We're excited to announce the launch of our eighth Films For Action city chapter representing Toronto, Ontario Canada! Below is our mission, goals and vision for the chapter, as well as several ways to get involved. Join us!
Mission:
Our Toronto chapter website aims to provide a definitive web-based resource for the social change community of Toronto, Canada. By providing a robust set of information and communication tools geared to amplify the impact of local efforts, the website serves to build synergy and momentum to affect dramatic and radical change at a city-wide level. We believe an informed, well connected, and engaged local community is the first step to creating a just and sustainable society. To achieve this end, the website includes:
A unique sub-domain (Toronto.FilmsForAction.org) for members to create a completely tailored and dedicated place for people in the city to stay informed, get involved, and network and organize with others in the area.
A calendar of events, detailing all of the social-change/community building events happening in and around the city at any given time.
A directory of local activist groups, united by our common vision of a more just, sustainable and democratic future, detailing who they are, what they do, and how those interested can get involved.
Member pages for all of the activists, progressives, 'cultural creatives' and other people in the Toronto community, detailing their interests, skill-share resources, and other information tailored to help foster stronger, real-world community development and support networks.
A local Blog featuring articles written and contributed by local residents in the spirit of democratic, participatory journalism.
A constantly growing learning library full of online viewable documentaries, short films and videos hand-picked to change the world.
News headlines republished from independent and alternative news sites.
A "Take Action" section providing a wealth of practical action ideas and how-to guides for individuals or groups to draw inspiration from.
Community powered content. All members of the site can add videos, news headlines, original articles, actions, events and groups.
Goals:
These features have been implemented to achieve several goals:
- To provide a local online news and organizing hub that is dedicated specifically to supporting movements for social justice and sustainability
- To make activism more accessible to a wider demographic of people
- To be an attractive and welcoming place for people new to activism to get informed, find other people in the area of like-mind, and get involved with local activist groups
- To help strengthen the city's activist community, and to help it grow in both number and effectiveness
- To keep people informed on important local and global issues not adequately covered by the mainstream press
- To reduce the amount of promotional work groups must do to ensure a strong turn out at events
- To make much of the invisible work of local groups visible to the wider community, and to other activist groups, so we can gain a better sense of our collective efforts and find areas of convergence and synergy
Vision:
We believe we have a historic opportunity to develop the foresight and vision necessary to make Toronto a sustainable, thriving, ecological city. We believe that the leadership for this movement will come from the bottom up, and that the solutions necessary to make this happen already exist. Whether here in Toronto, Lawrence, KS, or in Samso, Sweden - eco solutions already exist. They are in development all over the world, by millions of people and thousands of organizations.
Indeed, we are a movement millions strong, but this movement has no name, no "ism" to tie us all together. There is no single manifesto that articulates our vision in a single language. In its place we have a thousand different ways of articulating this vision, spoken in the words of every language. However, the vision we share of a better future is common. We just need to connect the dots.
Independent media like Films For Action is not the solution itself. It is the means to help realize this vision in tangible form - here in our own city, in our own particular place. It is the compass, the binoculars, the hiking shoes, and the walking stick that will help us get there.
Get Involved:
If you live in the Toronto area and would like to get involved in the project, here are several ways you can plug in.
Contact our chapter coordinator (activities for this group include hosting film screenings, producing original film and written content, contributing to the website and more):
Joy Jollie - joyelle.jolie@yahoo.com
*Become a Member on the site. It's quick and easy to join, and after you create an account you'll be able to freely add videos, local events, independent news headlines, original articles and actions.
We recommend joining with Facebook if you have an account. Check our guide to adding content for more details on the sort of perspectives and content we're looking to bring to the site.
*Tell like-minded groups you know of in Toronto about the project, what its mission and goals are, and encourage them to add their events to the community calendar and their group to the group directory.
Add Local Events: http://toronto.filmsforaction.org/Events
Add a local like-minded Group to the Group Directory: http://toronto.filmsforaction.org/Groups
*Have something to say? Join our Toronto Blogging Team. Contact us via the Contact page and we'll get you set up.
*Spread the word and share this blog post.