At 7:30 am on a Tuesday morning in the old
Aurora Cultural Centre in the heart of York Region, Daniele Zanotti, CEO of United Way of York Region (UWYR) asked everyone to stand up for change. It was the 35
th Annual General Meeting of UWYR and the room was filled with volunteers, board members, companies, municipal and Regional employees and UWYR staff s well as partner organizations like ResearchImpact – York. We were all there to approve the business of UWYR but we were also there to celebrate our collective success.
UWYR Region is a key institutional partner in York University’s knowledge mobilization and social innovation strategy. Together we created
Strength Investments that have invested $150,000 in 6 community-citizen projects such as Building Sustainable Capacities amongst Afro-Canadian Caribbean Youth in York Region and South Asian Family Empowerment Project. A
list of all the projects is available. Together we
launched Change Inc. in October and
announced an investment of $150,000 in Change Inc at York’s KMb Expo on June 15.
Tammy Lowe, one of ResearchImpact – York’s KMb Interns now works at UWYR as a Campaign Manager, a career choice she links back to her internship. We have co-authored an
article, a meeting grant and a knowledge mobilization grant linking university and community strengths in knowledge mobilization. Outcomes of knowledge mobilization such as Strength Investments are social innovations.
You can
read Daniele’s speech and while you’re reading it, stand up for community-university collaborations that producer tangible change for communities and citizens.