����ɫ��

The AFCC Powwow committee is hosting a Traditional Powwow Gathering and Feast to be held in March, 2024, to promote awareness in honoring Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls and two-spirit People (MMIWG2S). This event will help families and Indigenous communities in healing, strengthening, and empowering��through their sacred songs and dance.�� Powwow's strengthen Indigenous families connection to their cultures, reduce barriers, provide positive social interactions, enhance physical health and improve mental health in a safe cultural space that is inclusive. It will be an opportunity to reconnect and increase transmission of traditional knowledge and skills while also promoting reconciliation through bringing together Indigenous and non-Indigenous.

The challenge of the student team will be to develop a marketing, promotion, and logistics implementation plan for the Aboriginal Friendship Centre of Calgary to host their first large-scale traditional Powwow. The event will include invitations to Honorable guests, Dignitaries and Indigenous loyalty. ��Through funding of the Murdered and Missing Woman and Girls grant, it will serve as a tribute to those who their community has lost but a celebration of the strength and resilience of their people.

Learn more about the Aboriginal Friendship Centre of Calgary by visiting their webpage.

Our biggest challenge is not being able to give legal advice to the public. As lawyers, we are allowed to provide legal information but not legal advice. Many people think we are supposed to represent them in court or give them our legal opinion. It is hard to draw a line between legal advice and legal information and it is hard to explain it to our callers. Our challenge for participating students is to demonstrate a clear distinction between what constitutes “legal advice” versus “legal information” in order for the public to understand that our Centre provides legal education and research and not legal representation and advocacy (despite the fact that most of us at the Centre are lawyers). Therefore, students need to show where to draw a line between what is information and what is advice. Students can do so by defining each term and by looking at institutions that deal with similar issues and then proposing how to share that information with the public.

The Centre’s work usually focuses on vulnerable groups such as low-income individuals who cannot afford hiring a lawyer, and those who have been discriminated against such as Black, Indigenous, Asian and LGBTQ2+ people. However, many of these individuals still do not know about our work despite the fact that they may face human rights and/or civil liberties issues on a daily basis. How can the Centre reach out to these individuals?

Learn more about��Alberta Civil Liberties Research Centre by visiting their website.

CHALLENGE #1

Our first challenge is: how do we��track program impact. As our program is online and educational in nature, it is difficult to track the impact our program has other than looking at number��of users, number��of website visits, etc. Often education does not result in immediate change in behaviours, but the impact of the program could be realized years later in the form of career choices, consumer choices, or impacts on parents or families. For example, we teach about the effects of climate change but we can't actually track GHG emissions from individual participants.

��

CHALLENGE��#2

Our second challenge is how do we expand our program, throughout Canada and internationally, with limited resources and Covid restrictions to travel. We would like to become more self sustainable, rather than depending on year to year grants, perhaps moving towards a social enterprise model. This requires initial funding and relationships with organizations across Canada and the world to agree to pay for the program and/or site licenses.

��

Challenge #1 How to track ENGAGMENT, IMPACT and LONG TERM BEHAVIOURAL CHANGE.

Alberta Tomorrow is an online platform that empowers youth to design and sustain a future for our shared ecosystem. Our vision is an informed society that actively fosters sustainable futures We can track the “design” outcome through our website usage statistics, simulator usage, number of return visits, number of simulations run, average time spent on the site, analysis of types of the simulations run, etc., however it is more difficult to track whether empowering students leads to a “sustained” change in their behaviour that results in a better future. We do have direct contact with some teachers and students through our in-person or virtual school visits, but because our program is online and educational in nature, it is difficult to track the broader and long term impact our program has. Education does not always result in immediate change in behaviours, but the impact of the program could be realized years later in the form of career choices, consumer choices, or impacts on parents or families. For example, we teach about the effects of climate change but we can't actually track GHG emissions from individual participants. We are looking for a way to track long term impact and behavioural change but are a very small organization with one part time employee. Solutions to the challenge must be low cost and require minimal effort and upkeep.

Learn more about��Alberta Tomorrow Foundation by visiting their website.

Our challenge is fostering leadership in governance projects internationally. For the Global Community Challenge YYC, we want to address this challenge as it relates to our project 'Support for Ukraine’s Reforms for Governance' (SURGe). Alinea improves the quality of life of Ukraine’s citizens, particularly women and girls, through inclusive, citizen-centred and gender responsive public sector reforms. This project builds on Alinea’s Expert Deployment for Governance and Economic Growth project and works with the Government of Ukraine to deploy Canadian and local experts to support reform efforts in priority areas.

Some questions informing this challenge include: How can Alinea improve its leadership competency model to support managers in achieving project goals? What is the approach that the SURGe project uses to foster visionary leadership? How effectively does it do this with its project management team and with its stakeholders in the Ukrainian government? How can Alinea corporately refine and apply its corporate management and leadership competencies to strengthen impact, nurture champions and ensure post-project sustainability? Is there a way to consider the Sustainable Development Goals in the development of these leadership competencies?

Challenge #1

The Dry Corridor in Central America has some of the highest rates of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) and femicide in the world. This is a very challenging environment for women, youth and/or indigenous persons to live in peace and prosperity and exercise their rights. To address this problem, Alinea International is currently implementing a four-year, $4.9M Global Affairs Canada funded project called “Women Leading Change” (WLC) that seeks to enhance gender equality and empowerment of women, youth and Indigenous Persons in the Trifinio region of Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador. The Project works with municipal governments and organizations led by Women, Youth, Indigenous Persons to address key equality gaps related to equal participation in decision-making, equal access to, and control over, economic resources and equal realization of rights.

How can we improve the ability of women, youth and/or indigenous persons who are at risk of, or are survivors of SGBV, to develop economic autonomy?

Challenge #2

The Dry Corridor in Central America has some of the highest rates of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) and femicide in the world. This is a very challenging environment for women, youth and/or indigenous persons to live in peace and prosperity and exercise their rights. To address this problem, Alinea International is currently implementing a four-year, $4.9M Global Affairs Canada funded project called “Women Leading Change” (WLC) that seeks to enhance gender equality and empowerment of women, youth and Indigenous Persons in the Trifinio region of Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador. The Project works with municipal governments and organizations led by Women, Youth, Indigenous Persons to address key equality gaps related to equal participation in decision-making, equal access to, and control over, economic resources and equal realization of rights.��

How can we increase awareness among women, youth and/or indigenous persons of available services for victims of SGBV, including psychosocial and legal support?

In the world of international development, localization is the intention and action of shifting and strengthening responsibility and decision-making authority. ��It is also to commensurate resourcing to selected organizations and individuals within partner countries in lesser developed countries. These include civil society organizations, local networks and groups, governments and public institutions, as well as private development practitioners.

The GCC student team is challenged to identify strategies that Canadian international development organizations can use to support localization, while maintaining their important role in reducing poverty around the world.

Learn more about��Alinea International by visiting their website.

The Alliance Française of Calgary is a non-profit organization in Calgary which is recognized for the excellence of its French classes! The organization is also a cultural center with weekly free activities for anyone to practice French and a center for official certifications of French (TEF / DELF). We are also a French library with more than 8,000 resources that can be used by our members.

Challenge: Unfortunately, we have some difficulty getting our library identified as a place with many French resources for the community. Only 335 people used our library in the year 2020 (1/3 of them being our students) and it seems to us that we are not able to reach out to potential users.

We would like to focus on the following challenge: Improve our fundraising impact.

Our non-profit organization does not raise much funds and is mostly auto-financed. We believe we would benefit from a better fundraising action plan.

• Target Funders – General Public or Corporate Donors.
• The plan would be carried out by staff + board of directors.

We are largely self-financed and do not rely on fundraising as other organizations or chapters of Alliance Française do. This is an idea we would like to explore.

Learn more about Alliance Française of Calgary by visiting their website.

CHALLENGE #1

We have been bringing events and movies, as well as other supports to the community for over 10 years. The events have been mainly aimed at those under 10, with movies for kids, families and those in the sandwich generation and older demographics. What we would like to set as the challenge, as it is this for our group, is to develop marketing strategies and approaches to better engage youth, university students and early career adults.

What are potential areas of interest which can be explored in either live event formats or movies, book readings etc.? What is the best methodology to use in formatting the approach? What are potential interest categories for launching this new area?

��

CHALLENGE #2

With the current casino situation and continued rumored changes to the distribution of casino funds in the air, the raising of funds from another source is of great interest to our group as well. We do - in times when we have been allowed to meet - hold book sales which also include the sale of refreshments, that have brought in funds. As well, the movies which we've shown have had a refreshment stand and donation box. However, the sum total of this venture doesn't cover the movie license in most cases, and with the Library reconsidering its community partnering, there may be some increased expense from this avenue as well. In the recent past, the membership cost was eliminated, as this seemed to pose a hurdle for the involvement of quite a few families and individuals.

How to approach the fundraising without reinstituting a membership fee. It's got to be something that would help cover the costs of the events without making the events prohibitive to attend.

Learn more about Association for German Education in Calgary by visiting their website.

CHALLENGE #1

Project management in the context of COVID-19. The organization would benefit from a complete project management strategy, equipped with a step-by-step guide for practitioners and youth workers to follow in hosting community events and workshops. The organization would benefit from understanding project management in a virtual and online setting, including using existing software applications, how to set up a virtual event, invite clients, set up online registration, track participants, engage participants, incorporating activity kits, collecting immigration information/date of birth, and limitations of said software.

CHALLENGE #2

Tracking impact in program evaluation. These challenges stem from navigating the unique populations we serve, our programs' nature, and monitoring impact. The evaluation process faces the following challenges: creating a "one survey fits all" that all youth can relate to and understand. This is particularly relevant as settlement journeys vary from individual to individual. Also, interpretation and translating haven't been feasible with how frequently survey questions may have to change. This makes tracking impact an incredibly difficult task, especially as the organization has multiple programs. Support in tackling these evaluation challenges would allow for improved evaluation process and service delivery.

Learn more about The Calgary Bridge Foundation for Youth by visiting their website.

Our city will be having a municipal election in October. As a non-partisan organization, we cannot support specific candidates, but we want to make sure that candidates who do get elected will make climate change a top priority. Our challenge is to develop a non-partisan campaign strategy for making climate change a top election issue.

Our challenge for students will be to develop a strategy to advocate for The City of Calgary to adopt a Property Assessed Clean Energy program (PACE) that would enable Calgarians to retrofit their homes and businesses. See https://www.paceab.ca/ for more information.

Our research shows that new Canadians care deeply about the Climate Crisis, but our membership list and volunteer engagement does not reflect that. How do we ensure that we are addressing the challenges immigrant communities are facing in the Climate Crisis and providing meaningful opportunities to engage, connections and support? How are other cities globally addressing this challenge? What are some stories of success and failure?

The benefits of community integration and climate change advocacy align with the values of both immigrant inclusion and sustainable living. With the goal of enhancing community integration and environmental awareness among immigrants, the student team challenge is to develop a culturally sensitive welcome package that not only educates newcomers about climate change but also encourages them to join local initiatives and contribute to a greener Calgary.

Learn more about��Calgary Climate Hub by visiting their website.

CHALLENGE #1

Increasing enrolment for a private language school. How does a private language school effectively and efficiently reach out to a diverse community in the best way? Are there more effective tools besides a website? For example, where do high school students search for information if they want language credits, versus a parent looking for a language program for their child? How does a not for profit use limited financial resources in the most budget-friendly and effective way when trying to raise the profile of the program?

��

CHALLENGE #2

Keeping staff and students engaged when moving classes from in-person learning to online learning. How many online resources become too many? During the COVID 19 pandemic how is a small private language school not only engage staff and students in an online virtual environment, but increase enrollment, maintain retention, and ensure student learning? At what point is online learning too much and how do you ensure ongoing engagement for each successive class?

Learn more about Calgary German Language School Society��by visiting their website.

Our main challenge is how to translate the environmental and social justice themes we highlight in the films we screen into ACTION. How can we encourage our audience to take action? How do we measure that? How will we know if what we do is making a difference? We educate our audience on global issues that show how connected we all are, but we always try to bring it back to local action. we want to empower people to take action at a local level, with a global level of awareness.

Learn more about��Calgary Justice Film Festival by visiting their website.

In order to redress the legacy of residential schools and advance the process of Canadian reconciliation, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission has made 94 calls to action. CCDI is looking to explore: How can newcomers to Canada continue their learning and education about Indigenous history to further support the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's Calls to Action 93 & 94?

CCDI has re-launched a brand new "See Different" program – a diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) training and certification program for youth between the ages of 15-24. As an organization offering DEI education to youth, how can we best engage youth to be future leaders in the DEI space? How might we overcome barriers to youth participation, learn more about the topics youth are most passionate about, and support youth in their growth beyond educational programs?

Learn more about��Canadian Centre for Diversity and Inclusion (CCDI) by visiting their website

CHALLENGE #1

CW4WAfghan engages in a program of advocacy efforts, mobilizing Canadians to promote the calls of the Afghan people for a ceasefire and the protection of women's rights in their current peace process. While the global pandemic has created challenges in terms of how we carry out our engagement work, we also see the shift to greater online engagement as an opportunity to reach new groups of potential supporters. We're looking for a team of students who can research and develop a social media strategy that will help us reach Canadian youth under 30, who are passionate about human rights and gender equality, and convert them into active supporters of our advocacy work towards gender inclusive peacebuilding.

��

CHALLENGE #2

CW4WAfghan works with local craftswomen in Afghanistan who supply us with fairly traded items including jewelry and pashmina scarves, which we sell to supporters in Canada as a form of social enterprise that funds artisans and our own programs. We are looking to make these artisan crafts available online and would benefit from support in the development of an online platform to showcase and sell these items and a marketing strategy that will ensure this venture succeeds.

As the humanitarian crisis worsens in Afghanistan, the challenge we face as Canadians is how to effectively advocate on behalf of Afghan citizens. The team of students will be challenged with the task to grow participation in our public engagement and advocacy efforts, focusing particularly on students. This will include sharing stories on instagram and other social media platforms, letter writing, and growing on-campus advocacy.

Learn more about Canadian Women for Women in Afghanistan by visiting their website.

The United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals are pushing us every day to focus on making the earth a better and safer place for all. As a company, we tackle challenges like climate change, sustainable building and responsible consumption and production head-on. We are currently looking for a strategic way to engage with consumer-facing brands to incorporate carbon-derived materials into their products. There are some companies that lead climate action in material choice, having products that are low-carbon or carbon-neutral, while others fall behind. It is understood that making adjustments to raw materials in a supply/production chain is a large decision that is tied to financial, logistic, and marketing aspects of a company. So, how can we best engage with these companies to bridge this gap?

The United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals are pushing us everyday to focus on making the earth a better and safer place for all. As a company, we tackle challenges like climate change, sustainable building and responsible consumption and production head on. We are currently looking to develop a expansion strategy and marketing for our modular production capacity through automated, modular carbon sequestration reactors. There are some companies that lead climate action in material choice, having products that are low-carbon or carbon-neutral, while others fall behind. It is understood that making adjustments to raw materials in a supply/production chain is a large decision that is tied to financial, logistic, and marketing aspects of a company. So, how can we best position ourselves as a viable option to help lower companies carbon footprint?

Learn more about Carbon Upcycling Technologies by visiting their website.

Physically Distanced Development: how can CAWST effectively support its partners and clients when travel isn't possible? CAWST is a Canadian charity and licensed engineering firm that addresses the global need for safe drinking water and sanitation by building local knowledge and skills on household solutions people can implement themselves. The COVID-19 pandemic has forced us to rethink the way we provide our services with online connections. But we are still learning how to effectively support when we can't physically be present to meet, train, assess, consult... We are looking for innovative ideas to improve our remote services provision.

Learn more about Centre for Affordable Water and Sanitation Technology by visiting their website.

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Centre for Newcomers has seen a surge in the number of service users needing support (basic needs for children and families), housing, community connections, etc. With this increase comes the need to have matching resources to sustain and maintain continued provision of service. Thus, the Centre for Newcomers has been trying to find different ways of creating an environment for inclusive philanthropy aimed at raising funds for our cause and at building a sense of community through community philanthropic efforts. This is where the team that will be working with us could provide some support. This challenge could simply be a development plan or an engagement plan.

Forced displacement related to disasters, including the adverse effects of climate change is a reality and among the biggest humanitarian challenges facing States and the international community in the 21st century (The Nansen Initiative, 2015). Between 2008 and 2014, a total of 184.4 million people [were] displaced by disasters caused by natural hazards such as floods, tropical storms, earthquakes, landslides, droughts, saltwater intrusion, glacial melting, glacial lake outburst floods, and melting permafrost (The Nansen Initiative, 2015).

We would like the team to create an educational campaign that teaches the public the impacts climate change has on different countries and how it causes the displacement of people. This campaign will also focus on the importance the Centre for Newcomers will play in receiving additional climate migrants and how communities need to start preparing for their arrival. Ideally the campaign will include communications materials that the Centre for Newcomers can distribute to a variety of audiences, including donors, politicians, community leaders, and the general public, and in different mediums, such as videos, photos, info graphics, and outreach emails, etc.

Calgary, a diverse and welcoming city, is encountering a critical housing affordability challenge that disproportionately affects newcomers who are striving to establish themselves. Many newcomers face barriers in accessing affordable housing, which can hinder their successful integration into the community. As future leaders and problem solvers, university students have the unique opportunity to advocate for market-based solutions that can uplift newcomers and address this pressing issue.

Task: Your task is to craft a powerful advocacy campaign that highlights the housing affordability crisis faced by newcomers in Calgary and advocates for the implementation of market-based strategies to enhance access to affordable housing. Your campaign should resonate with both newcomers and the broader community while inspiring change and promoting social inclusion.

Learn more about Centre for Newcomers Society of Calgary by visiting their website.

The Green Line LRT is the largest infrastructure project in Calgary's history. With $4.9 billion in unprecedented investments from the Government of Canada, Government of Alberta and City of Calgary, the Green Line Light Rail Transit will play a key role in shaping our city's future. This critical piece of our transit network will connect more communities to downtown, other LRT lines and our expansive bus rapid transit network, with ridership projected at 60,000 trips per day.����

In this very challenging economic environment and with a concerted focus on economic diversification in Calgary and across Alberta, there is a need to make balanced investment choices. ��How can the City of Calgary best strategically position the proposed Green Line as an essential economic driver for Calgary’s future? Looking at transit systems around the world, how does their impact compare to the current and proposed Calgary Transit system? What is the importance of public transit in building a world class city?����

We are seeking your assistance in providing a stakeholder outreach plan that will identify new opportunities to connect Green Line with Calgary’s economic future.����

To learn more about the City of Calgary visit their website.

For more information on the Green��Line:��

CHALLENGE #1

Over the past year, we have had to transition most of our services into an online model. While this has allowed us to reach some people we may not have, it has also presented us with a number of challenges. Some of the barriers have included safe access to technology, economic barriers, physical barriers and mental health barriers. As a result we have seen our attendance drop in half, with the impact largely seen on community building and the relationships that would form during conversations after the structured portions of our peer programs.

Challenge #1 is to��Create��a programming strategy for virtual community engagement and relationship building with existing and new clients.

��

CHALLENGE #2

We are hoping to build tools that help foster community in a virtual environment, that are mindful of the challenges our clients' experience. As restrictions lift, it is our hope that some of these tools could also be adapted into a hybrid model encompassing both virtual and in-person components.

Challenge 2 is to develop��a hybrid model for virtual and in-person programming in line with ongoing COVID-19 restrictions

CHALLENGE #1

Peer support groups connect people with shared lived experience together in a safe space. Peer support centers the individual as the expert of their lived experiences and needs. The shared lived experience builds empathy and trust between participants, providing a place where they can share experiences, resources, encouragement, and foster growth and hope. How can the Foundation engage volunteers and participants in a grassroots LGBTQ+ peer support group for international students?

��

CHALLENGE #2

Peer support groups connect people with shared lived experience together in a safe space. Peer support centers the individual as the expert of their lived experiences and needs. The shared lived experience builds empathy and trust between participants, providing a place where they can share experiences, resources, encouragement, and foster growth and hope. How can the Foundation plan for the long term sustainability of a grassroots LGBTQ+ peer support group for international students, given that university programs are transitional, which leads to high turnover in participation.

Challenge #1

End of the Rainbow Foundation connects sexually and gender diverse (SOGIE) people to volunteers to create: support groups and mentorship; match convention refugees to sponsor groups or ‘groups of five’; and ��provide language, employment, other training or educational services. The core work of the foundation supports 2SLGBTQ+ refugees, through private sponsorship of refugees, as well as other pathways of migration. With the ongoing Afghan and Ukraine responses, as well as tight rental markets in Calgary, it can take time to find safe long term housing for 2SLGBTQ+ refugees and refugee claimants. Safe homestays are identified households that are able to offer a temporary safe living space for someone until more permanent housing is found.

The challenge is to help us develop a plan to find, identify and build a database of potential safe homestays that refugees can be matched to when the need arises.

Challenge #2

End of the Rainbow Foundation connects sexually and gender diverse (SOGIE) people to volunteers to create: support groups and mentorship; match convention refugees to sponsor groups or ‘groups of five’; and ��provide language, employment, other training or educational services. The core work of the foundation supports 2SLGBTQ+ refugees, through private sponsorship of refugees, as well as other pathways of migration. Building volunteer "groups of five" is critical to the success of helping a refugee thrive in their new city, by providing ongoing support and helping introduce them to services, community and culture in their new neighborhood during the first 12 months post-arrival. ��It can be difficult to find sponsors who are sensitive to the needs of 2SLGBTQ+ refugees, or who are aware of how necessary providing refuge for 2SLGBTQ+ individuals is. With the current media spotlight on the migration of Afghans and Ukrainians, many other groups also seeking refuge are being overlooked.

The challenge is to develop a strategy to raise awareness of and to recruit volunteers for the sponsorship of 2SLGBTQ+ refugees.

LGBTQI+ people seeking refuge from outside of Canada often lack information or have learned misinformation about the process of migrating to Canada as a refugee, and the settlement in a specific host community. ��These inaccuracies can impact both the decisions made along the process of seeking asylum, as well as increasing the stress experienced while in-transit or while waiting for applications to be processed by the Resettlement Operations Centre in Ottawa (ROC-O). Even when working with the sponsor group in the host community, the sponsored refugee may still experience barriers to receiving accurate, timely and realistic answers to their questions around the process and options available while they wait for approval to migrate to the host community.��

The GCC student team is challenged to identify possible solutions to improve pre-arrival information for privately sponsored refugees, in the hopes that this will both lower stress while they are in transit countr(ies), and set more realistic expectations around the settlement process for LGBTQI+ privately sponsored refugees.

Learn more about End of the Rainbow Foundation by visiting their website.

��

The other criteria ECSC is very carefully looking at year over year is the average attendance per movie, which denotes the width of the outreach ECSC manages, within Calgarians with European heritage and the general movie lover public. From an average of 70 people per movie in the first edition, CEFF has grown slowly but steadily at one of 107 as of 2019. (With the 2020 edition being an online-only event, the numbers of viewers will not be added to the general stats) The ECSC has learned to expects a goal from a 10% increase year over year, showing a growing interest in the Festival from the Calgary arts and culture scene. The attendance numbers are a direct reflection of CEFF’s outreach to Calgarians. This is composed on the one side of promotion within each European Community which is done by the cultural Association representing it, and on the other by the paid advertisement at the city level done by ECSC through social media campaigns, radio ads, online and printed channels publicity, bridge banners, etc.; the latter being targeted at the general movie-loving Calgarians, disregarding their heritage.

Challenge: CEFF is unique in that the festival is community-based and films are selected by each participating European community in Calgary. This is one of the Festival's strengths. But at the same time, it is also a challenge as these communities are where most of the audience is coming from. Over the years we have been able to expand our audience reach but there is ample room for improvement. We would like to hear other ideas about how we could expand our audience beyond the European heritage communities in Calgary.

Learn more about the European Cultural Society of Calgary��by visiting their website.

Fig Tree Foundation is undergoing a process of renewal, in terms of deciding how best to achieve its mission and vision. One of the challenges being faced is around what services are being provided to our member organizations. In the coming months, we are redesigning our website, which will include a members-only section. Understanding what content would be most valuable in that section of the website is an important challenge. An improved understanding of that content will also help to inform the overall communications and education plan that will be used to support members.

Learn more about Fig Tree Foundation by visiting their website.

Immigrants arriving in Calgary face several barriers to integration. Many struggle in silence, unaware that resources exist to assist them with financial constraints or the rebuilding of employment connections. Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) announced the Government of Canada’s Immigration Levels Plan for 2021-2023. Canada aims to welcome 401,000 new permanent residents in 2021, 411,000 in 2022, and 421,000 in 2023. This challenge is made more complicated due to a lack of coordination between agencies during client intake, assessments, and referrals. Challenge: How are we going to unleash the economic, social, and civic potential of the record newcomers that will be arriving to Canada in the next 3 years (60% of them economic)?

Immigrant Services Calgary (ISC) is committed to ensuring Clients have a world-class experience accessing our services. ISC is currently in the process of renovating and rethinking its building design and how the client intake experience of accessing our building and services can best demonstrate our client centricity, put clients at ease, limit barriers to accessing services, and welcome immigrants and newcomers to our office space and Canada as a whole. The intake system at ISC, how clients are assessed and referred to internal and external programs, is fundamental to being client centric. This is why we would like to invite participants to explore how ISC can create a world class intake experience for our clients as part of our building transformation.

Learn more about Immigrant Services Calgary by visiting their website.

CHALLENGE #1

The COVID-19 Pandemic has propelled TIES into previously unknown territory in terms of its service delivery. Previously a non-profit where service delivery was primarily client-facing, we are now seven months into a period where 90% of our programs are delivered online via various platforms such as Zoom, and MS teams. The challenge for us now is to envision an operating environment post-pandemic. Will everything return to face to face delivery? Or should we retain a proportion of our operations and working environments via online and delivered remotely? What should TIES do to anticipate a post-pandemic world?

CHALLENGE #2

Settlement agencies like TIES struggle to find enough translation and interpretation services for its interactions with its clients. Regular translation services are costly, and informal translation and interpretation services using client family members can be stressful. Is there a way of building a network of volunteer translators and interpreters who can help settlement agencies with their clients?

Learn more about The Immigrant Education Society (TIES) by visiting their website.

Kleos is structured for local support of projects in developing countries, which allows individual projects to reach sustainability and self-sufficiency. Kleos is currently challenged with growing its support base here in Canada. An effective support base in Canada provides multiple benefits for Kleos including; the sharing of the impact of Kleos' work, increased publicity of Kleos activities, an increased donor pool, and new partnership opportunities. As a small, volunteer run organization, Kleos is limited in its reach, which limits both the impact and the sustainability of the organization.

Learn more about Kleos Microfinance Group Ltd. by visiting their website.

��

As we work toward providing access, one of the challenges is to identify where the need is. We work at looking for off-grid communities in two ways. 1. by communicating by word of mouth with local government agencies, other organizations and individuals. 2. With GIS with Peruvian open access and organization data. We think that there are opportunities to find more communities by expanding our two methodologies. Our challenges for the UCalgary teams are to assist us with the following:

CHALLENGE #1

Creating a digital communication (marketing) campaign to gain public support to find these communities.

��

CHALLENGE #2

Using technologies (machine learning AI) to analyze satellite images and find indicators of human populations, roofs, farms. We are also open to any student's suggestions and ideas, contributions to these challenges, since they could be highly impactful for the organization.

CHALLENGE #1

Develop a digital gift to thank our current loyal fan base and to capture more people that could be inspired by our work and values. Ideas for this could be like a short e-course such as digitizing our solar energy 101 course, and we are open to your ideas.

��

CHALLENGE #2

One part of our work is offering microfinance so families can acquire solar systems and transition from single-use batteries and candles. Because of the economic impact of Covid-19, some families are unable to complete their payments. This makes us unable to acquire more systems to serve other families. For the second challenge, we would like to launch a fundraising campaign, to help the families that cannot complete their payments to continue completing their payments.

Light Up the World (LUTW) is about to launch some projects where we work with satellite internet for remote communities. We would like to hear student research and proposals about what kind of online businesses or remote work people in these communities could pursue.

Learn more about Light Up the World by visiting their website.

What feels right is creating a collaborative/call & response writing/art project that travels from Loft 112 and goes 'into' communities and invites and celebrates those communities we want to know better through their stories. What could this look like? What could the campaign look like? Where would this project lead to in the end? This could be a city project or a global project.

Learn more about Loft 112 by visiting their website.

The Employment and Life Skills program is an empowerment process for immigrant women to increase their personal power through participation so that they can take action to improve their circumstances. The pre-employment program offers a series of workshops to help immigrant women plan and prepare for their future in Canada. The training provided builds confidence and skills in the areas of career planning, communication, assertiveness, Canadian business culture and accessing community resources. The program aims to support the women by providing them with the tools necessary to identify their skills, values and interests and effectively maneuver the Canadian workforce. Unfortunately, only about 30% of new immigrants access immigrant serving agencies and are unaware of the support we can provide them as they start their new lives in Canada. Therefore women struggle in their search for employment, lacking an understanding how to most effectively profile their skills, experience and talent with Canadian employers. Support from a team on how to best recruit applicants for the program would have a substantial impact on our ability to more effectively recruit candidates and offer more programs.

Making Changes supports women, those who identify as women, and teen girls in their pursuit of education and employment goals. ��Many of our clients are newcomers to Canada, and/or low income individuals. ��We currently have 4 programs, and are looking to expand our programming base -- both in adding new programs, and potentially offering programming outside of Calgary. ��However, we want to ensure we are providing programming and supports in areas of need that are not being fully met through other programming delivered by other non-profits. ��We're also looking to identify and strengthen our unique value proposition in the community. ��We have started researching programming in the region and need support to finish this research, collate the data, highlight potential gaps in services we could fill, share best practices or ideas from other communities around the world by other agencies serving women, and (time and group capacity permitting) help identify our unique value proposition.

Learn more about��Making Changes Employment Association of Alberta by visiting their website

Nature’s Ride is researching the sustainable management of municipal biowaste, namely food waste from the marketplace and homes. Open dumps comprising 50-80% organic matter are common in low-income countries, resulting in deterioration of human health from vermin-transmitted pathogens, polluted surface and groundwater, odour nuisance, and GHG emissions. The Black Soldier Fly waste treatment method, a low-cost sustainable biological waste treatment method, has been identified as a viable solution by Nature’s Ride. The Black Soldier Fly (BSF) treatment is a low-tech, power supply independent, minimal spatial requiring, economically viable biowaste technology for low-income locations. The method produces byproducts like larvae for animal feed and biofertilizers for agriculture, which has resulted in a growing private-sector industry. However, involving community groups (preferably female-led groups) is essential to manage the flow of increasing organic waste piles. The organization needs to create a strategy and an implementation plan to carry out and evaluate this idea’s environmental, social, and economic impact.

One cause of food insecurity in the rural communities of less developed countries is food wastage due to the lack of farm-based resources for food processing and preservation.

At the same time, in developed countries there is a lack of awareness of the prevalence and impacts of food insecurity and energy poverty in rural communities of less developed countries.

Our challenge is how to create awareness in Calgary through a Nature's Ride workshop focused on the resources provided by the Solar Shelter as a potential solution to farm-based food wastage in rural communities of less developed countries.

Attached��for your information is the infographic for the Solar Shelter.��

Learn more about��Nature's Ride by visiting their website

CHALLENGE #1

Background: In Calgary, during the Covid pandemic era we, as a community organization, have noticed an alarming trend in youth behavior such as a sudden rise in speeding incidents resulting in many deaths, their involvement in drugs, gang-related activities, addiction, etc.

It is critical that we, as a community, develop concrete and positive steps for such awareness to prevent further life-threatening incidents in youth. The first team is requested to take upon this challenge and develop a guideline on how to effectively bring this awareness amongst the youth.

��

CHALLENGE #2

We feel that there is a disconnect between the social realities of youth and their parents. Children have a different outlook and most of us are not able to adequately connect to them, and/or listen to their issues, and co-construct solutions. So, we would like one of the teams to suggest and recommend a suitable channel of communication to effectively interact with our youth (e.g., through religious and community leaders and/or through their educational institutions or through any other means).

Learn more about��Pakistan Canada Association by visiting their website.

Calgary and Edmonton are experiencing a wave of hate crimes. How can we reduce the spread of hate in our city and bring awareness especially to young people about the value of multiculturalism?

One of the most important challenges AQQA that we face at People for Progress Foundation (PFPF) is the connection between the why - this means whether it's in Kenya, Tanzania, or Canada (Calgary) is how to keep volunteers not only interested in the vision of the organization but include the greater purpose, of empowerment of what we do through our organization. We are looking for the WHY and connecting with others to continue to build relationships, network, support and empower those we work with and serve. We feel this is a great opportunity to have another perspective and brainstorming on how, when, where to expand and continue our success in empowerment through education and sustainability.

People for Progress Foundation is a small, volunteer led organization with a limited support base composed mainly of friends and associates of the President and Founder. Events are planned mainly around impressing this limited base and are organized by the volunteer Board members. This restricts growth; exhausts and overtaxes the Board members; limits potential fund raising and compromises sustainability. How can People for Progress Foundation expand its support base; explore and implement new ways of reaching people; increase its social media presence; recruit and maintain volunteers and incorporate new technology to promote, sustain and improve its programs to fulfill its mission and vision?

Learn more about��People for Progress by visiting their website.

The Salvation Army's goal is to help change the current image of The Greater Forest Lawn (GFL) area. The GFL has had a longstanding reputation of being 'dangerous' and a community where Calgarians outside of the community are reluctant to live or even visit.
The area is primarily residential and the majority of the homes are rentals. The population is a rich mix of different cultures and languages. Many newcomers settle in this area due to the lower cost of rent. The community wants the poor reputation to change, they are very proud of where they live and have created a very unique community. There is a strong desire to change the minds fellow citizens, business and organizations of Calgary with a message that emphasizes "come and appreciate our neighborhood, our culture, our food. There is a lot to celebrate here!".��

The GCC student team is challenged with devising an awareness strategy targeting "GFL outsiders" which showcases positive aspects of living and operating in the GFL.�� This strategy will aim to enhance the community's reputation and ultimately attract stronger investment of supports and amenities offered within the community.

Learn more about The Salvation Army by visiting their website.

Many individuals with intellectual disabilities living in group homes need to have physical activity to help with their overall wellbeing. SOCalgary is working on creating linkages with local group home and agencies through offering movement focused programming for individuals with intellectual disabilities, that they can take advantage of during the daytime.

The student challenge: is to design the how, when, and where aspects of a service which SOCalgary can provide for individuals in group homes, which will enhance their opportunity to engage in physical movement and easy sport.��

Learn more about The Salvation Army by visiting their website.

As USAY continues to develop supports for indigenous youth in navigating mental health struggles, they look to draw from their traditional teachings along with new approaches to healing, well-being, and connection.

The GCC student team is asked to research and present examples of successful cross-cultural practices in supporting youth with mental and spiritual healing, inclusive of traditional cultural ways and the role of modern medicine.��

Learn more about Urban Society for Aboriginal Youth by visiting their website.