Institute for Community Prosperity at Mount Royal University’s Post

🎉Celebrating Campus Changemakers🎉 Join us on October 10, 2024, at 4:00 PM in the Ideas Lounge at the Riddell Library & Learning Centre, Mount Royal University to Celebrate Campus Changemakers. In 2023, Mount Royal University renewed its designation as an Ashoka Changemaker Campus. This designation highlights the university’s commitment to campus-wide changemaking activities and social innovation education. Speakers for the event include Connie Van der Byl (AVP of Research, Scholarship and Community Engagement); Lena Soots-Haley (Executive Director of the Institute for Community Prosperity); John Fischer (AVP of Office of Indigenization and Decolonization); and Dr. Natalie Meisner (Director of Changemaking). There will be an opportunity to learn about the incredible changemaking work that is being taken on by Mount Royal faculty, staff, students, and alumni. Everyone is a Changemaker. This event is open to the entire #MRU community, including faculty, staff, students, and alumni. We ask that anyone interested in attending please RSVP at the Eventbrite page. Food and beverages will be provided. Register here: https://lnkd.in/gN4cVx3x —  What is a #changemaker? A changemaker is someone who envisions a better world and works with others to bring that vision to life. Changemaking happens in both big and small ways. Changemaking is not just about what you do, but how you do it — the attention to relationships, empathy, curiosity, inclusion, humility and equity. Mount Royal University is a community of changemakers.

🎉 Exciting Leadership Announcement! 🎉 We are thrilled to announce that Lena Soots-Haley, formerly the Director of Trico Changemakers Studio, will be stepping into her new role as the Executive Director of the Institute for Community Prosperity (ICP) at Mount Royal University! For those who’ve followed our journey, you know the Studio and the Institute have been long-time collaborators, working hand-in-hand on systems change, social innovation, and changemaking. Now, Lena will be leading the exciting amalgamation of Studio and ICP programming under the ICP umbrella, creating new opportunities for impactful work. While the Studio will remain a hub for changemakers—students, faculty, and community partners alike—with workshops, meeting spaces, events, and gathering spots, this transition marks an incredible opportunity to deepen our systems learning, leadership development, and community engagement. Stay tuned for more updates in the coming months as we embark on this exciting journey!

The human spiderweb activity yesterday was fascinating—a powerful way to bring to life the creation of the human spider web and the Ani-to-pisi vibrations. It served as a meaningful lesson, reminding us to take the spirit and teaching of the Ani-to-pisi' teaching of responding to community's "vibrations" into our community practices and engagements. Deep thanks to Roy Bear Chief, Hayden Melting Tallow, Stephen Price, and others at Mount Royal University for hosting such a resonant community event. --- The Ani-to-pisi creation story goes "Everything has spirit and knowledge before our lives mean. We are all related. Speaking of systems and how they work [reminiscent of] the story 'Ani-to-pi-si'...The Creator instructed Ani to wrap the world with people and bring it down here. The Creator left a spiderweb with the people, saying, 'If there are any problems or issues, the web will vibrate, signaling me to come and help.' The people were then told to pattern their lives after Ani-to-pisi, which means to stay close together, support each other, and help one another. This is the essence of systems thinking: when there is a vibration under the system, it signifies a need for assistance. We must ask questions like: Where is the vibration? What causes the vibration? What resources do I have to address these vibrations?" - Roy Bear Chief