Join us for our upcoming Skill Practice Sessions. These are hands-on spaces to deepen your skills, strengthen your leadership, and grow the capacity this moment requires. Each session is an opportunity to root yourself in the key #organizing and #narrative practices in the People, Power, Change framework.

All sign up links here: https://leadingchangenetwork.org/events/?oa_social_media_ref=X

#skills #leadership #spanish #storytelling #stories

Please amplify @samgonzalez @ZebKing @Goxy @Jafrin

KWLOT: NEIGHBOURS WORKING TOGETHER

When people think of a library, they largely think of books. But the KW Library of Things (KWLoT), offers tents, sewing machines, mitre saws and more.  

Launched as a partnership with Extend-a-Family Waterloo Region (EAFWR) in 2018 by Wilfrid Laurier University graduate student Devon Fernandes, KWLoT’s catalogue has grown from 350 items to over 1,000 available to its 350 members. 

KWLoT has four membership tiers that offer different options for the number of items that can be checked out and the length of the loan. Annual memberships range from $50 for the base to $500 for the community builder membership, which covers the cost of three base memberships for other community members. 

The library was started as a school project by Fernandes, a community psychology student at Laurier working under Felix Munger in the psychology department. Fernandes was researching other community-based lending libraries and was searching for a host partner when they approached the team at EAFWR. 

EAFWR supports individuals with disabilities and others who face barriers by fostering connection and inclusion throughout the community. Al Mills, executive director at EAFWR, said the organization was a willing partner for the program. 

Mills said the program serves three purposes for the organization; promoting a sharing economy, providing paid and volunteer opportunities for people living with disabilities and leading a mission to be environmental stewards by keeping excess waste out of landfills.  

“For many of our members, we’re giving them access to things that they either don’t have the money to afford; they don’t have a space to store it, or maybe they only need it once a year,” Mills said. 

The KWLoT is managed by paid staff and volunteers, many of whom are supported by EAFWR and its programs. 

While the main benefit to members is reducing the need for multiple people to purchase the same items, Kim Sproul, KWLoT program manager, said that is only part of the program’s role in environmental stewardship. KWLoT offers volunteer-led repair clinics and workshops for people in the community who want to extend the life of an item, from electronics to clothing. 

“We have a local beauty of a human being named Murray Zink who works with the University of Waterloo’s UWRepairHub. He started bringing his volunteers, and you don’t just drop off your items. You sit with them as they repair it, and they’ll talk you through it and ask about the item and what it means to you,” she said. 

KWLoT received a grant from the Ontario Trillium Foundation in 2025 to hire additional staff as it expands its catalogue and workshops. Mills said the organization is also looking for environmentally motivated partners who can help support their work to reduce waste. 

As the organization enters its eighth year, Mills said they are still guided by their belief that “we’re better off together.” 

“Our goal is to be a community of belonging. KWLoT is a demonstration project of what it can be like when neighbours work together and share what they have,” Mills said. 

Should writers stay in one genre or explore them all? This essay looks at the real trade-offs behind that choice, from building a clear author brand to allowing space for creative growth.

Read the full essay on #Medium

Writing Across Genres vs. Staying Niche
an essay by Wendy Van Camp
https://medium.com/p/e448eb31f4be

#PoetryCommunity #writingcommunity #WritersLife #PoetryLovers #sfpoetry #bulletjournal #planning #organizing #writing #notebooks

Today In Labor History April 7, 1933: Prohibition ended for beer. Once again, unions could freely organize workers in the bars and workers could drink freely.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #organizing #prohibition #OscarWilde #union

Image of Oscar Wilde with the quote: "Work is the curse of the drinking classes"

Planning your communication using the ‘Message Triangle’

Draw yourself an equilateral triangle. The title of your presentation or article goes above the triangle. In the centre of the triangle, write your objective: what you are trying to achieve, or why you are communicating with your audience. You are not going to share this, but it will help you to remember your focus as you plan.

Next, along each side of the triangle, place your three ‘key messages’. These three should be broadly equally important.
have three facts or examples supporting each message as well: the ‘rule of three’ works throughout. These might be in the form of memorable quotes, statistics, personal anecdotes or stories, or analogies or metaphors. The ‘three Cs’ (colourful words, clichés and contemporary references) can be particularly helpful for experts speaking to a less knowledgeable audience. The real point is that you want your audience to remember these supporting facts, so it is worth thinking hard about how you structure them and the form that you use.
#activism #organizing #resist #mayday

Next up after No Kings? A May Day general strike · Two pilots ...

NEW YORK—In a one-two punch that sent shockwaves through C-Suites, Amazon’s embattled workers—many suffering from abominably low pay and facing a company threat to replace 600,000 warehouse workers with robots—won two major victories in their long wa…#labor #amazon #amazonlaborunion #newyork #nlrb #organizing #strike #teamsters
Back-to-back victories for Amazon workers