Starting, Sustaining, and Strengthening a Community Collective

Imagining a better future, one beyond this point of current struggle, requires empowering communities with the resources needed to create this future by themselves and for themselves. But what is a community? How does one build or partake in a community? What are the resources needed by a community? How does one offer or distribute resources within a community? And how does one instigate collective communication and action within a community?

Community Cooks Collective is a mutual-aid organization founded in April 2020 in response to the exacerbated food insecurity experienced by many in Tiohtià:ke/Montreal as a consequence of the Covid-19 pandemic. Through months of growth and adaptation, the organization has developed into the hub of an expanding community revolving around passions for cooking and for acting in solidarity with those experiencing food insecurity. It is currently run by a group of dedicated volunteers who coordinate the cooking, collection, and transportation of meals to local Indigenous shelter Resilience Montreal on a weekly basis.

Drawing on my experience co-founding and co-managing this collective, I will guide workshop attendees to finding their own answers to the questions posed above and provide tangible steps to addressing these responses. Many practical facets of community organizing will be explored in detail, such as recruiting new collective members, facilitating meetings, applying for funding, keeping record of finances, using social media effectively, and planning for long-term sustainability. Points of discussion will include:

• how to maximize accessibility
• how to prioritize Indigenous solidarity
• how to function in a non-hierarchical manner
• how to use mixed-media for educational purposes
• how to emphasize mutual-aid.

The objective of this workshop will be to empower community members to explore and realize their own potential in instigating the change they wish to see in their immediate environment.

Tomo (she/they) is a community organizer and musician originally from Vancouver, now based in Tiohtià:ke/Montreal. In response to the Covid-19 pandemic, she co-founded Community Cooks Collective, a mutual-aid organization that co-ordinates the weekly cooking and delivery of meals in bulk to local shelter Resilience Montreal. In December 2020, she graduated from the Schulich School of Music at McGill University with a master’s degree in violin performance, where she previously completed her bachelor’s degree and a graduate diploma. When she is not organizing with fellow collective members or practicing and teaching violin, she can be found working at the local women’s shelter Chaînon, volunteering through the Generations Program at the Yellow Door, and preparing for her next triathlon.

Click here to register.

Live closed captioning in English will be available on Zoom for this event.

Whisper translation from English to French will be available for all events with 24 hours notice unless already provided; please email info@qpirgmcgill.org to request. // La traduction chuchotée de l’anglais vers le français sera disponible sur demande avec 24 heurs de pré-avis; envoyez un courriel à info@qpirgmcgill.org.