• Browse Alumni & Current Participants

Next Up is a growing network of social change leaders across western Canada. The program is a partnership between several organizations with region specific partnerships that help make the program happen in each region.

Each region has it’s own Advisory Committee made up of great people in that community who are working to make a better world. Advisory committee members come from community organizations, the public and private sectors, not-for-profits and trade unions. The amazing people on the advisory committee’s volunteer their time to help with program design and delivery in their region and to help make community connections between participants and leaders in the community.

 

Seth Klein, Co-founder & Instructor with Next Up

Seth was hired to open the CCPA’s BC Office in 1996. Under his direction it has become a prominent and widely respected source of public policy research and commentary. Seth’s research deals primarily with welfare policy, poverty, inequality and economic security. His most recent publications are A Poverty Reduction Plan for BC (with Marjorie Griffin Cohen, T Garner, Iglika Ivanova, Marc Lee, Bruce Wallace and Margot Young) and Working for a Living Wage (with Tim Richards, Marcy Cohen and Deborah Littman). A social activist for over 20 years and a former teacher, Seth holds a BA in international relations, a BEd from the University of Toronto and an MA in political science from Simon Fraser University.

Seth is a founding board member with the Vancouver-based Centre for Native Policy and Research. He is also co-chair of the BC Poverty Reduction Coalition, an advisory board member for the Columbia Institute’s Centre for Civic Governance, a board member of the Canada Without Poverty Advocacy Network, and an advisor and instructor for Next Up, a leadership program for young people committed to social and environmental justice. Seth has been listed by Vancouver Magazine as one of the 50 most powerful people in the city, and by Homemakers Magazine among the “60 men we love.” He does not know how he ended up on either list, but he humbly accepts the latter.

genius board (global youth education network)

Emily Jubenvill

Emily Jubenvill is working to build community and grow healthy fresh vegetables and a thriving local food system through her work as Community Coordinator with the Edible Garden Project. The Edible Garden Project is developing and strengthening a local network of people growing and sharing food, building skills, and increasing access to growing space for marginalized urban communities on the North Shore. Emily is also working to develop awareness and policies for a green economy as Coordinator for GreenJobs BC, a coalition of labour and environmental organizations working for good green jobs that are socially equitable, ecologically responsible, and result in GHG emission reductions. She enjoys working collaboratively to bring fresh ideas to the table, innovative ways to engage with people, and hope to communities – this is just one of the reasons why she loves supporting the work of genius.

Kyla Epstein

Building on her degree in Political Science and International Development Kyla has worked for social justice in both Canada and Guatemala. Kyla has worked in and learned from the for- and not-for-profit worlds and hopes both have benefited from her organizational know-how and her uninvited opining. Kyla is an active volunteer having served on many governance boards including Check Your Head, PEDAL and Kiwassa St. David’s Preschool. She currently serves as a Board Trustee for the Vancouver Public Library and sits on genius’s wonderful board supporting Next Up & Get Your Vote On.  When not doing all that she works full-time as the Communications & Development Director for CoDevelopment Canada and plays lego with her fantastic son Max.

Catherine Ludgate

Bio coming…

 

See also members of the Next Up program coordinating team in the ‘About’ section >>