Community building

An impersonal decision-making process excludes communities whose stories need to be heard.

Solidarity has long been a standing principle of social justice advocates, but in the face of the current crisis of inequality and the concentration of power and money, solidarity is an essential ingredient of change. This was the message at a day-long workshop the Power Lab recently convened with a multitude of organizers, from public transit activists based in Scarborough to community benefits advocates based in Jane-Finch, on how to strengthen our collective fight for fair economies.

For Black History Month, the Institute launched a policy series highlighting bold policy solutions in order to tackle anti-Black racism, focusing on the need for intergovernmental action. Each submission proposes a plan for governments to work together to tackle a problem; while serving as a guide for advocates working towards [what should be] our collective effort to eradicate anti-Black racism.

For Black History Month, the Institute launched a policy series highlighting bold policy solutions in order to tackle anti-Black racism, focusing on the need for intergovernmental action. Each submission proposes a plan for governments to work together to tackle a problem; while serving as a guide for advocates working towards [what should be] our collective effort to eradicate anti-Black racism. 

For Black History Month, the Institute launched a policy series highlighting bold policy solutions in order to tackle anti-Black racism, focusing on the need for intergovernmental action. Each submission proposes a plan for governments to work together to tackle a problem; while serving as a guide for advocates working towards [what should be] our collective effort to eradicate anti-Black racism. 

The announced General Motors closures have shown us that we need to explore a new industrial strategy, where public investments gives equity in companies, and where public control can help us preserve manufacturing, and direct it toward just social and environmental outcomes. Above all, we have to realize that it is the people, and not the corporations, who should make the economic decisions which affect them in their daily lives.   

Introducing the Power Lab, led by Broadbent Institute’s Director of Leadership & Training, Alejandra Bravo.

This Labour Day solidarity takes on a renewed importance and our work as progressives acquires a new urgency. Over the summer, white nationalist and racist right-wing mobilizing turned deadly in Charlottesville, Virginia as the ideology of hate grows increasingly visible across North America. Here in Canada, that same ideology led to the massacre of six men at prayer in a Quebec City mosque at the hands of an Islamophobe.

Maria Elena Durazo will be sharing lessons and inspiration from her decades-long work to transform LA at Progress Summit 2017. Early Bird tickets are available until February 28, 2017.

Durazo is currently running for a Vice-Chair of the Democratic National Committee jointly with Keith Ellison, who was endorsed by Bernie Sanders to be the next chair of the DNC.

Today California - and Los Angeles in particular - stands out as the frontline of resistance to Donald Trump’s regressive agenda and as an incubator of progressive change. But this has not always been the case. It took decades of dedicated hard work by the labour movement and community leaders to raise expectations and create aspirations while scoring real, incremental, wins. At the heart of this transformation and of today’s fortress California, is Maria Elena Durazo, an innovative labour leader from LA.

On September 22, 23, the Broadbent Institute hosts its first Progress Summit BC in Vancouver. In the lead up, the Institute is publishing a series of blog posts from speakers and staff.

It was three years ago after our first national Progress Summit - where dozens of British Columbians travelled across the country to convene with other progressives - that we began to dream about a BC-based gathering.