Upcoming Events
Jun 5, 2023 – New Employer & Resource Navigation Service “Lunch n’ Launch”
Location: downtown Grimsby, Ontario
Time: 12:30-2pm
We’re hosting a focus group-style Design Lab to launch our new Employer & Resource Navigation service. This service aims to support employers (people leaders, HR personnel, small business owners) to attract, hire and retain newcomer talent and is a solution-in-prototype developed through our “Engaging SMEs” project.
Interested in attending? Email jamie@workforcecollective.ca and please note any dietary needs.
Jun 8, 2023 – Workforce Collective Annual General Meeting
Location: Workforce Collective HQ
Time: 5:30-7:30pm
Please RSVP to info@workforcecollective.ca by June 5th.
Jun 2023 – Design Labs: Early Learning and Child Care
Location: Brockville, Chatham, Midhurst & Sudbury (Ontario)
Design Labs are interactive, workshop-style meetings that bring people from diverse perspectives together to explore new solutions to a problem. We’re co-hosting 4 Design Labs alongside partners in Chatham-Kent, Eastern Ontario, Simcoe, and Sudbury in response to our ELCC workforce crisis – an issue that has a ripple effect into our economy as a whole.
Email rachel@workforcecollective.ca to learn more.
Nov 9, 2023 – Growing Your Workforce Conference
Location: Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario
This one day forum is for anyone who is developing solutions to our most pressing workforce issues. It’s an opportunity to step outside of “the everyday” to learn and build alongside peers from communities across Ontario.
Email rachel@workforcecollective.ca to learn more.
Past Events
May 2023 – Design Lab: Workforce Challenges in the Non-Profit Sector
Design Labs are interactive, workshop-style meetings that inspire insights and explore new solutions to a problem. We convened 13 leaders within various non-profit organizations in Niagara to with a focus on “how might we attract and retain talent in the non-profit workforce?”
Apr 2023 – Labour Market Update Webinar
What’s new in our workforce today? Learn about labour trends, shortages, remote work, automation and more in this webinar hosted by GNCC’s Espresso Live featuring Vivian Kinnaird, CEO at Workforce Collective.
Catch the recording here.
Feb 2023 – Design Lab: Equitable Employment Outcomes for Immigrants
Design Labs are interactive, workshop-style meetings that bring people from diverse perspectives together to explore new solutions to a problem. Following the release of our 2-page Briefing note (Equitable Employment for Immigrants – A Win-Win For All), this Lab focused on the grounding question: “How might we support better employment outcomes for newcomers to Niagara?”
Feb 2023 – Economic Developers Council of Ontario (EDCO) Conference
EDCO facilitated a pre-conference lunch n’ learn called “Who cares about Economic Development?”
During the event, Rachel Crane, Learning & Engagement Lead at Workforce Collective, presented on a panel related to Early Learning and Childcare (ELCC) as economic infrastructure.
Rachel promoted how paying ELCC workers more = better care + access for children and families = boost to our economy.
Jan 2023 – Design Lab: Early Learning and Childcare Workforce
Design Labs are interactive, workshop-style meetings that inspire insights and explore new solutions to a problem. We convened stakeholders in economic development and early learning and child care (ELCC) into a Design Lab in response to our ELCC workforce crisis – an issue that has a ripple effect into our economy as a whole.
We referred to our Briefing Note (Childcare Workforce in Crisis: Our Economy Won’t Work Without ELCC Workers) as the problem statement and “How might we attract and retain ELCC workers?” as the grounding question.
Jan 2023 – “Advancing in Your Career” Focus Group
We co-hosted this focus group alongside community partners to better understand how the Covid-19 pandemic impacted the employment experiences of BIPOC and to explore career advancement pathways going forward.
Nov 2022 – Niagara 2022 Economic Summit
Stakeholders gathered at the annual Niagara Economic Summit to engage in thought-provoking discussions about pressing economic issues, including our ongoing workforce challenges. Vivian Kinnaird, CEO at Workforce Collective, presented on a panel discussion called the ‘War on Talent’.
Catch the recording here.
Sep 2022 – Women in Work “deconstructed” focus group
Women from all different walks of life were invited to an outdoor, family-friendly event to dialogue about their employment navigating through employment and dream about future career possibilities.
Click here to learn insights from the event.