I am a huge fan of Volunteer Vancouver .  The BC Aphasia Centre had a tiny little office next door to Volunteer Vancouver when they were in Heritage Hall.  They provided us with a lot of support — I took books out of the library and attended their AGMs and Open Houses.  I found myself in a community where I could learn new ideas and skills and meet new people.

Since they moved downtown, I don’t get to their office as often.  I get their newsletters, have maintained a personal membership, and the organizations I’m affiliated with get a gentle nudge to join and take advantage of the network, the learning and the general excitement that Volunteer Vancouver generates.  The courses they offer and the network of people they can draw in now makes it an incredibly wonderful place for me to visit.  Going downtown for a 7:30 meeting . . . always worth it because I meet the most incredible people.

This morning I went down to “Books for Breakfast” where the discussion was on Peter Block’s newest book, “Community:  the structure of belonging”, facilitated by Brian Fraser of Jazzthink and Kathleen Speakman, the Executive Director of The Centre for Sustainability .  Kathleen is a graduate of the Women’s Campaign School and she told me that the campaign school was the best professional development course she has taken.  I will get her to write it in her own words for our website.  And, coincidentally, Brian spoke to our board of directors this week to talk about leadership using a jazz metaphor.

We had a great discussion this morning — one of the biggest challenges in the work we all do is to create the spaces for conversation.  I’m looking forward to reading the book and increasing my comfort with the process of “co-creating” a future.