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I was also interested in looking at other Canadian social entrepreneurs and happened upon the Ashoka Canada site. Their mission is written below.

"We are dedicated to identifying, electing and supporting these leading social entrepreneurs who are working to create positive change across all sectors of Canadian society."

https://www.ashoka.org/en/story/ashoka-canadas-vision-and-mission

 

Their website leads to an impressive network of Canadians making positive changes in a wide variety of areas, but I happened upon Mary Gordon who started Roots of Empathy and because I know that this program exists in our school division I thought I would take a closer look. This example of social entrepreneurship looks different from Green School Bali. The contribution to sustainability in this model relates to how we interact with other people and how we can improve those relationships.

Roots of empathy has the following as its mission:

·         To foster the development of empathy

·         To develop emotional literacy

·         To reduce levels of bullying, aggression and violence, and promote children’s pro-social behaviours

·         To increase knowledge of human development, learning, and infant safety

·         To prepare students for responsible citizenship and responsive parenting

Gordon worked to bring a program into the schools that would foster the above. In our division schools, guidance counsellors and teachers bring in new parents and their babies to Kindergarten through to Grade 8 classes (specific schools, grades and classes are selected) once a month to meet with students and work to foster empathy and emotional literacy. The kids really form a bond with these babies and make connections within their own community. There is a curriculum associated with Roots of Empathy including programming that fits with traditional First Nations teachings. This early program connects with other programs in the city to promote pro-social behaviour and the results have been positive. Mary Gordon has stated that "your own happiness should include the happiness of others." (Globe and Mail, May5, 2013) I find that to be a powerful message. Thinking about entrepreneurial partnerships, I have always though that more programming could be done in our school division to support mentorship with our fam of schools. I think that this could be an extension of Roots of Empathy but with a vision towards students supporting one another in academic creative projects. The waste audit has us thinking of a variety of diverse possibilities, like a community garden, in school composting and outdoor classrooms. It would be nice to include other teachers and schools in these projects so that we can begin to build a real community around these family schools in close proximity.

 

http://www.rootsofempathy.org/

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