Centre for Healthy Communities Innovation Forum

Thursday, Nov. 26, 2026
9:00am to 2:30pm

presentations

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Organized by: University of Alberta

Nov.
26

Advancing Financial Wellbeing in Canada: Working Across Sectors for Greater Impact

About the Community Marketplace Conversations

Opportunity for smaller group discussions and networking on the sub-topics related to domains within the Financial Wellbeing Framework (see details below)
Conversations are meant to spark insights, ideas, networking, and actions about the sub-topic
Participants can choose which topic conversations they would like to join and will be able to move between the conversation topics
Participants are encouraged to engage in the community marketplace conversations
A facilitator will be present in each Community Marketplace Conversation to briefly introduce the topic and get the conversation started

Community Marketplace Conversation Topics

The Community Marketplace Conversations will focus on the domains within the Financial Wellbeing Framework. Specifically, the following topics will be explored in the smaller group conversations:

Government: In this conversation, participants will share their experiences, successes, or challenges with targeting structural actions that can be taken by government units through the governing systems of public and private sectors. Specifically, this domain refers to macroeconomic, public, and social policies as well as underlying power structures.

Government (Municipal)

Facilitated by: Tara Ward, Director of Policy and Advocacy, Alberta Municipalities

Government (Provincial/Territorial/Federal):

Facilitated by: TBD

Organizational & Political Culture: In this conversation, participants will share their experiences, successes, or challenges with targeting processes that affect the delivery and sustainability of government units, organizational, and community actions. This domain involves consideration of organizational culture and power dynamics.

Facilitated by: Val Morrison, Scientific Advisor, National Collaborating Centre for Healthy Public Policy (NCCHPP)

Socioeconomic & Political Context: In this conversation, participants will share their experiences, successes, or challenges with targeting social and political actions. It encompasses changes to the political and community landscape that, together, shape the availability of resources, opportunities for poverty reduction, possibilities for growth of the middle-class, and improvements in the distribution of power at the societal level.

Facilitated by: Jen Casorso, Managing Director and Hannah Hemphill, Think Tank + Narrative Lead, End Poverty Edmonton

Social & Cultural Circumstances: In this conversation, participants will share their experiences, successes, or challenges with taking political, community, organizational, and individual actions that shape or recognize social and cultural contexts, hierarchies of power, and people’s social backgrounds and identities (e.g., immigration status, gender, sexual orientation, race/ethnicity) that accumulate to impact their financial circumstances.

Facilitated by: Stephanie Bishop, Analyst, Public Health Agency of Canada, Western Region

Life Circumstances: In this conversation, participants will share their experiences, successes, or challenges with targeting political, community, organizational, and individual actions that impact people’s complex life circumstances, multiple roles, and power relationships (e.g., individual agency and power within a household) that come together – positively or negatively – to shape their financial situation.

Facilitated by: Marlene Chiarotto, Vice President, Impact and Operations, Prosper Canada

Come prepared to engage in visionary conversations, share your experiences, and meet others working on these topics. Together, we will spark insights, ideas, and actions.