Intergenerational Asset Mapping in our Rural Community

Linda Hill
Linda Hill
@linda-hill
6 years ago
7 posts

A diverse group of youth, young adults, olders and elders came together recently in Duncan, BC, Canada to map our assets. We paired up several times for timed 'listing' of all the wonderful ways youth and adults are interacting in our community. I'm still waiting to see the map that was made, but in the meantime I am enjoying my memories of all the rich conversations I experienced. 

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@dee-brooks
6 years ago
0 posts

Wow! It would be great if you could share the map, Linda!

It sounds like an incredible process and I'm sure it was full of deep conversations, too!

Regards,

Dee...

Linda Hill
Linda Hill
@linda-hill
6 years ago
7 posts

I will check with the co-ordinator of that project about what was produced. At the end of the meeting it was lots and lots of sticky notes! There are quite a number of community-builders and other inclusively oriented facilitators on Vancouver Island BC who have integrated ABCD into our work and regularly apply ABCD principles and methods. John McKnight did much of his community-building research in British Columbia (Prince George and Powell River) many years ago now and used to often come to BC to facilitate workshops. So - lots of people in our province on the west coast of Canada who know and love this work. 

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@dee-brooks
6 years ago
0 posts

Hi again, Linda,

That sounds great - it would be cool to see what was produced!

Are there weblinks to any of the ABCD work you mentioned in BC? I'll be at the Coady Institute next month (not that it's near you) but it would be good to get more info about what else is happening around Canada!

Regards,

Dee...

Linda Hill
Linda Hill
@linda-hill
6 years ago
7 posts

I don't know of any specific ABCD links. 

Our Inclusive Leadership Co-operative education is all informed by ABCD. Here is a link to a description of our online Inclusive Leadership course coming up in the Fall that tries to make those links clear. Some day I will write an article that will clarify this further. 

http://abcdinaction.org/linda-hill/event/235/discover-your-inclusive-leadership-potential-online-course

Also - you could take a look at our website. 

https://inclusiveleadershipco-op.org/

I tend to be quite an integrative thinker in that I often see links clearly in my mind that aren't readily apparent to the casual observer!!

Thanks for commenting on this posting. I am still following up about the Asset map that was (or is perhaps still being) produced from that meeting I participated in.

Linda Hill


updated by @linda-hill: 04/23/18 05:40:20PM
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@dee-brooks
6 years ago
0 posts

Hi Linda,

Thanks for those links - I love what you are all doing/achieving/being! Wow!

Our org is emerging alongside the Next Stage Organisation principles of participatory leadership - do you know Laloux's Reinventing Organisations work? One of our Collective members is currently in Greece at a Next Stage conference...

I think we would have a lot of synergies to discuss!

Personally, my passion is in the borders and boundaries of good strengths-based practice... if you're game and have time to read a LONG blog, you can find out more about that here: http://jeder.com.au/through-the-looking-glass/

I look forward to staying connected!

Regards,

Dee...

p.s. I assume you know Al Etmanski?

Linda Hill
Linda Hill
@linda-hill
6 years ago
7 posts

Wonderful to meet another integrative thinker - hooray for intersections! 

One thing I am loving about your article is how you acknowledge and appreciate such a diverse, rich array of mentors.

Have you heard the term intersectionality used to explore identity issues within a diversity lens? (e.g. intersectional feminism, intersectional race relations, intersectional gender and sexual orientation relations, intersections between biodiversity and social diversity). So many intersections to explore!

The foundational intersecting pillars of Inclusive Leadership are Participatory Education for Social Change/Participatory Action Research/ Qualitative Research/Intercultural communication/Community Psychology/Mindfulness/Inter-group contact theory. The global context is the International Earth Charter. 

We apply ABCD and Appreciative Inquiry to all of this!!!

The community inclusion movement has been such an important entry point for me into all of this work. Yes I know Al and Vickie and am a great admirer of PLAN (you could check out what they are doing with ABCD). plan.ca

The Art of Hosting work is also founded on Participatory Education for Social Change!!!

And - I've visited the University of Peace where the Earth Charter office is located!  Did you by any chance meet Mohit Mukerjee or Mirian Vilela? 

Again - so many intersections. 

Anyway, I am really resonating with your last paragraph and look forward to more accounts of your adventures. This process of learning from multiple sources and then blending it together into our own personal, meaningful approach is radically revolutionary divergent creativity. Thank you for being a fellow creative explorer!!!  AND then we get to be facilitators...... which means making this easy for others!!!

Your job is my job.... thank for for this .... may i post this quote on our facebook page and may i re-post your blog on our Inclusive Leadership page?

"My job now, is not as a consultant; it is to enter a community with open heart, open mind and open will and to continue to offer these blended gifts to communities who are in crisis, those struggling with an issue or many who want to celebrate successes and my ongoing mission and aim is to build capacity in local neighbourhoods, through intentional conversations, underpinned by ABCD, and participatory leadership around today’s Wicked Problems, so that community members can immerse themselves in this important work; so they can host the processes, live an inclusionary life and celebrate the personal benefits of a connected community!"

https://www.facebook.com/InclusiveLeadership/

https://inclusiveleadershipco-op.org/

Please add experienced Inclusive Leader to your lovely list of identities!

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@dee-brooks
6 years ago
0 posts

OH. MY GOD, LINDA!!! My spider-blending-senses were tingling from your previous reply but this reply has absolutely confirmed you are a kindred spirit! Haha!

How absolutely wonderful! I see you!

I had lunch with Vickie and Al, at the Brisbane Botanic Gardens, in Australia last year and found the same feeling of kindred spirit - Al gifted me with a copy of his new book "Impact" and we have been in contact since - in fact, I'm talking with him next week about my visit next month to see if we might be able to connect while I'm there!

I haven't been to Costa Rica but, I have had many skype/zoom calls with Mohit - I was one of the first students to do the Diploma and so feedback from that first group was really important to them!

Your job, is my job! *humble bow*

Please feel free to re-post anything of mine - I think we're best mates now, so it's allowed!

I love how you word my experience as "list of identities" - that is so perfect! I've never liked all the "labels" but find that different people relate to different ones so, which do I cull? Maybe after I add Inclusive Leader and link to your page, I'll just start collecting more identities and make it a game! 

What a wonderful post to wake up to this morning! I look forward to staying in touch!

I'm on the road and in planes today! Please feel free to connect with me on Facebook or email or Twitter or whatever you use for contact!

Dee...

Linda Hill
Linda Hill
@linda-hill
6 years ago
7 posts

Lets keep in touch after I get back from taking 4 months off at the end of August (I go on leave next week). 

In the meantime - I would LOVE it if you might consider joining us for our Fall Guided Expedition to Discover Your Inclusive Leadership Potential. 

I am just wrapping up the spring course and it is such a powerful experience with 20 incredible champions of diversity and inclusion from 9 different countries! So much co leadership and co learning going on.

Talk more in the fall. 

Linda Hill
Linda Hill
@linda-hill
6 years ago
7 posts

Hi there Dee, 

I am back from my 4 month leave and would appreciate continuing our conversation about how we integrate creative facilitating into what we have learned from ABCD and other sources to help shift ourselves and our communities in inclusive and welcoming strength-based directions. I'm just re-reading our conversation and it is exciting.

In the meantime, I am hoping that with all your interconnections, you can help me gather about 30 champions of diversity and inclusion from around the world for our Discover Your Inclusive Leadership Potential Guided Online Expedition that begins October 1. This is a course for experienced and emerging change-makers from different countries. The idea is that our diverse social environmental challenges are all interconnected and by coming together we can support each other to forge inclusive solutions. As you know so well, we've all got vital roles to play in building a more inclusive world by mindfully and skillfully connecting with differences, communicating with compassion, and responding to mistreatment and unfairness with Anti-Discrimination First Aid. So far we have participants from 7 different countries. If you decide to join us that will increase the geographic diversity to 8 different countries! Or perhaps you have a colleague or someone you are mentoring who is looking for an inclusive leadership development opportunity. Looking forward to hearing back from you. 

You can reach me at: inclusiveonline@gmail.com.

Here is the website about our online Inclusive Leadership courses.
https://inclusive-leadership-global-village.thinkific.com/

Here is the Inclusive Leadership Co-operative Website

https://inclusiveleadershipco-op.org/

John Hamerlinck
John Hamerlinck
@john-hamerlinck
6 years ago
50 posts

The most important thing I learned from working with an intergenerational community project nearly 20 years ago was, that barriers to understanding the potential of other people's assets decreased greatly when the middle generation was absent. By this I mean that youth saw tremendous value in people who were their grandparents' age. The elders also seemed to give the youth tremendous boosts in self-esteem, because they were frequently validating the contributions of youth.

Linda Hill
Linda Hill
@linda-hill
6 years ago
7 posts

Hi John,

I was just talking with a young adult who is a former member of our town's youth council and she said something similar in that she found that the issues the youth were dealing with were very similar to the issues the seniors were dealing with (e.g. safety at night, challenges finding opportunities to contribute, being undervalued, poverty). If you turn it around into looking at assets: one of the assets that each group gives to the other is the gift of listening. 

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