Our new offices are located at 1310-510 West Hastings, Vancouver BC V5B 1L8. All our phone and fax numbers remain the same.

I’m learning about the things I don’t know (many), and the things that I’ve know from previous travels  in and around our sector. I feel a bit like Donald Rumsfeld with his unknown unknowns and known unknows as I discover more about the complex and vast nature of our work.

One of the things that fascinates me is the interconnectedness of the co-op sector. A chance coffee meeting last Friday reconnected me with Karen Miner. Karen and I served together on the board of Fairtrade Canada and have kept in touch over the years. These days, Karen serves on the board of Mountain Equipment Co-op which, like UCSC, is a member-owner of The Co-operators. More interesting still, Karen was just recently appointed Managing Director of the Masters in Management for Co-ops and Credit Unions at St. Mary’s University in Halifax. Vancity – a strong supporter of ours – is also a long-time supporter of Karen’s program. Karen and I spent a wonderful hour or so talking about how we could bring our work closer together, to support the growth of emerging leaders in the co-op sector and build on our partnerships with Vancity.

Another chance coffee meeting last month withanother Fairtrade Canada colleague led me to a coffee meeting earlier today with John Restakis, Executive Director of the BC Co-operative  Association. Prior to meeting John, my Fairtrade Canada colleague (a long-time leader in the BC co-op sector) gave me two pieces of advice about getting to know the co-op sector: 1) reach out to John Restakis and 2) expect John to put me to work. True to form, John did not disappoint. Within an hour he found a way to put me to work. More to follow in a later post.

On Wednesday, I’ll be attending a lunch time meeting at the Vancouver Board of Trade where BC Premier Christy Clark and Finance Minister Kevin Falcon will speak about tomorrow’s provincial budget. Reaching out to the business community is a new step for the Co-op and a key part of our goal of broadening our relationships in the community. More on the budget later this week.

Over the coming weeks, I’ll talk more about some of the exciting partnerships we’re building and the great work our team is doing across the province. As much as possible, I hope to post updates at least once or twice a week.

If you have questions, comments or ideas, we’d love to hear from you. Please email them to me at johnkay@ucscoop.com

Bonesky said the cooperative, which provides innovative business services to more than 100 organizations in BC’s community social services sector, chose Kay because he combines a solid track record as a passionate champion for social justice with extensive experience in non-profit, public and private sector leadership and management.

“This is an unusual combination – the activist in John will help us refine our vision, and his skilled strategic and operational leadership will ensure we have the capacity to deliver on our commitment to the community and to our members,” said Bonesky.

Kay, who will retain his volunteer role as Board Chair at Fairtrade Canada, said he was looking forward to being involved in the community on a full-time basis. ” I’m excited about the mission, I’m excited about the organization and I’m excited about the people,” he said. “UCSC has a remarkable legacy of working to strengthen the effectiveness of BC’s community social service sector. I am honoured to joining UCSC at an exciting time with outstanding prospects to grow our organization as we implement a bold new blueprint for our future.”

2012 marks the United Nations International Year of Cooperatives, raising public awareness of the invaluable contributions of cooperative enterprises to poverty reduction, employment generation and social integration. The Year will also highlight the strengths of the cooperative business model as an alternative means of doing business and furthering socioeconomic development. Throughout 2012, UCSC will be highlighting the important role BC’s cooperative enterprises play in building more inclusive, prosperous communities across the province.

Kay, who will assume his role on February 6, 2012, is a Certified Management Accountant and holds an Executive MBA from the Segal Graduate School of Business at Simon Fraser University.

Date: Wednesday, October 26th
Time: 4:30 – 6:00
Place: Vancouver Airport Marriott

7571 Westminster Highway
Richmond, British Columbia V6X 1A3

Click to RSVP

Please join us for the 13th Annual General Meeting of the United Community Services Co-op. We look forward to reporting out on the year’s activities with our owner-members, partners and stakeholders.

As part of the AGM, we will also be announcing more details about the Beachy Dialogues, which are a legacy gift from the sector to the Co-op’s founding CEO Tim Beachy.

We also welcome John Restakis, Executive Director of the BC Co-operative Association, who will be delivering an engaging keynote on “Co-ops and the Renewal of Social Care.”

This year, we have worked with the Federation of Community Social Services of BC to schedule and locate our AGM to coincide with their Fall Meetings in Richmond.  We encourage members to consider registering for the FCSS workshops during the day (ending at 4:00pm) and then attend our AGM (held at the same space at the same hotel) at 4:30pm.

To RSVP for our AGM, click here.

Leading Change has always been geared towards supporting leadership and growth of the non-profit sector. In previous years we have used Leading Change to generate and facilitate dialogue around innovative practices for the sector. This year, we’ve decided to take dialogue and turn it into experiential learning and outcome-driven change. Everyone – from the frontline to the executive team – has this opportunity to be a leader and create real innovative action.

Over the course of two days, the Co-op and mentors and coaches from the community will guide you through an accelerated process of dreaming up a lofty goal and then scaling down to a bite-sized, achievable project, driven by you and supported by your peers. Leading Change 2011 is an ideas laboratory of sorts – a safe and controlled environment in which to experiment with that idea you’ve always wanted to turn into a real project.

At the end of two days, your proposals will be put into a silent auction for community members, mentors, coaches, and your peers to bid on with in-kind support and constructive feedback. You’ll be able to see immediate results of your proposal writing as it’s happening!

Registration is open now: for more details and to register, visit our event website at Leading Change. We hope to see you there on June 6 and 7 at Creekside Community Recreation Centre in Vancouver, BC.

The Nonprofit InnovationCamp will be an open-space, unconference style event with a few keynote speakers throughout the two days.

Early Bird tickets are now available for a short time – click here to register.

Keynote speakers and other news will be announced shortly, and you can stay updated over at the event website, www.npinnovationcamp.wordpress.com.

Hope to see you there in March!

The Changing the Model Site is an initiative of the United Community Services Co-op to develop, and share factual data and tools related to the upcoming change in the Employment Services model and prepare non-profit organizations for successful proposals in the Spring of 2011.

During this process the Co-op also learned about key differences between the current and new models and developed a Financial Modeling Tool (FMT). To learn more about this tool and see a video of a recent presentation visit the changingthemodel.ca.

Wiring the Social Economy began bright and early this past Saturday, December 4, at the beautiful W2 Storyeum space in Gastown, a neighbourhood well known for being a culture hub of Vancouver. The event was organized to be a mostly spontaneous, attendee-generated sessions, similar in format to ChangeCamp and BarCamp, though with the beginning of the day dedicated to three short curated keynote sessions.

For those of you tuned in to our Twitter feed, you’ll know that our CEO, Tim Beachy, was selected to be the third of the three keynote speakers (the first two were Carol Madsen of SFU Centre for Sustainable Community Development, and Irwin Oostindie of W2). We were – and still are – very excited about this speaking engagement for Tim. Video is below:

[vimeo vimeo.com/17652357]

Justin and I later facilitated sessions ourselves – mine was called “Ask a Dumb Question” for anyone who wanted to know more about the Internet and social media but was afraid to ask, and Justin’s was “Collective IT Solutions” for individuals and organizations frustrated by holistic IT services. We also hopped around to see what other people were talking about, and you can see full notes on each session on the event wiki.

The topics were so diverse and greatly applicable to current practices, and incredibly engaging as well. On a more personal note, I was blown away by how many highly intelligent, well-spoken, and very charming people were there. It was wonderful to meet all of you – I hope that we can keep this momentum going and come together again soon to keep our culture and our sectors fresh, relevant, and vibrant.

Thanks to the driving forces behind this event: Steve Williams, Erika Harrison, Tom Kertes, Judi Piggott, Leah Nielsen, Trina Isakson, and others (I’m sorry if you’re missing from this list!). And thanks to all the volunteers who came out in droves to support us.

The Master of Arts in Community Development (MACD) program offered through the University of Victoria’s School of Public Administration starts each May. Designed with working professionals in mind, the MACD program builds and develops participant capacity to become successful leaders in the civil society and social economy.

Developed in collaboration with practitioners from the community economic development, co-operative, and non profit sectors, the MACD program is a part-time professional program delivered through a combination of online and residential courses. The program is focused on the practice and policy dimensions of three distinct and overlapping streams; community economic development, co-operatives, and non-profits. Each approach seeks to create social and economic change and relies on diverse resources and partnerships that are rooted in values of empowerment, cooperation and inclusion.

For additional information on the MACD program visit the website: http://publicadmin.uvic.ca/macd

To contact the MACD program call (250)721.6446 or email macd@uvic.ca