Community Complexity Lab - Fall 2024

Does your organization deal with complex issues in the work you do?

Are you curious to learn how to deal with complex issues?

Would you benefit from a creative and supportive space to collaboratively work through complex challenges facing your work?

Join us at the Community Complexity Lab in Fall 2024. This lab is for social sector leaders serving multicultural clients or underserved communities. If you are an Executive Director, Senior leader, or a Board member, this event is for you!

The lab is offered in partnership with and .

Over three half-day sessions we will focus on navigating complexity and creating meaningful interventions with hands-on experience.

• A space for diverse change-makers to explore complex social challenges facing vulnerable populations you serve.
• Learn about models, practices, tools, and tactics from systems thinking, systemic design, and social innovation for practical application to your shared complex challenge.
• Structured and impromptu connections with colleagues holding similar challenges and questions.
• Coaching support is available from experienced coaches who approach complex challenges from new and creative perspectives, helping you apply the material to your own work.
• You leave with new insights, inspiration, and practical opportunities to take creative action among a community for ongoing learning and collaboration after the lab.

• You are a leader (Executive Director, Board member, Program lead) in nonprofit, voluntary sector (NPVS) serving multicultural clients or underserved clients;
• You work in the greater Edmonton area;
• You want to address complex challenges and opportunities in the community, especially for multicultural clients or underserved immigrants;
• You learn best from diverse perspectives and experiences;
• You want to learn to apply systemic thinking, systemic design in your work; and
• You have a passion to explore root causes, generate creative solutions for clients and experimentation.

Feedback from participants of the Pilot Lab (May 2024):

• “The Lab helped me improve my ability to identify Leverage Points within my work, so I focus my efforts on making the most significant positive changes.”
• “Our office is often very silo'ed so it was great working with two other leaders to identify common problems and work on them together."
• “The lab inspired a shift in thinking by viewing and analyzing complex issues from different perspectives, and the interconnections, and affirming the significance of humility and collaboration in crafting more holistic solutions. Chaos marks the beginning of the process before order emerges.”

We invite up to 3 team members from the leadership team (Minimum 2 participants). Each participating member will:

• Fill out a registration form;
• Provide a shared challenge or opportunity your team would like to explore during the lab;
• Commit to some homework (30-90 minutes) between each session i.e., within two-week breaks to support learning and application of concepts.

Please register via Eventbrite by November 11th, 2024.

CDU is offering this lab as a pilot and our goal is to make this offering as accessible as possible. We would like to hear from anyone who was interested in attending the initial offering but were unable to. Your feedback about any barriers (timing, duration of training, costs, etc.) you experienced in accessing this pilot opportunity will help us adapt future offerings. To share your feedback please send an email to: [email protected] with the subject Community Complexity Lab.

In collaboration with our incredible partners Islamic Family and the Community Development Unit (CDU) are leading the delivery of this lab. While there is no charge for participation in lab (training, coaching or any supplies), provided by CDU, there is a small charge of $50 per person ($25/person/in-person half-day) + Eventbrite Fees to help our partner organization cover the costs associated with hosting.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

CoLab, 9942 108 Street Northwest, Edmonton, Canada