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Our Approach

DIA offers extended professional development to service provider organizations and their staff centered around specific needs assessment criteria to facilitate conversations and capacity development that is aligned to DIA’s mission to centre, elevate and amplify the stories of Newcomers and Youth.

Our Service Offerings

Facilitation

  • Co-designing programming
  • Storytelling workshops
  • Equity and inclusion training
Research

  • Participatory research
  • Developmental evaluation
  • Strategy development
Design 

  • Art installations
  • Events and programming
  • Storytelling artifacts
Coaching

  • Nonprofit leadership
  • Social innovation and sustainability
  • Team dynamics and conflict resolution

Our Clients and Partners

DIA works with organizations providing services to Newcomers and youth across Canada. We also work with larger institutions and government departments in order to affect systems change.

Our work relies on the understanding that imagining equitable futures requires a level of readiness to hold multiple realities at the same time. This work is deeply grounded in a practice of living in the grey while acknowledging that we are conditioned to live in the black and white. Working with the Department of Imaginary Affairs is a partnership that requires every individual to invest in the discomfort of dismantling systems of oppression and racism. 

While the invitation to join us in the work of designing artifacts of the future may be exciting, it also requires sustained commitment to work through the contradictions of yearning for something to exist while living in a reality where that is not the norm. 

In our work, we have witnessed that imagining equitable futures is much easier said than done. We know the way towards equitable futures is embedded in the conditions that make it possible for us to individually and collectively commit to active and sustainable changes. These active and sustainable changes are not one time decisions, they require dedicated time, energy and resources to commit to shifting patterns, practicing new skills and adapting to equitable futures. 

Creating dedicated time, energy and resources often relies on our ability, openness and willingness to engage in difficult conversations about our role and participation in existing systems of oppression and racism. These conversations include our relationships to power, knowledge, resources, privilege and identity. We value individuals who have the interest and capacity for compassionate, curious and constructive conversations. We know this builds up trust, respect and relationship to navigate uncomfortable conversations in a meaningful way. 

For these reasons, at DIA we invest heavily in building robust relational infrastructure with all our partners, organizations and individuals.

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