UPDATE: We will be taking 1/2 hour of this #PolicyTalk event to deal with emergent threats to the sector from
- an upcoming proposal to de-fund Capital and Innovation Community Grants from 2025-2027
- ongoing erosion of trust between the sector and recent City Councils
“We can’t deeply collaborate, if we don’t start doing things together.”
～Participant, Policy Talk 2023
Policy Talks are how Pillar supports the network to work together on viable solutions to our sector’s and our community’s problems. In 2024, we are working together to assemble a BIG PICTURE of our sector and our community by combining and assembling our many stories like the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle.
In #PolicyTalk: DARK MODE, we’re gathering in the evening to make it easier for folks who’ve identified daytime meetings as a barrier, and we’re focusing on identifying the issues that challenge the sector, our organizations, our people, and the communities we serve.
You know this part already: Nonprofits and charities are facing spikes in demand for services while also navigating lower revenues, reduced volunteering, inflationary pressures on everything we need to do our work, and barriers to attracting, hiring, and retaining workers.
But had you also heard?
An increasing number of seniors are turning to the local food bank for food. They’re showing up among London’s unhoused, too.
Maybe you read about this?
Indigenous communities are losing access to traditional food after a SOAHAC pilot project ends.
Or this?
Londoners are feeling sticker shock this week as property tax bills with new increases arrive. Maybe you got one like that? If you're lucky enough to have a house, that is.
And what even is happening in London?
Someone stole pro-Palestinian signs from a London lawn and then set fire to the house in an act local activists fear is the latest in spiking hate crimes in 2024.
That’s just a sample of the week that was. And unless you’re impacted yourself by these stories – in your personal or work life – you’d be forgiven for forgetting the details as these stories fade from the local news cycle to be replaced by more bad news. And some good, sometimes, too.
So, how do we hold all the stories of our communities and our organizations long enough to get a BIG PICTURE of the sector and the region and start moving toward viable solutions.
For starters, we do it together. We hope to see you out for #PolicyTalk: DARK MODE!
Who should attend:
Policy Talks are for anyone.
We encourage senior leaders, board members, frontline workers, and concerned members of the community to attend so we can gather across roles, identities and sectors, break out of silos, and pool our collective knowledge, and focus our commitments to change.
