Mobilizing

Collective impact

3 Advisory and Collaborator Groups

Collective Impact demonstrates that large-scale social change comes from well-executed cross-sector coordination rather than from isolated interventions by individual organizations.

Groups can create innovative roadmaps for collaboration by prioritizing alignment, positionality, communication, shared values, and intentionality from the outset. Our Reskilling Retail Workers Project, the Alumni Council, and Employer Advisory Council are examples of cross-sector advisors driving change and impact.

We strengthen VFC’s community engagement efforts by impacting national innovation ecosystems, regional communities, unique employers, and young Canadian changemakers.

We deeply value the time of the individuals on each committee:

Reskilling Retails Workers Steering Committee

Reskilling programs often miss their mark due to a lack of collaboration across exit (retail) and entry (technology) industries.

We launched a Collaboration-Impact Framework building a Steering Committee of a dozen people for our Reskilling Retail Workers project.

The project’s collaborators include organizations that play a vital role in supporting retail workers from various angles, ensuring that we can influence the exit and entry sectors and those in between.

Ali Jaffer • Generation

Colleen Tapen • Volunteer Dana Stephenson • Riipen

Dana Tessier • Shopify

Diane Brisebois • Retail Council of Canada

Matthew McKean • Business + Higher Education Roundtable

Nisa Malli • previously at Brookfield Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship

Sonya Meloff • Sales Talent Agency

Tanya Chung-Tiam-Fook • Centre for Indigenous Innovation and Technology

Christopher Delledonne • Director, Human Resources – Residential Services, Mobility, The Source & Brand, Bell

“Every phase of the project was expertly organized, inclusive, and prioritized the lived experiences of marginalized communities. VFC’s ability to view the big picture while paying close attention to the details makes them a valuable partner to activate change.”

Tanya Chung-Tiam-Fook

Centre for Indigenous Innovation and Technology

“Their partner impact framework has enabled us to bring our respective stories, strengths and experiences to contribute to more attuned and enduring outcomes for youth and the innovation sector.”

Chi-Chi Egbo, Director

Employer Advisory Council

We mobilized an Employer Advisory Council of engaged, like-minded leaders from 8 Provinces to address evolving talent and training labour force needs proactively. Committed to driving innovation, inclusivity, and diverse youth engagement in Canada, they provide feedback on the launch of new programs and revenue initiatives to enhance the quality of VFC’s programs and practices.

David Alston • TimberTop + MarketSwell

Brianna Blaney • Envol + Pocketed + DeepND

Denis Carignan • PLATO Testing

Ryan Cawley, SpryPoint

Aaron Genes, SaskTech + Siemens

Joshua Green, Mysa

Shani Gwin, pipikwan pêhtâkwan

Jennifer Lennox, Alcumus

Sally Ng, The Triple Effect

Valerie Song, AVA Technologies

Fiona Lake Waslander, Opendoor

Alumni Council

In its third year, The Fellowship Alumni Council oversees the Venture for Canada Alumni network and initiatives, Alumni participation in VFC programs, and the Alumni Summit. This year, the council created two new seats, including a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and Angel Investor Director. The council provides strategic input and feedback to the Venture for Canada programs and partnerships teams. In 2021, they launched a mentorship program and designed an Angel investor program framework. To drive sustainable program engagement, the Alumni Council is, at its core, for the community, by the community.

Alexandra Baccellieri • 2018 Fellow

Andrew Kim • 2015 Fellow

Annika Lui • 2018 Fellow

Christoph Fischer • 2018 Fellow

Connor Frankenberger • 2019 Fellow

Kathleen Eva • 2018 Fellow

Sam Daviau • 2015 Fellow

Removing Barriers