Meet people where they are and invest in concrete relationship development practices
Programs
We bring diverse people, communities, and organizations together to address major societal challenges and create a more just, inclusive, and broadly prosperous Montréal.
What we do
Invest in dynamic, alternative, and creative experiments to work better together
- Through our participatory governance model, engage members of the community and university in all levels of decision-making at SHIFT from a non-hierarchical approach
- Host events and provide learning opportunities to promote shared power
- Conduct evaluations and engage in other experiments that attempt to go against traditional ways of working, including always compensating our contributors for their time
Engaging in teaching & learning around social transformation
- Facilitate and organize conversations relevant to community and university alike that showcase the incredible work of our partners
- Provide paid experiential learning opportunities for Concordia students through our Internship program
- Give trainings and publish resources to support the growth of our partners and wider community
Directly support existing and emerging social transformation initiatives
- Provide funding and grants that support the growth and sustainability of our partners
- Provide coaching and hands-on support to teams and organizations
- Connect our partners to other resources or help them in knowing where to look
- Provide access to a free community space where our partners can host their own meetings and events
- Advocate for our partners with power holders inside and outside the university
Stay up to date on what SHIFT is doing
How we work
Look for affinities and act as a concierge to connect and facilitate collaboration between projects, people, resources, and opportunities across boundaries
Prioritize projects and activities that are responsive to, relevant for, and led by community
Democratize knowledge-making and recognize diverse forms of expertise
Prioritize the integration of student leadership, hiring students as much as possible
Strive for complementarity; look first to engage with what already exists rather than re-inventing
Work from an awareness and long-term memory of Concordia's past and present social transformation initiatives
