The first workshop that I attended this week at Tamarack Institute’s 2016 Community Change Institute demonstrated a simple tool for working with multiple stakeholders in a collaborative way. The first step in the process, Liz Weaver explained, is to have the stakeholders reflect on their history. What has happened in the past? What is the story you share? Liz went on to explain that the reason for the first step is because everything we do is built upon something else. If you have hung around Center for Transforming Communities (CTC) for a while, you will know that we are a huge fan of stories. Our Communities of Shalom training often begins with an activity called Jumpstart Storytelling
The theme of the 2016 Community Change Institute (CCI) hosted by the Tamarack Institute is “Disruption.” The word disruption can evoke a mixed set of emotions. On one hand it may evoke anxiety. As Mark Cabaj shared in his introduction at CCI, we, humans, are hard-wired for stability. On the other hand, it may evoke a sense of hopefulness and possibility. Disruption may lead to a positive break in patterns that are oppressive or no longer serve us. The bottom line is disruption is needed for change. As Peggy Holman writes, without disruption there would be no need to change. Sometimes disruption happens to us as in natural disasters such as Hurricane Katrina. Sometimes we creatively disr
The Tamarack Institute is a keen, thoughtful, and deep observer of how community change happens at the beginning of the 21st century, while also being participants in, and facilitators of, that community change. Through the generosity of the Assisi Foundation of Memphis and the Tamarack Institute itself (no doubt through the generous support of their funders), I am in Toronto attending my first Tamarack gathering – Community Change Institute 2016. I plan to submit daily blog(s) about the experience and what I am learning on the blog page for Center for Transforming Communities (CTC). I have been following the work of Tamarack Institute for more than five years. I am grateful to learn direc
