Committee Corner
The Collaborative Action Committee (CAC) continues to enjoy a high level of Partner commitment and a desire from its members to see tangible results. Partners have expressed that they want to see action or initiatives that the CAC has influenced.
Just before the summer, the CAC supported three key initiatives, one in each of the committee’s three focus areas: Economic Well Being (Support for Living Wage); Eco-Footprint Database and Launch (Environmental Sustainability); Kafe12 participation and emerging framework (High School Completion / Successful Transitions).
During the summer, the CAC continued to develop strategies and next steps within the three focus areas. Under the Environmental Sustainability theme, the CAC identified six imagineCALGARY Targets that are at risk of not being achieved. These Targets are:
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By 2010, 100% of Calgarians have access to nutritious foods (Food) |
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By 2016, Calgary has a strong and diverse portfolio of locally based businesses (Goods and Services) |
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By 2016, we are developing ‘complete communities’ that enable people to meet most of their daily needs within a reasonable walking distance from home (Housing) |
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By 2016 we increase the residential population within walking distance (600 meters) of LRT stations and major transit nodes by 100% (Transportation) |
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By 2016 we increase the number of jobs within walking distance (600 meters) of LRT stations and major transit nodes by 35% (Transportation) |
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By 2012, total community GHG emissions are reduced by 6% from 1990 levels: by 2036, they’re reduced by 50% from 1990 levels and CACs are significantly reduced. (Air) |
The CAC concluded that there is no one tracking progress on the 114 iC Targets and flagging areas of risk. This is an area that needs to be developed and should be discussed at the iC Steering Committee as regular tracking and reporting would support progress toward meeting the Targets. The CAC suggests that each Target should be evaluated with traffic lights -- Red, Yellow, Green -- and that attention should be focused on the red flags, in
addition to recognizing and celebrating the successes (green items). This remains an outstanding issue.
The CAC has committed to review the applicability of REAP Calgary’s action tracker tool which measures the environmental and social impact that individual Calgarians can have through their actions – results can be viewed cumulatively.
Under the Economic Well Being and High School Completion theme, the CAC continued to support the framework emerging from Kafe12. Specifically, the CAC would like to:
• Hold an All Partners meeting in late September and invite Funders for Youth to talk about Kafe12 to build awareness
• Ask Partners ‘What could we, as iC Partners, do to leverage Kafe12?’ i.e. What difference could we make?
• Use this as a lead into the November meeting
Kafe 12 and imagineCALGARY will provide an opportunity for Partners to explore the impact through collaborative efforts at a Peer Learning event in September.
The Communications and Awareness Committee has spent the past several weeks finalizing details for the November 12th Partners Symposium. The event will be held at the Bow Valley College from 2 to 5 p.m. In addition to featuring a presentation by a leader in the international sustainability community, the Symposium will include an opportunity for imagineCALGARY Partners to make connections with others committed to the imagineCALGARY Vision.
There is no limit on the number of individuals who can attend from each Partner organization. Tickets will be $25 per person, and coffee and refreshments will be provided. Only 60 seats are
available, so please reserve your tickets as soon as possible.
Confirmed sponsors for the event include The Calgary Airport Authority, the Calgary Foundation, The City of Calgary, Calgary
Exhibition and Stampede, REAP Calgary and Calgary Economic Development.
Partners can look for further information on the November 12th Partners Symposium in email invitations that will be distributed soon.
Applications for the first-annual imagineCALGARY Awards closed on September 19th. Members from each of the imagineCALGARY Partner Committees have been appointed to a panel that will review the applications and select winners for both the imagineCALGARY Partnership Award and the imagineCALGARY Leaders in Sustainability Award. These awards will be presented at the November 12th Partnership Symposium.
September saw the Steering Committee begin its thoughtful and deliberate efforts to create the “Strategy for the imagineCALGARY Partnership.” This initiative is the most important deliverable the Steering Committee will undertake over the 2008 year. It will bring together the other elements of the committee’s work to date and most notably will speak to the next five to seven/10 years and where the imagineCALGARY Partnership will aim to be.
This strategy will incorporate learnings by Partners who have been working on taking action towards the Targets defined in The imagineCALGARY Plan for Long Range Urban Sustainability. It will speak to Partner engagement and specific strategies for new Partner recruitment. It will also be creative in analyzing how imagineCALGARY as an entity keeps its momentum, and how it can use innovative approaches within its resourcing and governance structure.
The Steering Committee’s 2008 Workplan calls for a draft of the strategy to be ready in November 2008.
