STAY TUNED FOR THE PROGRAM AND APPLICATION FOR 2009…!
Announcing the 4th consecutive fall gathering of….
Vancouver Island Ecovillage Youth Convergence:
Cooperating for Capacity Building.
September 26th, 27th, 28th, 2008 at O.U.R ECOVILLAGE ( ) Shawnigan Lake.
Come explore the possibility of building your own personal capacity and/or your organizational/community capacity.
Each of us hold in our hearts and minds aspirations for healthy relationships within our
communities and the land we live on. At this falls Convergence, we aim to
explore and share our personal visions, and to gain skills for building community capacity collectively.
We understand that the challenges we face in our world require collective action and that
our personal efforts are most effective when in concert with a group of people.
SPECIAL GUEST FACILITATOR:
MARK LAKEMAN, Community Visionary from The City Repair Project in Portland OR
We will engage in activities, workshops, and discussions aimed at formulating group cohesion, shared vision, and community building activities to take back into our own lives/neighbourhoods to make a difference. Special attention is being given this Convergence to groups who wish to start community/repair projects and want to look at the steps towards creating this. We will join in hands-on learning projects to
practice skills for living in community sustainably and to foster a deeper sense of how to live/work together.
To Register: Send registration form (below) to
Workshops and events to look forward to this year:
biodynamic farming
Natural building and alternative energy
Playback theatre
Personal/family/community
empowerment and wellbeing
Diversity training
Way of Council training
Evening musical performance/Gumboot dancing class
To see pictures of the previous 2 convergences, please click on:
What: 4th consecutiveVancouver Island Ecovillage Youth Convergence
Who: Youth, Adults, Elders and families
When: September 26th, 27th, 28th, 2008
Where: O.U.R. Ecovillage, 1565 Baldy Mountain Road, Shawnigan Lake
What to bring: work clothing, camping gear, rain gear, Gumboot dancing boots, musical instruments, water bottle, camera, ONLY biological soap/shampoo, cell phone/laptop (there are no public phones onsite), any food to share (especially if you glean fruit or dumpster dive we will process it all), and all else you think you might wish to share with other folk who are in the Convergence.
2008 SCHEDULE:
September 26th (Friday)
4:00 onwards Arrival, site prep, team building, food & organizing.
6:00 dinner (be sure to have booked ahead for this separately)
7:30 Community Building Dialogue Circle with MARK LAKEMAN
September 27th (Saturday)
9:00 am Arrival and Registration
9:30 - 10:30 Intros, opening ceremony, & team/community building, energizer
10:30 - 12:30 Presentation and Tour of OUR ECOVILLAGE
Hands on project for alumni
12:30- 1:30 lunch
1:30 – 3:00 Real Deal Leadership Training
3:00 - 5:00 Portland City Repair Slideshow with Mark Lakeman see bio below
5:00 - 7:0 0 Play back theatre with Rob Osborne
6:30 - 8:00 DINNER
8:00 onwards South African Gum boot Dancing: Bring your gumboots
September 28th(Sunday)
800-9:00BREAKFAST
9:00 - 11:00 Presentation on Biodynamic Farming with Farmer John Ehrlich
Hands on Learning Projects
11:00 - 12:30 Cooperative training with Real Deal (Kxx and Neil)
12:30 - 1:30 LUNCH
1:30- 3:00City Repair/ Rural Repair Think Tank
Hands-On Learning Projects and workshops
3:00-4:30Council Training Introduction and Closing Ceremony with Lori Austein see bio below
Accommodation:
Yurt (tent, with wood floor) that can sleep 30+ people.
Onsite tenting.
We do not have gear onsite so you must bring your own bedroll, tent, etc.
B&B accommodation (limited) - please visit website for more details
**Please only bring bio-degradeable soap/toiletries when staying onsite – Thanks**
Registration:
Please copy, paste and send your completed registration form to
Name: ______
Home Phone # ______
Email address______
What city and neighborhood community do you live in?
______
Cost Please check or x in the box
Friday eve: Training/Capacity Building for individuals, villages, and towns. $20 (includes O/N stay)
Saturday Full day training, workshops, presenters and overnight$50.00
Sunday: 3/4 day training, workshops, presenters$40.00 or both for: $75
Full WeekendFriday, Saturday, and Sunday$85
Total $ for your registration: ______
Please indicate family members who will be attending:
______
Payment is made upon arrival in cash or in cheque to O.U.R Ecovillage
Ride Share:
We will be posting 4 days before the conference an email- ride share list of
people who are seeking and offering. Please fill out:
I need ride for ______number of people.
I can provide a ride for ______number of people.
I am from neighborhood/ community, city:
______
Please Click here for directions to O.U.R Ecovillage or checkout our website.
Mark Lakemanfounded the City Repair Project ( in 1996, which now operates with over 100 largely volunteer full-time and part-time staff, coordinators, and assistants. As both an organization and a larger movement, City Repair inspires and guides the transformation of the grid infrastructure of the typical American city into a vital social commons. By re-asserting localized village patterns in the city grid, City Repair establishes both the physical and social foundation for sustainable culture. Mark is now the principal of Communitecture, a private design firm specializing in ecological building and planning projects at many scales.
Lori Austein is an educator, lawyer and mediator, as well as a trainer and facilitator of the Council process. After
spending five years working with the Council program at Palms Middle School in Los Angeles, the last two as co-
coordinator, Lori is very experienced in the uses of council in education. She has led student rites of passage retreats
at the Ojai Foundation and has co-facilitated both Council 1 and Council 1 for Educators trainings. She is currently
introducing Council to Vancouver Island, her new home. Devoted to increasing the use of Council, she eagerly
strives to live in The Way of Council
Robert Birch is celebrating his 25th year as a community-basededucator, consultant and artist. Several years ago hejoined Saltspring Women Opposed to Violence and Abuse (SWOVA.org) as the project's adult male facilitator andas one of the many curriculum writers involved in the national award-winning and U.N. recognized Respectful Relationship program. He now travels BC training new facilitators on how to challenge the social viruses of racism, homophobia and sexism and re-build healthy social immune systems. He is privileged to live on Saltspring Island with his husband, Markwhere theygrow organic heritage seeds for the Saltspring Seed Co.and the Seed Sanctuary of Canada. At present he is in the middle of his graduate studies in Applied Theatre with a focus on myth and ritual at the University of Victoria.
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