Building Communities That Create a Sense of Belonging

Our communities are grappling with complex challenges and increasing fears about the future. There is a growing polarization that is driven by the loss of social connection and trust. Moreover, there is nothing more important to focus on right now than building a sense of belonging to address our complex challenges in a way that creates connection and increases community resiliency.

Please join the Tamarack Institute’s Jorge Garza as we host Lisa Helps and Heather Keam in a discussion about the structures (social, physical and relational) that create belonging. How can we build those structures? What are the practices of belonging? How do we move on an individual and a collective basis from isolation to belonging?

Speakers:

Lisa Helps, Housing Solutions Advisor, Office of the Premier, Province of British Columbia

Lisa Helps is the former two-term Mayor of Victoria, British Columbia. She is currently working as Housing Solutions Advisor to Premier Eby for the start-up of BC Builds, a new housing program that will use public land, low-cost financing, and other innovative tools to get more housing built more quickly for working people in B.C.

As Mayor, Lisa worked hard to create deep collaboration across the community to get Victoria ready for the future and built connection across the province as Co-Chair of the BC Urban Mayors Caucus to advance shared priorities for cities. Areas of focus included economic development and prosperity, housing, climate action, resilient infrastructure, and reconciliation. Please see www.lisahelpscities.ca for more information.

Heather Keam, Associate Director, Asset Based Community Development, Tamarack Institute

Heather’s role at Tamarack is to work with municipalities and organizations to build strategies that put people at the centre using Asset Based Community Development (ABCD) . With 22 years of community development experience, she has been focusing on using an ABCD approach to center people and belonging in the development of community plans and strategies through coaching and training staff teams, facilitation and writing about ABCD and Belonging.

She has a passion for the power of people and community in creating change and that people and communities are the solution to problems. She believes that we need to build a sense of community belonging so that people are connected to their community, their place within it and get involved in decision making. She also believes that municipalities need to shift the way they show up in community from doing “for” community to supporting community to do themselves.

Jorge Garza, Associate Director, Communities Building Belonging. Tamarack Institute

At the Tamarack Institute, Jorge is leading a pan-Canadian, asset-based network that supports municipalities, institutions, and individuals to increase the sense of community belonging reported by everyone. Previously, he co-designed Tamarack’s first cohort of 19 communities committed to advancing climate action.

Jorge has worked at the Metcalf Foundation, where he supported the development of its poverty reduction program. He also spent five years at the McConnell Foundation, where he contributed to the development of its place-based work and explored the role of philanthropy in cultivating a more equitable society. Jorge is a realistic optimist, and he believes in everyone’s potential to build more equitable & regenerative futures. He brings a diverse background of experience in strategy development, program design, and urban policy. Throughout his career, Jorge has collaborated with communities, funders, and international organizations working to achieve more equitable outcomes.