Develop the skills and confidence to effectively address social problems and create your community change strategy.
Many systems, policies and practices in combination with outdated attitudes and behaviours contribute to the social and environmental challenges facing our communities and our world.
Within the context of our uncertain times and turbulent world, many leaders and community developers are seeking new ways to address deeply rooted and complex problems in our communities such as discrimination, bullying, poverty, homelessness, newcomer integration, operationalizing the TRC Calls to Action, climate action, the overdose crisis or loneliness.
Thankfully, more and more leaders recognize that “what is” does not work and yearn for a fresh approach to engage diversity, build connected communities and, together, generate meaningful action for a more sustainable and just world.
Jessie Sutherland shares her insights from over 30 years of designing, facilitating and supporting social change strategies locally, nationally and internationally.
In this video series, you’ll hear from guest speakers such as Elder Larry Grant, Dr. Michael Quinn Patton, Kris Archie and many others. You’ll also hear application stories from leaders within municipal and non-profit initiatives, including people with lived experience. In the final set of videos, you’ll hear from our expert panelists on funding trends and tips to support your community change initiatives.
You’ll also get access to powerful project planning tools to build your community change strategy. When you access our readiness checklists, workplan overview, and build-your-own-budget templates, you will ensure you have everything it takes to build and implement a successful initiative. The training will also provide you with the information you need for most funding proposals.
...You will have the knowledge and tools to build an effective social change strategy. You’ll complete the first steps of your Roadmap For Community Change and receive access to a robust toolkit to gain clarity on resources needed.
Course enrollments are OPEN
At the heart of every social problem, you will find a group of people who, on some level, feel “pushed out.” Our approach is based on our award-winning and proven Belonging Matters framework. It is a strengths-based community development process that:
The Belonging Matters approach provides a framework and process in which to bring diverse cultures, individuals and sectors together to address their most pressing social issues.
Our approach is responsive and agile to rapidly changing contexts, leveraging shared values and strengths every step of the way.
Belonging Matters has been used in 8 different languages to address social problems such as:
The Belonging Matters process is one that’s emergent and adaptable to any given social issue and can be scaled to meet the needs of a variety of communities, organizations and contexts.
When you register, you’ll learn the mindset and steps in creating an effective social change strategy customized to your community and organizational priorities. You’ll hear from Jessie Sutherland and guest speakers throughout the program. You’ll also have an opportunity to join 6 live Community of Practice calls over Zoom with a cohort of leaders like you who are passionate about addressing social and environmental challenges.
Roadmap For Community Change
Program Flow
Speakers & Guests:
Elder Larry Grant
Jessie Sutherland
Dr. Michael Quinn Patton
Rachel Plamondon-Assu
Monica Walters-Field
Carol Sheridan
Marvin Louie
Sonya Jensen
Melissa Lyon
Xwaluputhut (Patrick Aleck)
Luka Garvin
Denzil Muncherji
Maria Sampson
Jeanne Morton
Claudine Matlo
Gordon Holley
Kris Archie
Meseret Taye
Charmaine Hammond
Watch the videos from the 2023-02 cohort and complete the program at your own pace; however, we invite you to progress through one module each week.
Week 1: Welcome, Orientation and Creating a Powerful Problem Statement
Week 2: 3 Lenses to Focus Change Efforts
Week 3: 7 Steps to Facilitate Community Change
Week 4: Readiness Assessment and Project Development Tools
Week 5: Ideas Lab (Funding Trends and Tips)
Members only online learning portal
Gain access to your program recordings and PDF resources in our online membership platform. This online portal will help you track your progress through the modules and provides easy access to review the training anytime you need. Your materials will be available on our learning portal until January 2024.
Have a powerful PROBLEM STATEMENT statement premise
Use this tool to deepen your learning, strengthen how you communicate & inspire others and gain clarity on the scope of your efforts.
Discover the 3 LENSES that will help you explore social problems
Use this tool to understand social problems and discern what needs unlearning and where to focus your efforts.
Know the 7 STEPS to engage people and systems for lasting community change
Discover the clear step-by-step process to engage people and systems for catalyzing lasting change.
Identify KEY PEOPLE to engage in your social change initiative
Learn the three key groups you’ll need to involve in your process.
Understand the RESOURCES needed to implement your plan
Assess your team and organizational readiness and access project planning tools.
Hear current funding advice from experts
Listen to our panel of experts share current project funding trends and tips that address common challenges in accessing resources.
...my worldview on being an educator has shifted...
There was so much learning, but 3 concepts from the Roadmap for Community Change that I found valuable and intend to use were:
- Understanding the relationship between the personal journey and the systems journey (and seeing how we can support people who are “stuck” in the victim stage).
- Finding your KEY PEOPLE / your champions.
- Mastering the 3 lenses that Jessie teaches.
I also loved learning about the restorative lens as I know I can use this understanding in my personal and professional life.
From this training, I feel my worldview as an educator has shifted… I don’t really know how to describe it, but my “victim” worldview is coming to awareness. I am eager to share what I have learned with other educators. Together, with a sound, compassionate framework, the work of dismantling systemic racism and inequity is possible.
I appreciate having taken this first step on the 5 steps to community-led change.
This deep work must be done.
For me, the most valuable part of the Roadmap for Community Change training I learned and will use is the Belonging Matters framework. Change will not succeed without focusing on the 3 beginning steps of identifying key people, connecting and engaging, and building belonging. This deep work must be done.
Attending the training, I felt the impact of hearing one of the attendee’s amazing and inspirational story. I also took away that when seeking restorative solutions, there’s an important piece on taking responsibility and including different worldviews.
The belonging lens will impact my work moving forward, knowing that creating authentic belonging is key for me with newcomer students and families.
I would especially recommend this training to project coordinators and managers of community-led change work.
I found the Roadmap for Community Change course valuable and engaging, especially in my reflections, intentionally using the three lenses shared with us to reflect on processes, projects, and conflicts.
Through the training, I gained a structure for nurturing emerging values of belonging and for empowering my team in doing their work. Also, the Steps for Community-Led Change framework helped me to see what work I have done and encouraged me to cycle back to identify gaps. I would especially recommend this training to project coordinators and managers of community-led change work.
Below is a closer look at each week’s focus and the videos included in the series.
Watch the traditional welcome and Musqueam teachings from Elder Larry Grant.
Jessie Sutherland provides an orientation video and an overview of the program along with the first module on creating powerful problem statements with Michael Quinn Patton, founder of Principles-Focused Evaluation.
Elder Larry Grant
Jessie Sutherland
Dr. Michael Quinn Patton
In our second week, Jessie will review the program and process and explore three conceptual lenses that are critical in any effort to facilitate personal, community and system change including reaching the TRC Calls to Action. You will also hear from Rachel Plamondon-Assu on how she applies the lenses in her work in harm reduction.
Listening to this session will ensure you have the reflective learning practices for both unlearning what gets in the way of genuine change as well as the key lenses to understand social problems and know where best to focus your efforts.
Jessie Sutherland
Rachel Plamondon-Assu
During our third week, Monica-Walters Fields anchors our work together with a land acknowledgement and a call for the courage to change. Jessie will introduce you to our Belonging Matters 7-Step Model for Community Change. This model bridges the gap between people with lived experience and system influencers in a way that facilitates both personal and system change.
You’ll also hear application stories from Carol Sheridan, Marvin Louie and Sonja Jensen about their experience of building bridges between Oliver Parks & Recreation and Osoyoos Indian Band. In addition, we’ll feature the CPABC’s Vancouver Island Cerebral Palsy Awareness project and their team, including Melissa Lyon, Patrick Aleck, Luka Garvin and Denzil Muncherji, as well as one of the collaborating partners, Maria Sampson from the Victoria Native Friendship Centre.
You’ll also meet Jeanne Morton who will share how she uses the Belonging Matters in her work to support people living with disabilities in residential, vocational, and community based services working for government, non-profit and private agencies.
Listening to this session will ensure you have the knowledge and feedback to create your own 7-step plan to facilitate change. There will be time during monthly Community of Practice calls to apply your learning to your unique context.
Monica Walters-Field
Jessie Sutherland
Carol Sheridan
Marvin Louie
Sonya Jensen
Melissa Lyon
Xwaluputhut (Patrick Aleck)
Luka Garvin
Denzil Muncherji
Maria Sampson
Jeanne Morton
Listening to the session will provide you with the knowledge to ensure your team and organization are ready to implement your social change strategy.
Jessie Sutherland
Claudine Matlo
Gordon Holley
Listening to this session will provide you with critical information and strategies for building collaborative relationships with funders and corporate sponsors to ensure you have the resources to implement your community change plan.
Jessie Sutherland
Kris Archie
Meseret Taye
Charmaine Hammond
Receive PDF digital handouts providing reflective learning practices and step-by-step guidance to integrate what you learn into your unique context.
Access video recordings of all sessions so you can listen as often as you like to deepen your learning at your own pace.
Receive ongoing access to your recordings and materials on our membership website until January 2024.
30-Minute Personalized Roadmap Review
1:1 Call with Jessie Sutherland
In the final week, you'll be invited to book a private 30-minute call with Jessie Sutherland to either review your Social Change Strategy plan and address questions relevant to your specific context.
To get the most out of this session, email Jessie your social change strategy and questions ahead of time. This way, she will review them and give you the best she can offer.
On each 30-minute private call, we will:
($175.00 Value)
Community of Practice Online Group Calls
(6 Months of Access)
Upon registration, you’ll be invited to six months of LIVE access to our monthly Community of Practice group calls to connect with others who have taken our courses to learn from and with each other. These calls provide the opportunity for you to ask questions, share success stories, and seek feedback on challenges.
On each 60-minute group call, you’ll gain:
($197.00 Value)
An international speaker, trainer, and consultant, Jessie Sutherland works with organizations and communities to engage diversity, build belonging and ignite intercultural collaboration. Her approach creates sustainable community change that effectively addresses a wide range of complex social problems.
Jessie holds an M.A. in Dispute Resolution, is the founder of Intercultural Strategies, and is the innovator of the award-winning Belonging Matters Conversations series and capacity-building framework. She is also a TEDx speaker and author of the best-selling book, Worldview Skills: Transforming Conflict from the Inside Out.
Jessie is fabulous!
Jessie is fabulous! I found the most valuable part of the Roadmap for Community Change training was using the “3 lenses” tool that Jessie teaches. The training also impacted my worldview, reminding me that there are hundreds of years of “world view” imposed on community members.
Among my take-aways is the understanding that if we want to participate in restorative processes and use a belonging lens, it’s important to base our mindset and actions in inclusiveness, creating space for others, giving them a safe platform for their voices, and making sure they feel seen, heard, and appreciated.
What sets Jessie apart is her ability to walk the extra mile to ensure a great learning experience for her participants.
What makes Jessie a great trainer is that she is not only kind and compassionate, but also a very good listener with excellent communication skills. She listens to her audience and responds to them very thoughtfully. What sets Jessie apart is her ability to walk the extra mile to ensure a great learning experience for her participants.
What I have seen while working with students, is that the belonging lens helps them to internalize the issue of global citizenship; they don’t see it as an external issue, thus helping them to understand it better.
Jessie skilfully brought together diverse parts of our community...
Jessie skilfully brought together diverse parts of our community to guide us through education and problem solving about how to tackle the opioid crisis in Richmond. She was well prepared, engaging, and inspired us to work together.
Hear how Carol Sheridan’s worldview expanded while working with Jessie in the Belonging Matters framework.
Musqueam Elder, Larry Grant, is an Adjunct Professor at the First Nations and Endangered Languages Program (UBC) who has been recognized for his continuous intercultural work and for helping to revitalize the hun’q’umin’um’ language.
Former president of the American Evaluation Association and Founder and CEO of Utilization-Focused Evaluation, Dr. Michael Quinn Patton is known for his numerous books on evaluation and is recognized as an award-winning leader in evaluation theory and practice.
Rachel Plamondon-Assu is an Indigenous woman from the We Wai Kai nation. She brings her connection to culture and decades worth of experience in harm reduction and peer-lead community work creating opportunities for other people with lived experience.
Monica Walters-Field is a retired educator and has been involved in right relationships between Indigenous and Non-Indigenous people for decades. Recently, she participated in our Belonging Matters Conversations For Leaders program and wanted to start the session off with a reflection on the courage it takes each of us to change.
Carol Sheridan is the Manager of Oliver Parks and Recreation in Oliver, B.C. and hosted Belonging Matters Conversations to build relationships with Okanagan Osoyoos Indian Band. Carol advocates that people are healthier when they regularly connect with nature, and she cherishes her own time spent outdoors on the land and water.
Marvin Louie is a member of the Osoyoos Indian Band (OIB) and is one of OIB’s youth coordinators. For Marvin, sports have always been a mechanism to foster belonging and develop social skills along the way. He is passionate about youth and continuously finds opportunities to enhance youths’ health and wellness through sport and leadership activities.
Sonya Jensen is an Osoyoos Indian Band youth coordinator.
Melissa Lyon holds a Masters in Special Education, has mild cerebral palsy and epilepsy, and is the founding director of Accessibility and Inclusion Matter Consulting, which specializes in consulting, mentoring, and workshop presentations. Melissa participated in the Belonging Matters Conversations during the Vancouver Island Cerebral Palsy Awareness Project and joined the cerebral palsy’s champions team taking on a key leadership role, including facilitation and writing projects.
Xwaluputhut (Patrick Aleck), Stz'uminusFirst Nation & Penelakut Island, is a drummer, singer, composer, inspirational speaker and facilitator. Xwaluputhut (Patrick), participated in the Belonging Matters Conversations during the Vancouver Island Cerebral Palsy Awareness Project. He soon became an important member of the CP leadership team contributing his facilitation, drumming, speaking and community building skills.
Luka Garvin is a young adult who lives with quadriplegia. They create artwork by using their breath to manipulate colour on the page. Luka participated in the Belonging Matters Conversations during the Vancouver Island Cerebral Palsy Awareness Project and joined the cerebral palsy’s champions team taking on a key leadership role, including facilitation and doing the artwork for the cover of Living With CP.
Denzil Muncherji is the Director of Operations and has been with CPABC since 2018. She has played a key role in the Vancouver Island Cerebral Palsy Awareness Project with stakeholder engagement and overseeing the many details to make it a success. In University, she studied Cultural Anthropology and Not-For-Profit Studies.
Maria Sampson is a Coast Salish Weaver, a descendant from the Coast Salish peoples and from the Nez Perce who works at the Victoria Native Friendship Centre as the Aboriginal Infant Development Consultant and Aboriginal Cultural Group Coordinator. In her role with Victoria Native Friendship Centre, Maria contributed her expertise in ensuring cultural protocols, relevancy and safety were followed every step of the way. Among her many projects, she has facilitated a Cedar Weaving workshop at Vancouver Island University in partnership with the Aboriginal Film Festival in the Cowichan territory. Together, they developed and created a DVD called “The Story of Cedar”.
Jeanne Morton supports Agency Services for the Cerebral Palsy Association of BC. She has extensive experience supporting people living with disabilities in residential, vocational, and community based services working for government, non-profit and private agencies. Born and raised in Newfoundland, Jeanne has lived in most regions in Canada as she has migrated westward.
Claudine Matlo is currently the Director of Community Programs at Mount Pleasant Neighbourhood House overseeing the Seniors, Youth, Settlement, and Volunteer portfolios. She has worked in the senior serving field for over 15 years in both management and direct service roles. She is passionate about ensuring that older adults in our community have a strong voice and an active role in creating safe and inclusive neighbourhoods and is currently studying innovative ways of engaging less heard senior voices.
Gordon Holley, CPA, CA, FCPB, works to build confidence and capacity through leadership and training across Canada’s charity and social purpose sectors. As a CPA, CA of 25 years standing and CEO of Humanity Financial Management, Gordon loves helping leaders of community and social purpose organisations. Gordon’s passion is leveraging his decades of experience with board members and executive team to build human, organizational and sectoral capacity through workshops and resources.
Kris Archie is the Chief Executive Officer of The Circle on Philanthropy (The Circle), a Secwepemc and Seme7 woman from Ts’qescen, a mother, aunty and engaged community member. Kris is passionate about heart-based community work and facilitating positive change. In all of her roles, Kris works to transform philanthropy and contribute to positive change by creating spaces of shared learning, relationship-building and centering Indigenous wisdom.
An immigrant from East Africa and settler of Black heritage, Meseret Taye’s deep passion and commitment to contribute to community change has led her to work exclusively in the nonprofit sector. She has 20 plus years of experience with local and international nonprofit organizations in Canada, the United States and Ethiopia. Meseret currently works as Grants Manager overseeing legal advocacy and racial justice grants for the Law Foundation of BC.
Prior to joining the Law Foundation, Meseret was a Senior Program Manager at Vancouver Foundation where she worked for 9.5 years in various grantmaking initiatives, including scaling out the Foundation’s grassroots grantmaking program from few communities in the Lower Mainland to every community across the province of BC by developing regional networks in partnership with diverse place-based nonprofit organizations, funding agencies and municipalities.
Charmaine Hammond, CSP, is a highly sought-after business keynote and workshop speaker (having presented to more than 400 000 people worldwide), entrepreneur, best-selling author, and educator who teaches and advocates the importance of developing trust, healthy relationships, and collaboration in the workplace.
Joining Roadmap for Community Change allows you to tap into Jessie’s 30+ years of expertise of working on social problems in a way that empowers communities and leads to lasting and sustainable change.
Jessie’s decades of experience in training, facilitation, mentoring and her life-long passion for effective social change means you are able to save time and energy because you’ll avoid the costly mistakes that many people make without the right training, support and experiential learning.
With an exceptional line up of guest speakers and funders, you’ll access a wealth of knowledge and expertise to help you refine your strategy and increase opportunities to create sustainability for your change efforts.
For only $595, you can be a part of the Roadmap for Community Change program. We’ve made it easy for you to join us with the option of a payment plan, and Jessie stands behind this program with a satisfaction guarantee.
Roadmap For Community Change
Self-Paced VIDEO Series (2023-02 Cohort)
$595
Your registration includes:
(split-pay option available)
Our priority is to provide you with effective, actionable strategies to help you navigate your unique context. We've seen what's possible when the Belonging Matters framework and 7-step community change model are applied, and we stand behind it 100%.
To optimize your success, we provide you with opportunities to ask questions, hear application stories, access tools and apply what you learn to create a social change strategy that addresses your priority social challenges (aka, people and culture challenges). If you have attended the trainings and applied the strategies and this program still does not meet your expectations, reach out to us within 60 days of purchase. We’ll either chat with you to see if there are supports you need or we’ll refund your purchase. We're committed to your success. Guaranteed.
As a society, we need to shift from a reactive mode to a prevention mode like what Belonging Matters provides.
As a society, we need to shift from a reactive mode to a prevention mode like what Belonging Matters Conversations provides. The more that we hear the voices of people impacted the most, the more respectful the process and the better the outcomes.
We need to support grassroots and community empowerment processes to achieve prevention and real change.
We love Belonging Matters.
We love Belonging Matters. Anyone who wants to do a piece of creative community development, around any issue, should talk to Jessie. The relationships built in this way are sustainable relationships.
...the greatest potential for bringing about the needed healing and reconciliation...
Jessie Sutherland’s worldview skills may well be the insight that provides the greatest potential for bringing about the needed healing and reconciliation that must take place. It has the potential to provide the spark required to bring real peace, balance, and harmony…
Learn how Belonging Matters changed Luka’s life.
You will have a fresh way of understanding of the nature of what you are changing, confidence on where to focus your efforts, a clear roadmap for addressing the social problem you are working to address, clarity on resources needed and feedback from a network of colleagues and experts to set you up for success with funding and sponsorship proposals.
We have been designing and implementing powerful trainings for 30+ years. You can expect to be exposed to new information, a fresh approach, and be encouraged to apply what you learn in a meaningful way to gain clarity on your customized roadmap for community change. If you’re still not convinced, we encourage you to spend some time on our Reviews page and check out any of the 100+ endorsements from people about our opportunities and the Belonging Matters framework.
We have been designing and implementing powerful trainings for 30+ years. We love creating powerful learning spaces. You can expect to draw on your own expertise, be exposed to new information and a fresh approach, apply what you learn in a meaningful way and gain clarity on your personalized roadmap for community change. If you’re still not convinced, we encourage you to spend some time on our Reviews page and check out any of the 100+ endorsements from people about our opportunities and the Belonging Matters framework.
We recommend attending with diverse representation from your team. We suggest a decision maker (director, manager, other), someone who can implement your plan from your team (frontline worker, coordinator, team leader, other), and someone with lived experience that your plan is trying to make a difference with and for.
In addition to the results listed above, attending this training means you not only foster in-house capacity to build your plan, but also access over $10k worth of expertise in a consulting package.
You can expect story telling, presentations and application activities.
Upon registration, you’ll receive access to a 6-month bonus of Community of Practice calls. During these calls you can share successes and challenges with the development and implementation of your social change strategy. Together, with others on the call, you can generate ideas to help you move forward with greater impact and less effort.
Yes, we’d love to connect! Please reach out to us HERE or email us directly: [email protected]
Roadmap For Community Change
Self-Paced VIDEO Series (2023-02 Cohort)
$595
Your registration includes:
(split-pay option available)
I am extremely proud of this program, and I hope that you will join us. The world needs leaders, social planners, educators and community developers around the globe to develop and facilitate effective community change strategies. I look forward to connecting with you and would love to have you join our growing community.
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