May 28, 2018 - 11:30 am - 1:00 pm
Location: Community
Futures Office
In attendance (from
sign-in sheet): Pratyush Dhawan, Jon Jackson, Daphne Johnson, Mark Doratti, Jessica
Dunn, Carla Bullinger, Diane Wright, Anne Burrill, Larry Stranberg, Shannon
Thom, and Stefanie Hendrickson.
Accept Minutes &
Agenda
During lunch we:
· Review meeting agenda
for May 28, 2018
Motion to accept
agenda as presented - MFSC
· Review meeting minutes
from Apr 23, 2017
Motion to accept minutes as presented - MFSC
Business Meet & Greet
Business
"Meet & Greet" with:
· 1) Mark Doratti, new Executive Director of the Williams Lake and District
Chamber of Commerce
-Informal introduction - Chamber is also a not-for-profit and Mark knows
many people at the table already including: Carla Bullinger, Shannon Thom,
Larry Stranberg, Pratyush Dhawan and Jon Jackson.
-Moved back to Williams Lake seven years ago.
-After the fires, Mark was looking for employment, and around that time
Claudia put in her resignation and encouraged Mark to apply.
-Mark is excited to have a paid position, doing what he loves (already was
very engaged with the Chamber).
-Their boundary extends to Bella Coola to the East, South to Lac La Hache
(Canim Lake road), and north as far as McLeese Lake, and east to Horsefly and
Likely... hence Williams Lake and District.
-Focus - stand up for business, as best as they can. Engage with local
clients, encourage policy changes to be made (often these policy changes filters
higher - BC Chambers, and even nationally).
-Monthly member meetings are encouraging and refreshing. The whole
community benefits from local economic success.
-Exists to make the community a better place.
-Discussions - there are many commonalities between our organizations, and
as the SPC has slightly changed their constitutional focus (includes economic
now).
· 2) Beth Veenkamp, Economic Development Officer with the City of Williams
Lake
-New role for just over a year now.
-Meeting at City Hall tonight - discussing the legalization of cannabis.
-Working on Wildfire Recovery - event on May 30th
-Used to be more of a community piece in City Hall, now this falls under
Beth's mandate.
-Community Development pieces also.
Some City updates:
-Laurie Walters and Sue Zacharias have announced they are not running
again for Council.
-Cariboo Lodge - roof is now on.
-First avenue social housing - parking is a contentious issue at this time
(project will likely break ground next spring).
-Hospital - group meeting again shortly - team to start drawing up plans
(likely 3 years timeline).
-Heavy Industrial lands - interest from investors for cannabis production.
-Investors - interest in TRU and partnerships.
-Williams Lake has largest stockyards sales in BC
-Meat producers - looking at local abattoir facilities
-Large log building plans - will be part of a new training program
-Movie producer interest has been discussed
-Housing prices are up
-Working with Mark and Stephanie - everyone is paddling together towards
similar goals
-It is a good time to live in Williams Lake
· 3) Stefanie Hendrickson, Executive Director for the Williams Lake Central
Business Improvement Association.
-New position (8 - 9 months).
-Comes from a family of entrepreneurs
-Non-profit, non voluntary (formed under provincial law) representing 50%
minimum of the owners who pay a levy within the downtown core.
-New branding has taken place this past year.
-Shop local, shop downtown
-Branching out is harder due to limited capacity (some larger BIA
organizations can take on more e.g. crime and social housing)
-As they grow - expanding their focus is a possibility.
-General marketing of the downtown core is primary focus at this time.
-Checkout new video made - entrepreneur attraction video
-Comment - the BIA has been doing a great job.
-Boundaries do not include industrial areas, or Boitanio park.
-Property owners decide if renewal takes place - currently in renewal
phase (properties in boundary are mostly business).
Comments:
-A one-stop shop for our area would be
beneficial (preventing confusion and running around in circles).
-More than 50% of homes being sold right
now are being bought from families from the Okanagan and the Fraser Valley
-10 775 population within city limits
(but this is misleading as the area served covers over 30 000 people from
surrounding areas).
-Attachment to the area is important for
people to want to stay (currently hard to meet friends, etc.).
-Doctors are doing well at recruiting
new doctors to the area - make them have such a great time they will want to
stay (or come back).
-School attendance is currently up.
Social Innovation Approach - Presentation
Anne
Burrill, of Change Maker Consulting discussed what a Social Innovation Approach
is, and how we can apply it to our work in the community to address poverty and
other complex issues across sectors.
Social
Innovation... what does this mean? (purpose of this presentation)
Note -
Anne is not an expert in this area, but is quite well versed in this process.
Social
problems are very complex and cannot be solved with one approach, or by figuring
out a single solution. e.g.
just giving someone a job, will not necessarily solve their problems.
Sometime
the causes and effects are muddled up.
Question
- Mental Health and poverty - are they living in poverty because they are
mentally ill, or depressed because they are living in poverty?
Look
from different lens and bigger picture of the whole system.
Definition
of Social Innovation: Many definition exist. In summary - Changing the systems,
and policy, in a way that has durability and transformative impact to resolve
complex issues.
Universal
Health Care (video)
Society
is made up of systems, and some people fall though the "cracks".
Whose
fault is poverty, and whose responsibility is it to fix?
There
is no clear answer to this!
Fact -
The more inequality in a society, the more serious health problems residents
are affected by (regardless of income levels). This means a solution would
affect everyone within the community (not just those living in poverty).
Complexity
(according to Brenda Zimmerman's analysis):
We have
simple (baking a cake/known), complicated (rocket to the moon/knowable) and
complex problems (raising a child/unknowable).
Tools
of Social Innovation:
Systems
Thinking
Adaptive
Cycle
Design
thinking and prototyping
What
does all this really mean for us?
-Recognizing
the problems but seeing the opportunities
-Addressing
the root causes ad not just treating the symptoms
-Focusing
on solutions that put people and the planet first
-Choosing
optimism and action over apathy.
Multiple
brains from all the sectors present is required.
Working
harder alone is not enough to solve
complex problems.
Community
has a critical leadership role to play in generating and implementing new,
innovative solutions.
Roundtable Updates
Stefanie (WLCBIA) - Four
directions festival after stampede parade on June 30th
Jon Jackson (Red Cross) - small business
program is coming to an end (deadline May 31), Community Partnership program is
still taking applications, and Red Cross is continuing to help individuals and
families. NEW Support to individuals and families - who suffered damage to or
loss of property. NEW Disaster risk reduction - focus more resilient for future
disasters. Keep talking to people, many people thought they could get over
things on their own but are now feeling overwhelmed. Red Cross - Still here,
still busy.
Beth Veenkamp (City of Williams Lake) - Volunteers can be
hard to find in Williams Lake (Vol-inspire - online platform for volunteer
engagement). Requires a community champion. Coordinated effort around volunteer
opportunities. Could there be a permanent home for something like this? Answer
- Daphne from Williams Lake Hospice offered to be the sought after champion.
Mark Doratti - National Tourism
Week - events taking place this week. June is almost here, which means Stampede
is just around the corner.
Larry Stranberg (Community
Futures) - 1- 4 pm free workshop on "Fireproofing your Business".
Financial workshops are taking place this week.
Motion to
adjourn the meeting (1:03 pm) - MFSC
