The Stories of Us focuses on creating a new kind of adult ESL library. We value the stories of newcomers and are putting their stories at the centre of this re-imagined library.
Through this work, we are asking ourselves this big question:
How might we build and converge a community of practice that supports newcomers learning through their stories to create greater impact?
We have discovered that we are a piece of a larger ecosystem of folks working with newcomers, sharing and telling stories and elevating newcomer potential, sense of wellbeing and engagement across Canada. We find ourselves looking to the ecosystem to help us work at our greatest potential and collaboratively lead our way forward, in order to uncover solutions that no one person or organizations could do alone. What are the challenges we face? What are the opportunities? What can we do together?
In a one-day practitioners’ gathering we will facilitate a series of conversations that matter, guided by Art of Hosting techniques, to encourage us to learn together and find key overlaps in our work. We are extremely curious to see what we find.
Who should attend?
For individuals working with newcomers who value the stories they tell and the experiences they bring to Canada. It doesn’t matter to us what your job title is or what project you’re working on right now, what we do care about is your approach to working with newcomers and your readiness to share your experiences, ideas and challenges. We are looking for individuals who want contribute to the bigger picture.
The goals
This event is intended to do a few things:
- Create a community of practice unlike others. We are going to specifically curate the participants to create unique intersections of storytelling, settlement, community and innovation
- Offer a space for self-care and healing. We recognize that this work is hard and we want to support this community through generative and nurturing conversation and togetherness.
- Build a foundation for impact. We won’t all be doing exactly what we are doing now forever, this work is timely, complex and often under-funded. We hope to collaborate to make all of our work stronger and have legacy.
The Department of Imaginary Affairs will be your hosts. As your hosting team, we are looking to build a community of practice, to hold a space for learning and to seed future collaborations. It is our honour to host you.
Coming March 2019.