The role of each individual community partner organization is entirely discretionary; however, in general, the community partners contribute the following:
- Assistance with identification of important problems faced by their members in each of our research policy areas
- Shape results in a way that the priority needs and lives of consumers are positively impacted
- Identify members within your organization who might be interested to serve on a particular project. It is not expected that founding members will be the sole contributors from their organization. There may be a board member, a staff member, a volunteer, a client or family member who would make a valuable contribution on a particular project. The role of the community partner is to link those people to the project teams
- A major role for the community partners lies in knowledge mobilization activities — reaching out to policy-makers on behalf of your membership to promote optimally effective policy for people with disabilities. This step depends heavily on expertise, contacts, knowledge, influence within the community organization. Using the best and most current evidence provided by the research team, and also using advice from the policy partners in framing the message, getting it into the right hands, and ensuring the receptivity of the audience, the community partner is usually the one who delivers the message
- The community partners help us get information out to their members and distribution networks. As our work progresses, we will have more information that we want to share more broadly, and we will look to all our partners to assist us in doing so
- Community partners contribute to the development of knowledge and expertise of all partners as regards the issues of their constituency.
- We depend on our community partners to assist with periodic reports on activity of their members on Alliance-related projects
- Finally, we depend on our partners to help us with information and in-kind support needed to keep up our commitments
Community Partners
Bill Adair, Executive Director (Community Partner Lead, CDPA)
Gillian Bone, Director of Client Services
Katherine Hum-Antonopoulos, Chief Operating Officer
Gordon Ryall, Director of Provincial Programs
Max Beck, Chief Executive Officer
Andria Spindel, Chief Executive Officer
Steven Christianson, National Manager of Government Relations and Advocacy
Gordon Porter, President
