had been involved in promoting some of the poor law legislation in the 1600' s. I also made contact with Linda Trenberth in the management school at Birkbeck College in London. She was a former lecturer of mine at Victoria and works alongside ex Massey Professor Philip Dewe. Both have an interest in the future of work. Linda is carrying out some research with the Human Resources Institute in NZ on future work issues and we have been awaiting the results.
COMMUNITY ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT - SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIPNetworks and Education programmes Whilst this field was not part of my initial focus of my Churchill, it increasingly became one of the keys to link many of my ideas together. I focused primarily on the 'capacity issues', the CED support structures, (CED is the term used as opposed to LED) the networks and the education programmes within Canada. British ColumbiaOne of my first leads into this area was a chance reading of a newspaper advertisement for a self-employment course in a Vancouver. The organisation behind the advertisement was The Centre for Community Enterprise, which led me to their founder, who is also the Chair of the Canadian CED network (CCEDNet ), Mike Lewis. Unfortunately he is based on Victoria Island and visiting him was not an option, but contacts in the east were established. The two web sites are - www.cedworks.com and www.canadiancednetwork.org A conversation with the course leader of the programme I had spotted, highlighted for me, one of the key issues for the sector, our own organisational understanding - our internal values. Despite that fact that the Centre he was employed by having a highly community focused vision, and understanding of 'enterprise' in its widest definition, the tutor's belief 'right up front' was that enterprise success could only be in the 'business model' and anything else was 'airy fairy' stuff. The CIVICUS event itself promised much in the 'social entrepreneurship' area, but from my prospective, failed to deliver. The specific session was not memorable, but the networking following valuable and contacts made for later in the trip. My only pre-trip contact, Ian Smillie, (Ian had attended a COMMACT Conference in NZ some time ago) was unable to attend CIVICUS at the last minute, but I was able to meet him in his hometown of Ottawa. The CED/Social Enterprise discussion was picked up at other times over the five days in conversation and in other sessions especially the 'site visit' with the Upper Skenna Development Centre. As this organisation is based in a region half way to Alaska, they brought the community to Vancouver. (See full report) The Upper Skenna region is 80% first nations people with little employment and few opportunities for young people (youth make up 75% of population). They set up their Community Shop, with locally produced products, a mock learning centre and a Village (Hazelton) Community Centre at the Conference venue. The philosophy is based around using alternative education - outdoor 'experiential' education, service learning, recognition of prior learning - a learning community - as the way to give hope and create opportunities for the young people who have 'failed' traditional systems. Several participants had not left home before. The drivers of the project are English and Scottish community educators, however they have a strong vision to make themselves redundant. I was able to link Tu Williams from the Maori Congress with the first nations people following the session, with some follow up contacts exchanged. Others with strong SE ethos with whom I had conversations included Al Hatton from NV0 in Ottawa, alh@nvo-onb.ca , Sol Kasimer from the YMCA sol_kasimer@ymca.ca and one of the key notes speakers, a tremendous young SE from Montreal, Vanessa Reid, who is the Director, of a French speaking Youth organisation, Santropol roulant _ roulant@generation.net . Another very interesting contact was with Lelei LeLaulu, the Samoan CEO of Counterpart International, a Washington based organisation, which is now applying the learning from its work in the Pacific to countries within the former USSR. lelaulu@counterpart.org I have several conversations with Lisa Cannon from ASHOKA, she is their director of Citizen Base Initiative, but apart from their materials was not able to really connect with their role 'apart from their Awards to SE's. There were also a number of interesting display booths at the Assembly two stand out under this section; VanCity - a saving credit union with very strong social/community/environmental outcomes - www.vancity.com, and the Independent Sector; a Washington based membership organisation set up to promote, strengthen and advance the non-profit community. Sundry - USAThis section of my trip being from 9 _ 17 September was of course interrupted by the events of 9/11. The first two days in New York were fantastic highlighted by a touch rugby picnic with the New York pacific community and an address by Kofi Annan, Secretary General in the UN General Assembly Hall. In Washington I met with a very interesting organisation, the National Center for Neighbourhood Enterprise, and spoke with two of their Directors. The programme is based in 'crime prevention' and combines in a way the roles of our safer communities, strengthening families and LEC's. It focuses on turning the young leaders heading for life of crime around, to be coming a positive role model and leader of their communities. www.ncne.com I spent some time in one of the neighourhoods they work within - a real eye opener. I also caught up with old mentors Kenn Allan, who provided early assistance to Volunteer Wellington - Corporate Volunteering programme and Ross Gratham, former ED of the YMCA and the NZFVWO in Wellington. A disappointment was the several meetings including the one with Jeremy Rifkin were unable to proceed, due to travel delays. Ontario - GeneralIn the Ontario area I had considerable contact with the LED communities during my three stays in the city of Toronto. A separate report covers the 'youth enterprise' area. I also had two visits to the Waterloo / Kitchener area. Ottawa provided more interaction with 'capital people', and some of the most personally valuable meetings with policy and leadership people. Two of the most valuable meetings of the entire trip took place, with Sherri Torjman, one of the most respected people in the field in Canada, and with the leadership of the very innovative programme at Carleton University. Katherine Graham & Ted Jackson the Director of their CEDTAP programme. Sherri's organisation the Caledon Institute www.caledoninst.org is a social policy think tank supported in the main by a private foundation, which allows it true freedom to provide a critical role that we perhaps lack in New Zealand. Our discussions including wide-ranging issues across the social/economic policy areas. Underlying Caledon's work is the quest for sustainable social policy - "for strong, cost-effective solutions to the difficult problems created by our aging population, insecure labour market and rapid pace of social change. See appendix A common area shared was the significant of 'civil society / the community sector' as a major employer, now and especially into the future. One of Caledon services is to publish 'community stories' and have already featured some NZ examples. They were keen to have more and contacts were passed on ie. 2020 Trust - computers in schools. Caledon have been the lead facilitator in a major CED initiative in the Waterloo area - Opportunities 2000 , who I visited later in the month. Their role is now mainly in the evaluation area, as the programme is picked up by other communities across Canada. See appendix on Opportunities 2000. I caught up with the only Canadian SE contact I had prior to arriving in Canada over breakfast in Ottawa, Ian Smellie. Ian is a very experienced freelance community developer, and had been a speaker at a COMMACT Conference some years back. He works in the international development field and has in recent years become extremely involved in the diamond industry and its role in fueling some of Africa's most brutal wars. (See paper to CIVICUS World Assembly - Dirty Diamonds and Civil Society.) Two insights that arose from this meeting with a man who has lived CED for many years at all levels were; one that as in NZ there is a tremendous 'international knowledge' of development issues that the internal CED people do not tap into enough, and secondly that Rifkin's scenario (one of the key themes of my fellowship (the work potential of the 'third sector') is made by a person who has little knowledge of this sector. Carleton University, a progressive university based in Ottawa, have several interesting areas under their Faculty of Public Affairs and Management. I had already talked with Katherine Graham the Associate Dean - Research and Faculty Development at CIVICUS. Interesting research units include -
I was particularly interested in the Community Economic Development Technical Assistance Programme (CEPTAP) www.carleton.ca/cedtap-patdec I spent considerable time with the Director of the Centre for Study of Training, Investment and Economic Restructuring, Ted Jackson, who is the program champion and a very experienced and respected community developer. CEDTAP's mission is -to enhance the legitimacy and effectiveness of community-based organizations engaged in community economic development by supporting activities that will strengthen their capacities and increase the visibility, knowledge, coherence and resources of the CED sector as a whole in cooperation with other organizations with similar interests. CEDTAP is a five-year, Canada-wide initiative that aims to assist 500 communities by 2006. CEDTAP helps community-based organizations engaged in CED by supporting technical assistance, study tours, target group initiatives and requests for computer hardware and software. CEDTAP began in 1997 as a response to the challenges faced by community groups engaged in CED, including geographic isolation and limited access to technical advice and expertise. With a $3 million grant from the J.W. McConnell Family Foundation, the program set out to address these needs by providing CBOs with access to a network of professional CED practitioners. Between 1997 and 2000, CEDTAP reached nearly 100 communities across the country. Now in its second phase, CEDTAP aims to assist 500 communities across Canada by 2006. The initial funder for phase two is The J.W. McConnell Family Foundation, whose $5 million grant will be matched through sponsorships from other foundations, corporations and government. This programme has real potential for New Zealand and the Carleton people would be very keen to assist. I visited several government agencies when in Ottawa but no specific CED person. Those spoken to within the Human Resource Development Canada were not familiar with the term 'social entrepreneur'. (See HRDC visits.) Waterloo / Kitchener RegionI approached this region for several reasons including the fact I had visited it 15 years ago on a private visit. I had the contact with Sally Lerner at University of Waterloo, and the region was one of a high level of local employment activity. I was also able to gain a great overview from the Caledon Institute, who have a long involvement in this area. (See Work & Age section) The University of Waterloo run Canada's only Master's programme in Local Economic Development. I met with director Paul Parker who has worked on the programme since its inception. Interestingly the programme is within the Faculty of Environmental Studies within the University. Whilst both aspiring and practising economic professionals are welcome, the course attracts more undergraduate students from geography, planning and environment resource studies, with some from commerce and economics areas. The programme has a strong placement component (Waterloo has a strong reputation in the cooperative education area) with students becoming involved with both local organisations and other across Canada. www.fes.uwaterloo.ca/LED/index.html I also met with Sally Lerner, Associate Professor, Environment and Resource Studies, whom I had met in New Zealand some years back. This discussion was mainly around work & age issues (see W&A section) but also broached Sally major work in the area of guaranteed income (UBI etc), and its place in any alterative local economy. The major local economic development programme of the Region is called OPPORTUNITIES 2000, and I lunched with Director of the host organisation, Lutherwood Community Opportunities Development Association, Allan Day. The prime focus of this program is poverty reduction _ to help 2000 families move out of poverty by Y2K. Lutherwood CODA arose from three church based agencies combining forces, and linking in partnership with business and local government agencies, as a non-profit community economic development agency. The strong evaluation focus from the involvement of the Caledon Institute, has resulted in proven cost-effectiveness comparisons being available to measure against government program outcomes. See web site - www.op2000.org I meet with some of the people involved at the coalface, issues and tools used being very similar to home. One staff member I spoke with was employed by the Regional Municipality, but based at the community agency premises, just one partnership example. Interesting he was placing people into community agencies to gain _ work experience_ , but had not considered the sector own potential as an employer. Neither had he any awareness of the Volunteer Centre in the city and its _ work experience_ role. Infrastructural costs were an on-going issue (just as is in NZ) for Alan and his board. Their premises, large and modern, were provided in a partnership with a 'high tech' enterprise based in Waterloo. The region has a very strong sense of community ( has a strong European immigrant history with many Mennonite community) and this has been very instrumental in the programme's success, as has the strong shared vision of poverty reduction and awareness of the growing gap between the haves and have nots. Another highlight was the downtown Kitchener based, The Working Centre. This combined aspects of a peoples centre, a NEWORK centre, a collaboration centre, with a strong social justice, and citizens participation perspective.
A community is made up of thousands of jobs and paid work is but a fraction of this work. Communities are best supported when there is a balance between paid work and the work of making neighbourhoods better places. The centre's core projects provide numerous ways to give their talents, create friendships, and break isolation. Each of these projects reflect community development approach combined with what the centre calls 'an ethic of producerism' - Producing on one's own or in groups is a chance to define the good life in a more genuine, joyful, and sustainable way, more in terms of producing power that purchasing power. Amongst the 100's of services provided are; job search, employment counselling, career path support, community voice-mail, small business support, new immigrants and disability supports, self- directed computer training, certified testing centre, community kitchen, recycled cycles, housing supports, barterworks, sewing and crafts space and distribution, school for community development, community tools, gift store community gardens, etc. The web site of the Centre also has interesting material on work alternatives etc in the mould of our Jobs Letter site. www.theworkingcentre.org I was unable to meet with Paul Born, a key man in Canadian CED during my visit, he is with Tamarack Institute for Community Engagement based in nearby Cambridge, however I made contact by phone on a later day. He has been involved with the Canadian CED Network (Refer CCEDNet section) For me the interesting aspect of my Kitchener visit was the lack of knowledge of each of these two programmes within a small city of each other. CCEDNet - the Canadian Community Economic Development Network Following the initial referral via Chair Mike Lewis when on the West Coast, I tracked down other key players in Ontario. www.canadiancednetwork.org I was hosted by board member Peter Frampton, at a very innovative organisation in York, a low socio economic area within greater Toronto. Peter was able to give background on the network and considerable material from a national policy forum process. CCEDNet have coordinated a National CED Policy Forum including a national conference with 160 CED people from across Canada. The areas of policy (full papers available) include Building Community Capacity (Social Capital), a Integrated & Inclusive System to Build Skills ( Human Capital) , Local Organisations as Partners in the Skill-Building System, Self-Development for CED, and Equity Capital. I hold two interesting papers; Building Human Capital: A 21st Century Priority and Investing in Canada's Communities - The CCEDNet Policy Agenda. The Five Policy Recommendations for debate at the National Forum could well have been shaped in New Zealand and are all issues discussed by our CEECG - consultative group.
This network has depth of experience most valuable to NZ practitioners and regular exchange of information and personnel should be encouraged. Peter also showed me around the organisation he is Manager Development for Learning Enrichment Foundation, which operates from a large factory building a variety of training programmes with a major involvement with migrants communities. The organisation now runs a network of childcare centres throughout greater Toronto, arising from the need for childcare for course participants. It also has a unique 'community skills development fund' with supports free training and work placement costs. Other Toronto area organisations visited included -
Assumptions from the visit
Recommendations to the NZ CED Community
The Canadian Voluntary Sector Initiative (VSI)The VSI is a joint initiative between the voluntary sector and the Government of Canada. It is a unique opportunity to focus on the voluntary sector as one of the three pillars of Canadian society – equal in importance to both the public and private sectors.
In planning my trip this initiative was not originally on the visit list, but as become more involved with the government/community project here, it very soon become a key part of my Canadian experience. From my first day in the country people were discussing VSI. Many participants involved in the first two conferences I attended in Vancouver, were key players (or critics) of the Initiative. At the CIVICUS assembly I met people such as Susan Carter, Executive Director of the VSI Secretariat, Sol Kasimer, who co-chairs the Capacity Table, and the Executive Officer responsible for this table (area of work), Roberta Bustard. In fact most of the Canadian voluntary sector leadership, are involved in VSI and were at the CIVICUS Assembly. This was a brilliant opportunity to establish contacts and receive invitations to meetings etc when I crossed to the East coast. By the time I left I was participating in work groups and really taken on board as a part of the project. I spent an evening in Ottawa with Susan Carter who was able to give background to the initiative and its evolution since spring 1999. My assessment would be that their process is 3-4 years ahead of the NZ initiative, and we have much to learn from the VSI experience. Susan is a highly professional executive, passionate about the project and the sector. She would be a stimulating and informative speaker to bring out for a conference / seminar Series as the NZ programme evolves. The Secretariat, housed at the NVO (The Coalition of National Voluntary Organisations), has a staff of five, who in the main, come from a community sector background. The Initiative is run through a complex structure of Joint Tables and Related Working Groups. These Joint Tables have their own secretariat, for example the one I was most involved with, Capacity, had four staff based in HRDC National Office. These staff had been seconded both from that agency and from the voluntary sector. The latter group, being insiders, were of great assistance in obtaining contacts and links to Human Resource Development Canada for other aspects of my study interest, which could otherwise have been impossible. Attending one of the VSI Joint Table meeting’s in Toronto provided a real vision of the future. This formal meeting over two days, held in a top hotel, with all the trimmings including full translation processes, had a set of papers filling a standard ‘eastlight’ type folder. As the name suggests this was a joint group of government / community people, with co-chairs (each take a meeting in turn) from both sectors. The chairs in this case were Sol Kaismer, CEO of Canada YMCA, and Nancy Gardiner, the Director of the Community Engagement Division within the Social Development Directorate of HRDC. (All government appointees people must be at senior director level or above, as a sign of commitment). Key / Notable Characteristics :
Key projects / agenda items included:
Being allowed to be involved as a full participant was a real privilege. Other participants wanted to know how I knew all their issues. Apart from the total absence of ‘first nations’ rights issues, I mostly could have been in a NZ forum, with many of the discussion were around very familiar. These included funding for core services - not only new projects; the need for research; government co-ordination of funding and service delivery (the ‘silo’ effect often referred to), and also national/provincial alignment, which is more akin to the Australian, commonwealth - state challenges. The two projects discussed at this meeting which had appeal for me were those of a Satellite Account, and the Policy Internships Pilot. Statistics Canada presented on a major project to attempt to measure through a Satellite Account the contribution to the economy of Non-profit Institutions and Volunteering. (We use a similar process to measure Tourism in NZ) The Policy Internship and Fellowship Project is designed to develop policy knowledge, experience and skills that apply to both the voluntary sector and the federal government. The pilot aims to facilitate mutual learning and development of expertise within the voluntary sector, thus building capacity. From this meeting I was invited to participate in an HR Think Tank on future employment in the community sector. This was right on focus for my Churchill thesis, and was a highlight combining my human resources and sector experience. It also involved extending my Canadian stay, courtesy of VSI funding. The HR Think TankThe Think Tank was held over a weekend at the Toronto Airport. Thirty people, with human resource expertise across government, private enterprise, and the voluntary sector, were flown in from around Canada. A professional facilitator was used and considerable background reading, as well as a sector survey had been carried out prior to the meeting. Full minutes and papers are available. Whilst the weekend was a tremendous experience, I was personally disappointed in the outcomes. Very early in the discussion, the sector’s, human resource was defined as paid staff. I understand why, however, feel this really misses the key component of the sector workforce, the volunteer. The other issue for me was more about process. We started with ‘big picture stuff ‘ – right up my alley, however in moving to draw up action plans, felt the group gave too much attention to the current issues, losing their ‘future perspective’. The issues, such as pension plans for voluntary sector senior staff, become very personal. I also noticed the tendency, shared in NZ by the sector, to put themselves down alongside the other two sector’s practices. My personal perspective from having worked in all three sectors, is that the other sectors can also learn a great deal from us, for example (the VS) have far greater experience at managing a modern ‘contingency’ workforce. From this Think Tank, research and surveys, an Investment Strategy has been produced, funding to the tune of $1.2 million CND (over $2m NZD). It contains the following categories:
Considerable discussion took place at the HR Sub-committee the Monday following the Think Tank. The discussion debated a mechanism by which to provide leadership and sustainability for the sector human resources beyond VSI. This highlighted the same discussion as we are having in New Zealand around sector leadership and how any initiatives will be sustained. This working group also worked on a RFP for a consultancy to carry out the next phase of the work, with specific attention to drawing together all existing support, rather than building new. There was an emphasis here that I haven’t been aware of in our sector in NZ, on being seen as an employer of choice, with a the goal to: " strengthen the ability of the sector to attract, optimise, and hold top talent". (This is in line with an overall greater concern about future skills shortages right across the Canadian workforce eg. ageing population, brain drain issues) Critique of VSI from within CanadaCanada is a big country. As I moved around just a small part of it I heard and asked for feedback on this initiative from community groups. Comments ranged from a total lack of awareness from some key groups, through to ‘who cares’ what happens in Ottawa, to real concern about the millions being spent, to the feeling of not being consulted. These attitudes are all familiar to New Zealand. The Initiative certainly has encompassed a wider range of the many players in the voluntary sector than I believe we have in New Zealand. Those missing were the International Development ’ people ( I spoke to some key people who like their counterparts here are way down the track on ‘cross-sector’ issues who were not involved or even aware); the community economic development/ unemployment sector, and, as at home, the sports sector. I also did not see the emergency services sector, however they may have been involved in other Tables or this service maybe outside the sector in Canada. The greatest concern expressed was over the dollars ‘sucked up’ being lost to the grass roots. I noticed that a further $50 million CND to VSI, was announced by Prime Minister Chretien on 5th December , IYV Day. I was interested to note at the Table Discussion, that the dollars seemed hard to spend, or at least slow to allocate until clear outcomes developed. The VS people were more concerned than government colleagues about budgetary under spending.
Personally I was very pleased to see the high emphasis on volunteering within the work of the VSI, especially in comparison with New Zealand. This emphasis is owing in part to the high profile CEO of Volunteer Canada, Paddy Bowen, who is very involved with VSI. She also is available to come to NZ in May following an Australian visit, and I recommend we move urgently to confirm. I have considerable reports and materials on the VSI and I also recommend a look at their web site – www.vsi-isbc.ca
Volunteering in Canada 2001Volunteering opens many doors, and its practice is universal, as I discovered during my travels through Canada and the United States. Both as a friendly network and as the untapped source of grass roots knowledge, volunteer centres and volunteer management agencies were high on my visit list. Their possible role or an understanding of it, as a conduit for employment (paid work) in the third sector was another reason to visit. My visit centred around two conferences; visits to volunteer centres; contact with UNV and IAVE in both Canada and US; a visit to the national office of Volunteer Canada, and many conversations on volunteering. 1. Canadian Forum on VolunteerismI arrived in the country the first day of the Volunteer Canada Conference, walked straight off the plane and into the proceedings in Vancouver. The forum addressed a series of statements about volunteering. A panel opened the discussion on each issue, followed by participants work-shopping the topic and coming back with a view on each. The issues debated were:
Consensus was of course hard to achieve, and I believe was never the intention of the organising group. The statements were well thought out and led to discussion on the ‘meta questions’ about volunteering. For me the break from the usual conference format of speakers was very successful. Participants learnt and were all challenged on their thinking and values around volunteering. There were of course people wanting ‘notes’ and session parameters, however I would rate the approach as very successful. My group had people from director level in big agencies to grass roots volunteers in community groups, from researchers to board members of local agencies, many from the East coast, a major trip and time commitment. The summary report, "Viewpoints", is available on the Volunteer Canada website. Again all the issues were ‘universal’ and relevant to the New Zealand context, apart from some of the taxation issues, and I was able to contribute freely. Volunteer Canada I was able to meet with all the board and staff of Volunteer Canada and many of the local centres. They also have a provincial organisation in British Columbia who were strongly represented. Another highlight of the Conference was to hear from Canada’s vice regal couple. John Ralston Saul, a speaker I had missed out on when he visited NZ, is both married to the Governor General, Adrienne Clarkson, and is a top speaker and writer. His speech was both hard-hitting of the volunteer establishment, and extremely well researched. The other resource I hold is a full report on the Forum outcomes as well as reflections on the process. The Conference was based at the University of BC campus on a peninsular overlooking the harbour. The site was so beautiful and quiet,I decided to remain in residence for the balance of my Vancouver stay. 2. Meetings with IAVEFollowing the Conference, a membership meeting was held of the International Association for Volunteer Effort. This provided the chance to meet with IAVE people, their new Executive Director, Kathleen Dennis, the International Vice President, Stan Fisher, and Life Member, founder, Mary Ripley. The meeting was aimed at awareness and membership promotion for IAVE and was useful to gain a better understanding of their role and services. I met their Asia-Pacific Regional Director Dr Kang Lee at CIVICUS. Later in my trip I met with Kenn Allen, the outgoing World President, in Washington DC. Kenn had been a great resource person when Volunteer Wellington established their Corporate Volunteering programmes. 3. The CIVICUS World Assembly, VancouverHaving planned that the assembly of the World Alliance for Citizens Participation would be a key event during my fellowship, CIVICUS was a disappointment from a volunteering perspective. It was however a great opportunity to meet volunteer organisation leaders from North America and other parts of the world. I was also proud to be part of a NZ contingent, led by Tu Williams, from the Maori Congress. Tu Williams made a real impact on issues such as the differing cultural understandings of citizen action and volunteer participation. The confusion between volunteering/voluntary action and the voluntary sector was as prevalent as at home, and often in the main plenary panel discussions this became annoying for me. The domestic ‘volunteering sector’ was not highly represented, from the registration directory probably only 10 of the 800 attendees. Paddy Bowen from Volunteer Canada had a fairly high profile. The international volunteering sector was extremely well represented, however this part of the ‘volunteering sector’ is a challenge for those whose primary definition of volunteering is that ‘ no payment ‘ is received. The US culture of post-school ‘volunteering’ is very strong and spawns a large number of agencies brokering these opportunities. High profile volunteer people in this category included Sharon Capeling-Alakija, from UN Volunteers, whom we had hosted in New Zealand at the launch of IYV. I also spent time with two international volunteering leaders, Lelei LeLaulu a Washington based Samoan, with Counterpart International, and Janet Koster, the Director of International Services with the Volunteers of America. I was surprised to learn that, while Counterpart is described as a ‘Foundation for Peoples of the South Pacific’, they carry out much of their work in the former Soviet Union. Lelei said the development issues where surprisingly similar, and just the scale. Population and geography were different. Both were informed about the issues of future work in the sector, showing, as I found to be the case with others elsewhere, that the ‘internationals’ have a far better understanding of the Rifkin thesis than the ‘domestics’. I also spent considerable time with the UN Volunteers Team; Robert Leigh and Yuko Osawa, from the New York Office, and Brian Cugelman, from Bonn, a name well known all over the world as the IYV Webmaster. Throughout my trip I noticed that the International Year has successfully brought together these two parts of volunteering; international and domestic, to an extent never before achieved. Many household names and organisations were present at CIVICUS. Although I met with a few, the bigger names were often quite elusive. Time with the less famous, however, was well spent. The workshops included well-known people such as Lester Salamon from John Hopkins University. I had met others before in New Zealand, such as Stuart Etherington from NVO UK, Colin Ball from the Commonwealth Foundation, Rajesh Tandon from Society for Participatory Research, and of course mine host, Kumi Naidoo the CIVICUS Secretary General. Finds included Craig Kielburger, the 17 year old Canadian who first became a spokesperson on children’s rights at the age of 12 and founded the organisation, KIDS CAN – Free the Children; Vanessa Reid, the young Director of an inspiring ‘intergenerational community project based in Montreal. I also met Sylvia Borren, an ex-pat New Zealander, Executive Director of Netherlands Organisation for International Development, an impressive woman who has a background in youth, women’s, and union affairs. The Exhibition Hall provided a myriad of resources and resourcing agencies for the sector, including Points of Light, Volunteer Center National Network, Independent Sector, UNV, and numerous education and training providers. The British Columbian Volunteer Centres provided most of the voluntary support at a very well run event. Other aspects of CIVICUS are mentioned under other sections of this report. 4. Visit to Vancouver Volunteer Centre (VV)Meeting with Steph Brogan, Member & Volunteer Services. This is a highly professional centre whose mission is ‘to be a leader in promoting volunteerism and in strengthening the voluntary sector’. This focus, which is wider than that of most New Zealand centres means that volunteer referral is only part of a wider service. The volunteer element has primarily moved to a web based service. Steph noted over the past year they had almost ceased the one on one interview with volunteers, with those visiting far more likely to call in to access the web.This has had the effect of reducing the number of volunteers delivering the service as technology has replaced volunteers. There was a phenomenal 1,014,172 visits to their web site in 2000, with over 200,000 accessing volunteer opportunities on-line. Volunteer Vancouver has a very impressive library with at least one full time librarian, has several corporate volunteer programmes, and runs a range of training courses – one that appealed was a weekend workshop for board members named "the boot camp". They also act as a central resourcing agency for the many local centres in metropolitan Vancouver and beyond. The provincial coordinator for BC was based at the Vancouver Centre. I was particularly interested in the Community Investment Network run through VV, which has a role similar to that of Businesses for Social Responsibly at home. It is a business forum to share common experiences and knowledge. 5. Volunteer Victoria and Volunteer BCDuring my time in Vancouver I spent considerable time sharing experiences on running VC’s with people such as Alan Currie, Executive Director Volunteer Victoria and Board Member of Volunteer Canada, Carol Biely, President of Volunteer BC, Allan Rix, the incoming President of Volunteer Canada. Their hospitality and friendship made me feel accepted as part of the ‘volunteering international family. 6. United Nations – NGO Conference" Diversity of the Volunteer Experience" Scheduled to run 10th – 12th September at UN Head Quarters in New York, this event was of course not completed. There were 2000 registrants, from 600 organisations in 90 countries, representing quite a different part of the NGO sector than those at CIVICUS. They seemed to be the longer standing traditional NGO’s, from the faith communities, service groups, uniformed youth, women’s and university organisations. They were in the main formally associated with the UN, either affiliated through their Department of Public Information, or in ‘consultative status’ with ECOSOC (The UN Economic & Social Development Council ) New Zealand was formally represented by Kath Smith and Lady Rhyl Jansen, (accompanied by Sir Ross) from the UN Association of NZ. The plenary, held in an Assembly Hall packed with leaders within our sector, was a empowering experience, as was an inspiring address by Secretary General Kofi Annan. The highlight of the day for me was a workshop entitled ‘Volunteer Neighborhood Associations and Community Programs’. The Greater Hartford Third Age Leadership Program is very applicable to NZ (see report recommendations) That evening I targeted the sessions for the next two days and people I would like to have met ; BUT THE 11th OF SEPTEMBER WAS ANOTHER DAY. 7. Volunteer TorontoMy initial contact with this centre was with Barbara Buckspan, who manages a 55 Plus Volunteer Programme at Volunteer Toronto. I met with Barbara to discuss both her programme and wider issues for volunteering in Toronto. The 55 Plus programme offers a number of services including recruitment and referral of people over 55; technical support on all aspects of volunteer management; advocacy and promotion. Barbara has been very active in developing a range of initiatives to respond to identified needs of an ageing population. The programme includes a consumer fraud awareness programme, retirement planning, and a mentoring programme, Generations Together. Volunteer Toronto, is the hub for seven VC’s within Greater Toronto, and provides, in addition to the core – Promotion of Volunteerism and Recruitment and Referral services, the following programmes. 55 Plus, Youth Programmes both within schools and beyond, The Corporate Challenge, Diversity Initiatives and a Management Advisory Service (MAS). Full details. www.volunteertoronto.on.ca The last service I discovered by happenstance and met with its champion, Don Taylor. I found it had tremendous potential to combine the two key issues of my study tour, ageing and community sector capacity building. The MAS (Management Advisory Service) Programme is designed to meet the management needs of non-profit organisations, and is delivered on a pro-bono basis through the ulitiziation of the skills of over 120 volunteers. (It could be seen as similar to our Business in the Community mentor programme). The idea came from a Canadian public service overseas aid programme, and has been adapted for the ‘domestic’ community. Don responded to the issue which often arises at this interface; the culture differences between the voluntary sector and the corporate world, in three ways. Many of the ‘consultants’ are from a government or voluntary sector Background. Careful matching of skills and personality takes place, and training and monitoring of consultants is carried out. MAS is a separate entity working in collaboration with Volunteer Toronto. One universal issue that arose in discussion with Barbara Buckspan, was that of the link between people working at the community interface and those developing national/regional policy. Many of the issues emerging in policy have been identified by volunteer centres years before. Issues include ageing, and in Toronto’s case, as elsewhere, the diversity of communities. One size will never again, fit all. 8. Volunteer Canada - National OfficeI briefly visited the national office of Volunteer Canada, an impressive organisation, taking up two buildings in central Ottawa. I was hosted by their Treasurer, John McBride, and given a tour of the beautiful city of Ottawa. Our discussion focused on governance and how the national organisation evolved and is sustained. Paddy Bowen, the dynamic CEO, is certainly the face and voice of volunteering in Canada. I met her on six occasions over the 8 weeks, usually with Paddy making an impassioned speech on the value of volunteering. This voice of volunteering is certainly being heard, and highlighted for me the need in New Zealand to lift our game and our profile. I have strongly advocated bringing Paddy out to New Zealand to stimulate volunteer organisations and government to lift our sights to a new level. National office is staffed by approximately 25 employees. Staff have been seconded from government to work on projects at VC and in reverse secondments back to government. Volunteer Canada has a high profile within both government and the wider voluntary sector. This has enabled the development of many high level partnerships, for example the National Survey of Giving, Volunteering and Participating with Stats Canada, and the Canadian Centre for Philanthropy. Other partnerships have been formed with universities in research and training, and also with corporate Canada. These are tremendous examples of what can be done to involve others in this new wave of citizens’ participation. 9. AVA – International Working GroupIn the Conference brochure for the AVA Conference a mention of an ‘International Working Group on the Profession’ on the two days preceding the event caught my eye. I gained local support to attend, representing NZ, and an official invite from the AVA National Office to participate. The session was promoted as a global discussion about the profession of volunteer resources management and its future direction. The stated objectives were to:
These proved both exciting and ambitious goals for a group with vastly different volunteering experiences and languages. There were people from Argentina, Bangladesh, Canada, England, Hungary, Israel, Mauritius, Mexico, Nepal, New Zealand, Scotland, and the United States. There was a wide range of volunteering diversity, from citizens’ action movements, to very formal large institutional volunteer programmes; from overseas placement agencies to developing countries where volunteering is seen as anti-state. The participants from 12 countries struggled over two days to find a common language and universal practice, and to build a collective voice on this important aspect of volunteering. There was tension around two separate and conflicting goals. A strong desire, led by the Americans to become (be seen as) professionals, seen as key to their roles in large service delivery agencies. This was a problem to achieving a ‘universal statement, as ‘professionalism’ was not on the horizon, to those leaders from grass roots community movements. The compromise goal become more about ‘recognition’. This applies to whatever leadership setting, whether striving for some recognition towards making a difference for people in less developed countries, or amongst for example, fellow professionals in a large hospital in the United States. This debate is also about the diversity of volunteering, its future, and its importance in societies around the world in the years to come. It will continue for many years, and hopefully will be debated with equal vigour in New Zealand. That we achieved all the objectives was a marvellous achievement, that we have all kept in touch and supported each other in hard times, (eg. When the Nepalese government placed a curfew on any public interaction there was a flood of e-support from the group). Key issues arising included –
The language of volunteering leadership Are we Managers, Coordinators, Administrators, Directors etc. We wanted this to reflect our own style and not that of corporate or military titles. Compromise was difficult.
AVA has strong desire to become more international in their thinking and their membership, and I was impressed that they showed openness and real preparedness to listen to the more global views. We were all commissioned to become ambassadors for the Declaration in our respective countries, and I also volunteered to promote it through my Australian networks. I was able to present a Maori canoe to AVA on behalf of the internationals, reflecting the journey we had travelled together during two intense days. 10. MOSAIC – AVA International ConferenceThe last event I attended in Canada was the Association for Volunteer Administrators Conference in Toronto, with an attendance of 1000 volunteer leaders, mainly from North America. Participating in the international working party meant we missed the first day of the Conference, MOSAIC, including linking with an appropriate ‘participants stream’. I missed the key address by David Foot, Professor of Economics at Toronto University, the Canadian guru on "demographics", however have since followed up with him on many issues we have in common around the ‘boomer effect’ on both paid and voluntary work. See www.footwork.com. The Conference was very focused on ‘continuing education credits’ for volunteer professionals, and the sessions I attended covered fairly basic principles of (volunteer) management. The session I found most useful was that run by Statistics Canada on some of the trends in volunteering, very much driven by the consistency of data collection now achieved in this country. One issue that surprised me was the correlation between the drop off of ‘church going’ and the drop in participation of volunteering and charitable giving. A lesson for NZ. I attended an interesting ‘drinks session’ with the voluntary sector consultants, many who were also presenters, and shared war stories and issues. I also sat in at the concluding session of the ‘Experienced Leaders’ track, and heard for the first time in my whole trip, a conversation, which touched on a future that looked beyond ‘managing the volunteer resource’ towards a much bigger picture This realisation that the role of leaders of volunteers could be a key to creating new futures, was magic to my ears, bearing in mind we are talking of the time three weeks out from September 11th. I was able to carry this conversation on with several people later in the day, some I am still in contact with. An issue in the session, facilitated by Monica Patten (a leader in the sector in Canada and a key person in VSI) was the loss of experienced people moving on from leadership roles in the sector. In discussion it was identified that many were not lost to the sector, but still involved ‘outside the organisation’, maybe with freedom to be more effective to the voluntary sector’s development, by working across all areas of society. This reflection resonated strongly with me. The sheer size of the Conference and choices available were impressive. The functions were highly professional, as were keynote speakers, especially Carl Hiebert, the disabled ultra-light pilot (who having flow across Canada now wants to fly NZ) and Stephen Lewis former ambassador to UN and UNICEF leader. 11. Sundry Volunteering Visits and Voluntary Sector Resource AgenciesWhenever I was out in communities I looked for and visited volunteer centres and other agencies run by volunteers. As you would find in New Zealand their local focus and lack of knowledge/interest of the bigger picture was obvious. The question of how we can retain this local commitment and passion, to effect ‘global change’ arises often for me. Is e-community one of the answers? At all conferences there were booths displaying the high numbers of support and resource agencies on volunteering and the sector generally. Contacts details are listed.
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Index / Reference ListKey OrganisationsCANADIAN COUNCIL ON SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT – www.ccsd.ca The Canadian Council on Social Development (CCSD) is one of Canada's most authoritative voices promoting better social and economic security for all Canadians. A national, self-supporting, non-profit organization, the CCSD's main product is information and its main activity is research, focussing on concerns such as income security, employment, poverty, child welfare, pensions and government social policies. Report – October 2001 – A Community Growing Apart THE CALEDON INSTITUTE IS A SOCIAL POLICY THINK TANK. www.caledoninst.org Established in 1992, the Caledon Institute of Social Policy is a private, non-profit organization with charitable status. It is supported primarily by the Maytree Foundation, located in Toronto. Caledon is an independent and critical voice that does not depend on government funding and is not affiliated with any political party. Caledon welcomes charitable donations from individuals and organizations and occasionally undertakes contract projects for governments and non-governmental organizations on the basis that such work fits Caledon’s research agenda, but does not define it. THE FOUNDATION ON ECONOMIC TRENDS – www.foet.org The Foundation on Economic Trends (FOET) was established in 1977 and is based in Washington D.C. We have been active in both national and international public policy issues, particularly around the environment, the economy, and biotechnology. FOET examines new trends in science and technology and their impacts on the environment, the economy, culture and society. We engage in litigation, public education, coalition building and grassroots organizing activities to advance our goals. Its founder Jeremy Rifkin was the proposer of the thesis that formed part of the basis of my study ie. civil society will be the major workplace of the future AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF RETIRED PERSONS (AARP) www.aarp.org Washington based with chapters all over the United States providing membership services to Americans over 50. In addition with over 1500 paid staff they provide major research, public education and advocacy service. Their web site in a mine of information increasingly on issues around age and work and age related economics. ASSOCIATION OF VOLUNTEER ADMINISTRATORS www.avaintl.org The professional association serving and supporting Managers of Volunteer Resources. Historically US based the association is moving to support volunteer leadership world wide. The International Working Group held to develop a Universal Declaration of the Profession preceding their Conference was part of this strategy and involved representatives from 13 countries. CIVICUS – WORLD ALLIANCE FOR CITIZENS PARTICIPATION www.civicus.org CIVICUS is an international alliance for citizens participation, dedicated to strengthening citizen action and civil societies throughout the word. Their biannual conference – The World Assembly in Vancouver 20 – 23 August 2001 was one of the key events my trip was planned around. Within the international year of volunteers their theme was " Putting People at the Centre: Voluntary Action Shaping Social and Economic Change ". Full papers available from their web site. VOLUNTEER CANADA – www.volunteer.ca Also provides the portal to all Volunteer Centres in Canada Volunteer Canada is the national voice for volunteerism in Canada. Since 1977, Volunteer Canada has been committed to supporting volunteerism and civic participation through ongoing programs and special projects. VOLUNTARY SECTOR INITIATIVE SECRETARIAT – www.vsi-isbc.ca The VSI is a joint initiative between the voluntary sector and the Government of Canada. It is a unique opportunity to focus on the voluntary sector as one of the three pillars of Canadian society – equal in importance to both the public and private sectors. The long term objective of the VSI is to strengthen the voluntary sector’s capacity to meet the challenges of the future, and to enhance the relationship between the sector and the federal government and their ability to serve Canadians. UNITED NATIONS VOLUNTEERS – www.unv.org The United Nations Volunteers programme (UNV) is the UN programme that supports human development globally by promoting volunteerism and by mobilizing volunteers. It is administered by UNDP and operates amidst growing recognition that volunteerism makes important contributions, economically and socially, to more cohesive societies by building trust and reciprocity among citizens. Every year some 5,000 UN Volunteers from more than 150 different nationalities actively support the programmes of the United Nations itself and almost all UN funds, programmes and specialized agencies. UNV were the lead agency for UN in the International Year of the Volunteers. INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR VOLUNTEER EFFORT (IAVE) www.iave.org The International Association for Volunteer Effort wa s created in 1970 by a small group of women from throughout the world who shared a common vision of how volunteers can contribute to the solution of human and social problems and to the development of bridges of understanding among people of all nations. They recognized the importance of international exchange of information, best practices and mutual support as away of encouraging and strengthening volunteering worldwide. IAVE is the only international organization with the mission to promote, celebrate, and strengthen volunteerism worldwide. HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT CANADA www.hrdc-drhc.gc.ca At Human Resources Development Canada our mission is to enable Canadians to participate fully in the workplace and the community. We fulfil this through our action agenda (Business Plan) as we deliver a wide variety of programs and services in more than 320 offices across the country. Canadian Community EconomIc Development Network www.canadianCEDnetwork.org The Canadian CED Network promotes excellence and investment in CED, through; widespread recognition of CED as a significant strategy on a national scale, solving economic, social and environmental problems at the local level, enhanced community capacity for revitalisation and self-reliance COMMUNITY ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE PROGRAMME – Carleton University – www.carleton.ca/cedtap-patdec. CEDTAP is a five-year, Canada-wide initiative that aims to assist 500 communities by 2006. CEDTAP helps community-based organizations engaged in CED by supporting technical assistance, study tours, target group initiatives and requests for computer hardware and software. CEDTAP is also committed to strengthening the CED sector as a whole by disseminating innovative models, funding the development of tools and resources, and organizing learning events. Sundry Local Economic Development Contacts
Other Organisations / Web Sites - Discovered during research for trip or meet only briefly Third Sector The Community Foundations of Canada www.community-fdn.ca. If you have information to share, or interesting links to add please contact the website. See ‘ The nonprofit manager's resource directory’ Independent Sector, Washington DC www.IndependentSector.org A coalition of more than 700 NGO’s whose mission is to promote, strengthen, and advance the non-profit and philanthropic community to foster private initiative for the public good. BoardMatch, Ontario – www.boardmatch.org Building Leadership for Strong Communities – addressing the key issues of accountability and capacity-building in the sector. Voluntary Sector Management Prg. –www.business.gmcc.ab.ca/vsm/ Grant MacEwan College, Edmonton, Alberta Including the Resource Centre for Voluntary Organisations Center for the Study of Philanthropy, City University of New York www.philanthropy.org International Fellows Program Volunteering – Resources The Chronicle of Philanthropy – http://philanthropy.com Online Recruitment: Techniques & Strategies and Career Network Canadian Centre for Philanthropy www.ccp.ca/ A national membership based leadership organisation dedicated to advancing the role and interests of the voluntary sector for the benefit of Canadian communities. They are partners in producing the; National Survey of Giving, Volunteering and Participating www.nsgvp.org The Points of Light Foundation www.pointsoflight.org The Foundation's mission is to engage more people more effectively in volunteer community service to help solve serious social problems. Volunteer Marketplace – extensive library of volunteer resources Join Hands Day – Youth and Adults Volunteering Together www.joinhandsday.org Commission on Voluntary Service and Action – Invest Yourself New York based – targeted at student placements Baudville – Extensive resources to reward volunteers Royal Bank of Canada – Strong supporters of volunteering www.royalbank.com/community/letter/index.html Mature Employment Maturity Works – The Workforce Development Division of the National Council on the Aging, US www.maturityworks.org Senior Job Bank www.seniorjobbank.org National Academy of Older Canadians Society, Vancouver www.vcn.bc.ca/naoc 40 Plus Chapters – www.40plus.orgForty Plus is the Nation’s oldest and most successful non-profit organization dedicated to helping currently available managers, executives and other professionals over 40 years of age find jobs! Self operated and funded by Members, Alumni and contributions from other non profits. Work Futures / Flexible Work The 30Hour Work Week – http://lamar.colostate.edu/~terrel/ US group promoting a reduction in the work -week with the goals of
New Ways to Work – flexibility, choice and quality of life -www.nww.org San Francisco based resource sit building the connections between schools, community and workplace |
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