Community Philosophy Fosters Meaningful Connections

Continuing education by the community, for the community. 

Seeing a need to respond to the needs of a community constantly fluctuating and striving to cope with blinding and often confusing transition, Simon Fraser University’s Continuing Studies Department created the Philosophers’ Café. 

Meeting together throughout the lower mainland, the regular café gatherings are open to the public with no pre-registration. The environment is attractive to a diverse crowd of formal academics and academics of the heart. Each session is moderated by a pre-selected individual hailing from one of many universities or colleges. Topics have ranged from sex talk to poverty, politics to poetry, never shy on exploring the issues that strike us all at one time or another. 

The goal is simply to bring people together for one common purpose: To learn. It is a creative and innovative way to discover meaning in a manner that seems to always leave behind the byproducts of camaraderie, unity and enlightenment. 

Comfortable in casual surroundings, lifelong learners teach each other through the every day discussions about real life experiences. The Globe & Mail said “The Philosophers’ Café might be the most successful continuing education program in the country” (October 27, 2003) 

In a time when many are struggling to belong in our community in a meaningful way, the Philosophers’ Café series provides a unique circuit to build interpersonal connection. 

The next False Creek Community Centre edition of the Philosophers’ Café is on December 6^th at 7 pm. The topic is “The Art of Dying.” 

Philosophers’ Café

False Creek Community Centre, 1318 Cartwright St, Granville Island

Everyone welcome. No pre-registration required. Admission $5.

The Art of Dying Constantly relegated to a taboo status, the encounter of personal death is possibly the single most pressing and crucial moment of our existence. Can we face it straightforwardly? Joyfully? How? Further, how does society with its current values and customs help (or hinder) us to die peacefully? 

Moderator: Miguel Rodriguez is a writer and poet from Spain, currently residing in Vancouver with his partner and daughter, where they coordinate and live at a settlement house for refugee claimants. He has written numerous essays (long and short, but not very good ones he says) on many different topics, including Eastern and Western philosophy, religion, art and literature, politics, economics and science. He publishes periodically in a variety of journals and magazines.

New Court Model Finally Addresses Underlying Social Issues

We often hear influential opposition, activist and special interest groups speak mellifluous rhetoric calling on the government to solve the underlying social issues responsible for creating crime instead of simply penalizing more severely. Everyone knows that the true solutions to crime start with treating poverty, homelessness, addiction, mental illness, and the multitude of other influences.

The fact is that governments typically focus on solutions that will appear to have the greatest impact over a four year term while sacrificing real solutions because historically, without some visible changes in an electoral term, they won’t be around after that if they have nothing to show us. It is really the catch-22 of politics; any real change requires solutions with no immediate visible result, public outcry and no re-election yet band-aid solutions can get you re-elected (at least once) but provides no real solutions.

It’s like impulse voting. We elect our government based on instant gratification not sustainable policy. We’re like the addict just waiting for the next big hit while we sacrifice our future one quick pseudo solution at a time. Sometimes it seems like we set our own governments up for failure.

One new idea seems to be swimming up the proverbial political stream.

Projected to open in early 2008 is the new Vancouver Downtown Community Court. A first of its kind in BC, this justice initiative is intended to truly be the community’s court. It is envisioned as a major part of the solution to the crime problems of the Vancouver downtown core.

How is another justice initiative going to be different then typical band-aid solutions?

It sounds suspect…

This one really is different though…

Currently most offenders in the downtown core are repeat offenders. They are arrested multiple times each year and significantly affect the lives of all members of the community. The resources required to administer justice really outweigh the lack of effectiveness. These offenders are typically struggling with significant multiple barriers to being contributing member of the community. Many are immersed in poverty, homelessness, addiction, mental illness, a lack of employability skills and the list goes on. They are the ones referred to when we say “we need to find solutions to the contributing social issues to crime.”

Not only does it cost us in the delivery of justice but in most cases the same people are drawing on the social services coffers too. Traditionally, the cooperation between the justice system and all of the organizations and agencies is quite lacking. With such large gaps stemming from no collaboration it is no wonder so many fall through the cracks.

What is the difference with this Community Court? This court will see justice, health and social services coming together in an integrated case management model. They will work with a problem-solving approach; these services will provide a drastic improvement to our response to crime and subsequently to poverty.

Focusing on the big three (poverty, addiction and mental illness) this new endeavor will see three major benefits.

The first is a large increase in effectiveness and efficiency in the use of justice, health and social services. Better collaboration and integration of service delivery will allow resolutions to be developed on an individual basis. It will make available a far more complete solution that is centered on fostering the offender’s success.

Swifter resolutions as a result of efficient case management will lead to fewer court appearances. It will also provide the offender with solutions to their underlying needs quicker in a time when the window of their willingness to accept help is short. For the community, this second benefit will be visible by swifter accountability.

Innovative and solution focused sentencing will take into account the offender’s background, criminal history, health and social service needs. The real meat of sentencing will be in the method of significantly changing criminal behavior through balancing treatment of the underlying causes of crime wile also tackling the crime itself. This third benefit is really where we can see the attractiveness of this new initiative.

The court will not focus on big ticket federal offences. Most of what it will address is the offences that typically would be handled by provincial court. These crimes are pretty diverse and include property crimes, assaults, street dealing, etc.

Working together in support of the Vancouver Downtown Community Court will be:

• The provincial judiciary
• Ministry of Attorney General
• Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General
• Ministry of Employment and Income Assistance
• Legal Services Society
• Vancouver Coastal Health
• Forensic Psychiatric Services Commission
• BC Housing
• Public Prosecution Service of Canada
• Vancouver Police Department and
• The Defence Bar

This new initiative has instilled in me a whole lot of faith that government can find long term, creative and innovative solutions to social issues. Every human being has deep intrinsic worth and we as a community are responsible for recognizing this and nurturing in fellow members of our community. Justice is nothing without forgiveness and by coming together to solve an individual’s social issues we can begin to recognize true equality and inclusively while developing strong communities. By allowing the community to get involved in building real solutions to their local issues we can see true sustainability.

Social Enterprises: Solving Government Shortcomings

The bottom line typically refers to net income. Net income is the profit that an organization has after subtracting all costs and expenses from the total revenue generated by that company’s activities. In business, it is safe to say that this bottom line is the true measure of its success. The bottom line is what makes or breaks a company and it is arguably the primary motivating factor in capitalist society. 

The bottom line is also the driving factor in government. Cuts are never made to social or community programs on the basis of effectiveness. Even the least effective social programming serves a purpose. Government never “wants” to cut programs or funding either. Do any of us really believe that the powers that be are out to get us? It may appear that way on occasion but in reality governments typically are doing what they think is right; trying to juggle the degree of public outcry with meeting the bottom line of a budget that would cause equal outcry to miss.  

What’s a Government to do? Or the bigger question; what’s a Community to do? Some innovative thinkers, more and more, are creating new ways to both satisfy a bottom line and contribute to a social aim in a sustainable and effective way. One of these progressive ideas that is truly on the move is that of a Social Enterprise.

Social Enterprise

Social Enterprises focus on what is referred to as a triple bottom line. They not only deliver on the financial bottom line like every other enterprise, they also focus on a social and environmental bottom line. They do this by doing business that is congruent with a social purpose.

The Social Enterprise Alliance defines a Social Enterprise as: An organization or venture that advances its social mission through entrepreneurial earned income strategies. Organizations accomplish this in diverse ways including:

• Using profit from the business to support social aims such as the Salvation Army Thrift Stores.
• Accomplishing a social aim through its direct operation such as Ecoworks in Langley, BC.
• Working independently as a private business such as Working Assets.
• As an independent Not For Profit group or part of a bigger organization such as Above the Underground in the Fraser Valley.
• In partnership between both NFP and traditional business such as Future Foundations an Abbotsford, BC.

Social Enterprises are beginning to pop up on mass as our culture becomes more aware of the impact traditional business has on society. It is very common to see programs being funded in part by the Canadian Federal Government as Service Canada sees its way to support more skills development solutions to under and unemployment. Many of these are multiple organization partnerships like the Baristas Youth Skills Link Programs in Surrey and Burnaby, BC.

Pacific Community Resources, in partnership with the Surrey School Board and Starbucks Coffee Canada and with funding provided by Service Canada has developed the Baristas Program. The program intends “to provide youth with barriers to employment with employability skills and a dynamic work experience in Starbucks outlets, assisting with the attainment of exciting careers in the growing retail food service sector.” There are three ingredients that are key in giving youth opportunity they may not have gotten otherwise. The first is a six weeks of lifeskills and workplace success skills that help participants overcome barriers, and provide them with basic soft skills essential to maintaining gainful employment. In its second component, participants get to practice their learned skills on the job during nine weeks of work experience at a Starbucks location. Here they are given skills in the Retail Food Industry while gaining important experience that will help them when they move on to the open market. They are also provided with support as they conquer the barriers that have limited their success in the past. The third and final component is training and guidance in searching for sustainable employment. This final step gives participants the last piece they need to join the workforce.

More meaningful then simply employment, the Baristas Program fosters the development of strong and healthy self esteem in its participants. They empowered to step into the world and become responsible, productive members of the communities they are part of. In recognition of their efforts and the success of the program, the popular program was awarded the BC Career Development Award of Excellence 2004 by the Career Management Association of BC.

In a time when the bottom line is ever more important that the humans that make bottom line success achievable, the Social Enterprise movement is indeed a bright and shining light. They are increasingly more popular and employ a degree of inspiration through increasing innovation and creativity in building and developing sustainable community. As we accept the growing inability for government to provide all required community supports, we are driven to look for new ways to find solutions to community challenges. Social Enterprises give us this solution and their limits are only restrained by the constraints of ones own creativity.