When I can make a difference?

Winnipeg Citizens' Coalition Workshop Announced

Citizens Matter!
You are invited to an event sponsored by the Winnipeg Citizens' Coalition
"Community Organizing for a Better Winnipeg"

When: March 10, 2010 at 7:00pm
Where: Collège universitaire de Saint-Boniface, 200, avenue de la Cathédrale, Winnipeg
Room 2322

Join us to help plan the foundation for the October municipal election.
This event will be facilitated by the Columbia Institute. www.columbiainstitute.ca
Please R.S.V.P. if you wish to attend or should you have any questions or concerns please contact David Jacks at campaigns@cfsmb.ca

Winning Winnipeg!

Dear members of the Winnipeg Citizens' Coalition.

It's been quite the week.  Bobbi and I wanted to give you the highlights and some idea of what we have planned for the WCC.

First we had our Annual General Meeting. There were a lot of new faces in the room- in fact 80 percent of the people there signed up as new members and collectively the WCC took in over $1,000 in memberships!

And then, unbeknownst to us, Judy Wasylycia-Leis hits the front page with her ponderings about running for mayor. The WCC responded by saying it was a positive development. There may be more potential candidates to stick their toe in the water yet! This is a sign that our City Hall isn't working for the citizens.

Make sure you check out our website at www.ourwinnipeg.org to see all the media on the AGM and the week's developments.

The City of Winnipeg Called

I received a bizarre phone call at my work (BUILD - warmupwinnipeg.ca) on Friday from a Marc Lemoine of the City of Winnipeg. The message said that he was looking for more information on the inner-city agency that I work for. This was the FIRST and only phone call I'd ever received from the City in all my time here and it came a day after my name was in the paper - so I was none-the-less intrigued! I called him back.

He said he was Deputy Clerk for the City and confirmed for me that he was a civil servant. He said he was doing some due diligence on BUILD. I thanked him for the interest in the organization and informed him that the City put zero dollars into BUILD so he could rest easy. Our funders had all the audited financial statements, budgets, AGM minutes that they'd ever need. He kept pressing. He said his office does due diligence before checks are cut. "But you don't fund us," I said curiously. That didn't seem to matter.

He said maybe the City was going to fund us, I told him that was odd because no one from the City had been in contact with us. I asked him if his office had ever reviewed a grant application. He responded with a "no sir."

He stated that he had combed our website (which takes a while!) and commented that  “it looks like a great program that does lots of good things for ex-gang members and others that have a tough time being employable.”  At BUILD, we insulate low income houses too - a real contribution to our once fair city.

So why was a high ranking Civil Servant calling me, from an office that had nothing to do with funding community groups, on the day after my name and occupation are in the paper  AND ALL THIS ON WORK TIME THAT IS PAID FOR BY THE CITIZENS OF WINNIPEG? BUILD has been in the news a lot over the last couple of years, and the City didn't call. Why now?

"Marc," I said. "Who asked you to call me?" No answer. I asked three times before the call was through. He never did answer my question.

Is this the City Hall we want?  Vindictive. Narrow minded. Secret. Inappropriate use of tax dollars? Isn’t it time for a change?

Sam -if you'd like to know more about us you're welcome here any time.  We'd be glad to give you a tour.

WHAT ATTENTION WILL THE OTHER MEMBERS OF THE COALITION EXECUTIVE RECEIVE FROM HIGH RANKING OFFICIALS AT THE CITY??? WE WILL LET YOU KNOW.

What Next?

Our Executive has some meetings coming up.  We're organizing a workshop for March (stay tuned for date).  Town Hall meetings.  And a few other tricks up our sleeve.

Most immediately though - we're asking you to do one thing to help strengthen the WCC - Please invite ALL your friends to hit our facebook site here so we can keep in contact with people.  Ask their friends to tell their friends...The more the merrier.  Tell them we are a "coalition of community builders" and we want a vibrant and beautiful city - a greener, fairer, and safer city.  As Bobbi coined on the weekend:  "a Winning Winnipeg!"

AGM – Great Start!

The AGM was a great success! It was standing room only!

Thanks to all who came out for your support and interest in making Winnipeg a better place to live. Thank you to Charley Beresford of the Columbia institute for taking time to come and her presentation on how to run a successful  municipal campaign.

Congrats to our new Board!

Co-chairs- Bobbi Ethier and Shaun Loney

Treasurer - Rob Plohman

Secretary  - David Jacks

Board Members- Liz Ambrose

Shaneen Robinson

Blake Crothers

George Bouchard

Liam Martin

Vicki Burns

The October election is coming up and there is much work to be done but with the support that has been shown so far, We Can make the Difference!