Mini Summit 2026!
On Wednesday, June 24 and Friday, June 26, CDLI hosted its two-day Mini Summit, with virtual sessions held on Wednesday and in-person sessions taking place on Friday at Carya Village Commons. Community development practitioners came together across both days to engage with this year’s theme, “Exploring supports and locating impact in community development work.”
We were joined by a diverse group of hosts and facilitators who led interactive, hands-on workshops designed to ground learning in real-life practice. Across both the virtual and in-person spaces, participants were invited to reflect on the relationships, resources, and systems that support their community development work, while also engaging in meaningful dialogue and practical learning they can carry forward into their communities and work.
To continue building on the learning from the Mini Summit, an online shared space and Summit Workbook were created for attendees to capture key takeaways, resources, and contact information shared by session hosts and fellow attendees following each session.
Recordings of the virtual sessions are now available below and on YouTube to support continued learning from this year’s Mini Summit.
Key takeaways that might inspire you from in person sessions are summarized here. If a session had both in person and virtual options the key takeaways are summarized in the YouTube posting.
“Overall, I enjoyed my experience. Thank you for the hospitality and the facilitated workshops and sessions. I am leaving with knowledge gained surrounding community resources and happy to have made some connections with others who attended as well.”
“Community development is incredibly diverse and principles can be applied within various fields/organizations.”
Localizing Impact with project design, Development and ImplEMENTATION
This session was hosted by Chantal Eves. View the session below.
Viewers will be exploring insights on how the Building Connected Communities (BCC) project team has structured systems and designed approaches for navigating the complexity of operationalizing a short term, deeply relational social project. The BCC team shared the approaches used in project development and team building while embedding decolonial practice into workplace culture.
The Power of a pilot
This session was hosted by Kenzie McRae. View the session below.
Viewers will be exploring the potential of community-led placemaking initiatives in fostering community connections and resilience. Work through an ideation exercise and envision ways to build community capacity by piloting fresh ideas.
Belonging First: Through dignity & Respect in volunteerism
This session was hosted by Nitu Sultana. View the session below.
Viewers will be exploring how volunteer engagement systems can unintentionally reproduce exclusion, racial harm, and barriers for Indigenous, Black, racialized, and newcomer volunteers. Using the Iceberg Model and a Belonging First approach, participants will reflect on how discrimination shows up beneath the surface of volunteer systems, and explore how organizations can redesign volunteer engagement through dignity, relationship, and equity.
More than Metrics: Understanding the change you create
This session was hosted by Sammy Abdullah and Thana El-Sallabi. View the session below.
Viewers will be exploring how to move beyond metrics to make meaning of the impact they are already creating, even when working with limited or difficult-to-use data. Through interactive activities, they will learn how to interpret what they have, cultivate storytelling within their communities, and communicate their impact in ways that resonate with funders and partners.
Gratitude
Mini Summit is hosted by CDLI in collaboration with volunteer session hosts, planning working group and those who recorded sessions as well as documented key takeaways. Thank you for all your work!
If you found Mini Summit as a valuable learning opportunity and would like to be more hands on for the next one, please consider joining the working group and help shape Mini Summit 2027! Contact us at cdli@caryacalgary.ca for more information!
“Being able to come to a place like CDLI, and feel understood and able to share the good and the bad is bolstering.”