Next Up

During our orientation in October, we asked participants to share what they're excited to learn and share in their Next Up year. Here's what a few of them had to say.

"When I first heard of the Next Up program, immediately I knew it was something I was very interested in. Working in the social services field I have been witness to many of the injustices that many marginalized people face on a regular basis. Reading more into the Next Up program, I knew this was a perfect beginning point for me to engage in actively making changes within the system. I am excited to meet likeminded people, build my network, and begin learning about how to make effective changes in a very broken system. I am looking forward to starting this journey and am grateful for this opportunity!" Samantha Harris

"I have always had a dream of fighting injustice in my society. Being a black woman, I have seen my people deprived of so many opportunities. I wanted to be a fighter but I did not have the weapons to fight; which is why I joined Next Up. I joined this leadership program so I could sharpen my skills and develop the necessary skills needed to fight for my people. I believe that this is the start of something new for me and that this program would help me to better make a change in the society." Anjolaoluwa Obafisoye

"When I read the words 'progressive leadership' I knew Next Up was something I had to be a part of. I am so excited to be a part of a group of likeminded individuals looking to effect change in areas of social justice and environmentalism. Through Next Up, I hope to make lasting connections with fellow progressive change makers in my community. My activism centers around LGBTQIA issues and intersectional feminism and I want to learn how to inspire and motivate people to rally around a movement or cause, skills I look forward to learning through Next Up." Juliana Perez

Calgary’s program started with Orientation over October 14, 15 and 17th with our 8th Cohort. This year there are 14 participants. We’ve made a few changes to the structure of the program in response to evaluation and guidance from the Calgary Advisory Network. This year we’re wrapping up in April. We’ve also moved away from our monthly Saturday sessions in favour of 4 full weekend sessions. We’re looking forward to some deeper immersive learning spaces over those two days. In other changes, we’re now meeting for Tuesdays at the Offices of the Alberta EcoTrust Foundation, who also happens to be a funder for some of Next Up’s Alberta programs. CommunityWise is still our location for weekend sessions, and our annual Community Connection. There’s no way we’d ever want to have a potluck anywhere else.

This year’s cohort has a wide range of interests and experiences and has already demonstrated a keen interest in participatory learning, and a willingness to tackle difficult conversations around justice and privilege. Our Advisory Network has reconvened to help make ongoing evaluation more transparent, accessible and accountable to all. They’re also helping out with fundraising plans, and in the redevelopment of some of the sessions. This year will see the return of our peer mentoring program, which has been capably organized by Jolene and Amy for quite a few years. This year, we’re looking for one or two folks to take over it’s coordination. All Calgary grads, supporters and donors are invited to be a part of the Advisory Network’s ongoing program support. Contact the Coordinator if this interests you.

Finally, a number of the cohort will be travelling to the far northern realm of Edmonton, where we’ll be volunteering (and socializing with our NU Edmonton pals) at the Parkland Fall Conference. We’re kind of excited with the conference title (Collapse: Neoliberalism in crisis), and are glad that this day has arrived, seriously, the speaker line up is great! We hope to see many friends over that weekend.

Stay tuned to our next Next Update - we’ll be reaching out for community support to organize and run Community Connection 6.

All the best to everyone for the fall and approaching winter.

Mike Byerley

Next Up Calgary & Climate Leadership Program Coordinator.

We are very pleased to welcome the 14 amazing young people who make up our new cohort, Next Up Edmonton 9!

The new cohort has a wide variety of experiences. Some people are working on climate change and creating a just energy transition, others are organizing around police accountability. Some people work in public health and some people work in schools. Some spend their days writing policy, others organize protests. Some use the arts to create change, others focus on research and hard facts. Some concentrate on local issues and others have done work internationally. Everyone in the cohort is creating progressive change.

We began our year with three days of Orientation. Everyone was very excited to meet each other and get to know one another. We were also joined by some alumni who helped facilitate the weekend - big thanks to Claire Edwards (NUE6), Damien Lechat and Taylor Rubin (NUE7), and Jamie Zarn (NUE8) for joining us!

The cohort spent the weekend talking about ideas of leadership, how we work in groups, and where our comfort zones are. We learned some theories on how change happens and some tools to help us make it happen. We looked at the different roles we all play in social movements and talked about the ways our work supports each other. We shared our stories, talking about where we come from and why we do the work that we do. We also shared a delicious potluck lunch!

It was a powerful weekend that laid a solid foundation for the cohort to learn and grow together over the next seven months. 

Do you have a great idea but aren't sure where to go with it?

Next Up, The Stand Community Organizing Centre, and Strong Roots Consulting are offering personalized coaching and support to individuals or organizations working toward social, environmental or economic justice. If you're needing a sounding board, insight, ideas or advice on strategic planning, evaluation, workshop design, social media, or anything else that will move your ideas to action, we may be able to help.

Contact [email protected] to start the conversation.

On October 18^th our friends at Saskatoon Open Door Society [SODS] are holding their biannual Volunteer Fair, where organizations from across the city will be offering exciting volunteer opportunities, ranging from informal drop-in volunteering to longterm committed volunteering.

Next Up will be there too and we'll be hosting a board membership nook, with a collection of current and upcoming vacancies on local organizations' boards for you to consider joining. If your own organization is recruiting board members and you’d like to be included in our collection of boards seeking members, please fill out this brief survey for us. For more info about SODS, check out their website. 

We are excited to announce our speakers lineup for this year's Indigenous Youth in Action BC. Over four days, we're bringing together some incredible presenters to impart wisdom, share some skills, and inspire. 

This year, we welcome as guests and facilitators:

Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, who is currently serving his 5th 3-year term as President of the Union of BC Indian Chiefs. He also serves as chair of the Okanagan Nation Alliance. He served as Chief of the Penticton Indian Band for 14 years. In 2006, the Okanagan Nation presented him the honourable title of Grand Chief in recognition of his lifetime devotion to the defense of Indigenous peoples' title and rights.

sχɬemtəna:t, St’agid Jaad, Audrey Siegl, an independent activist from the unceded lands of the Musqueam. She has been active on grassroots environmental and social justice-political frontline movements. Audrey has worked on raising awareness on MMIW, Downtown Eastside issues including housing, the Fentanyl crisis, and displacement. She has worked to highlight the connections between extractive industry projects and violations of First Nations, land and human rights.  

Shane Pointe, proud member of the Point family and equally proud member of the Coast Salish Nation. As a member of the Musqueam Indian Band, Shane uses his knowledge of language, culture and ceremony to help his family, community and many others from around the world to come to a balance. Shane's motto is "Nutsamaht." (We are one.)

By now, you probably know that Next Up turns 10 this year! The program was started in Vancouver in 2006 with the belief that that we must support young leaders if we are to find solutions to our collective challenges.

We believe in the importance of this mission now, more than ever.

Over the summer, we sent out a short survey to Next Up alumni and asked our grads to reflect on their experience, tell us about their work now, and voice their feedback and input on the program.

Next Up began our very first year of programming in Regina (Treaty 4 territory) on November 5 & 6, 2016, a week after the Saskatoon (Treaty 6 territory) program began its 7th year.

The first ever Next Up Regina cohort poses outside Heritage Community Association where their meetings will be held. 

  In both Regina and Saskatoon, Next Up is trying out a new format for our programming in Saskatchewan this year, which consists of six full weekends of training over the course of the six-month program, in lieu of the weekly evening sessions in our usual programs. We began our orientations with prayers and words from Elder Marjorie Beaucage in Saskatoon and Life Speaker Noel Starblanket in Regina. In both cities, we also participated in a process created by Marjorie Beaucage called A Medicine Wheel for the Indian Act, which consists of learning and sharing about colonial history and our experiences with it. The weekend also consisted of learning about social change theory and building skills for hosting sessions. 

 See our website in December for a photo of our newest Saskatoon cohort.