About the Episode In our first, and maybe only, B side episode, ABSI Connect and AB Seed staff/members discuss what the social economy and social innovation is and how they go together like peanut butter and jelly. You’ll hear a bit about both the organizations as a whole, what their individual fields look like, and where the overlap and connection points are between the two of them.  About AB Seed AB Seed (Alberta Social Economy Ecosystem Development) is a collaborative of social enterprise and social finance leaders seeking to develop a strong social economic ecosystem in Alberta. Re ..read more

About the Episode Bringing yet another new flavour to this season of Pause, this episode features Matthew Taylor, manager of Communities United (at United Way), who shares two stories with us. The first about the inception of Communities United and the second about how running a small pop-up market in the dead of winter with a sky dancer bloomed into their program Market Ready. With both stories taking the arch of fizzle (or rather starting as a small sizzle) to a full blown sizzle.  About Communities United Communities United is a collaborative initiative in five Edmonton Neighbourhoods ..read more

About the Episode Bringing a new flavour to this season of Pause, this episode features Miki Stricker-Talbot, an intrapreneur with the City of Edmonton, who shares two warm-up techniques from her facilitation practices. With more of a tutorial style ‘how to’ episode, her and I walk through both techniques talking about what they are, demonstrating examples of how you can use them in your own practice and the impact and importance of them both. The first technique is a way to really check in with each other and see how we’re actually doing. It allows folks the opportunity give a surface answer ..read more

About the Episode We tried something new with this episode and Brandy and Michelle were true innovators stepping into uncharted territory. Brandy Old is the Manager of Agility at the University of Lethbridge, and a few years ago embarked on the journey of Indigenizing the campus grounds at U of L: now known as the Iniskim Campus Ecology Project. The goal of the project was to revitalize campus grounds with traditional Indigenous plants while creating a space for the community to learn about Blackfoot culture, traditions, and land practices. She graciously shares the stumbles she had along the ..read more

About the Episode What a treat it was to have James Stauch, a phenomenal storyteller, on this episode of Pause. James is the Director of the Institute for Community Prosperity at Mount Royal University. The Institute runs co-curricular and community focused learning programs primarily to connect students to broader community and social change initiatives. The story he shared takes us back 12 years or so and into the northern parts of Canada. He was a part of a group that noticed a gap in the education system, that being there were few opportunities for advanced post-secondary education in the ..read more

In this episode, Diane chats about The Winnipeg Boldness Project, how their theory of change guides the way they serve the community, and shares the story of one of their prototypes ..read more

About the Episode It was incredible to connect with Anita Kemp and Dr. Amanda Williams to chat about the Women Entrepreneurship Knowledge Hub (WEKH). During our conversation they also pointed out that it was just in time for International Women’s Day on March 8, 2021. How fitting! WEKH is an organization that is challenging the stereotypes of women entrepreneurs through many different initiatives including: Sharing the stories of successful women owned businesses Mapping the entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystem Sharing resources widely on their website Collecting and sharing data ..read more

What a hoot it was to have MelVee X and Tito Gomez on the show. They are both a part of the Artist as Changemaker (AAC) project that was created in partnership with the Trico Changemakers Studio and Calgary Arts Development. The project is an initiative to expedite the capacity of socially engaged artists to create meaningful social change. You can find more information here: https://www.tricochangemakersstudio.ca/artist-as-changemaker MelVee X  is a multidisciplinary artist and creative professional based in Mohkinstsis (Calgary AB, Canada). Her primary means of expression are spoken wo ..read more

We’re shaking things up once again for this season of Pause. This time we’re chatting about social innovation techniques and the stories of how they sizzled or fizzled! If you’re interested in being a guest on the show, please reach out to Elise (elise@absiconnect.ca) with a few details about yourself and your story. You can check out our past episode on your favourite listening platform or on our website.   ..read more

In this episode, we have Meredith Perich joining us from Momentum. Momentum is a community economic development organization that uses economic approaches to alleviate poverty in Calgary. Meredith’s question is a two part question, two sides to one coin, one side being negative and the other being positive. One the one hand, the pandemic has created incredible demonstrations of collaboration and innovation, but on the other hand it's also highlighted a lot of inequity, where we’re seeing that our systems really aren't set up to support everyone.     More Into: About Momentum: https ..read more