Communauté Québec Moves to Higher Grounds

The English blog of Communauté Québec moves to WordPress some time this week. We will keep this blog open at Blogger because we have regular readers there that we appreciate. All archives will be imported on the new site.

Some construction is still undergone at www.communautequebec.org and may take some more days - we all are volunteers with jobs and families.

What is Communauté Québec? It is a programme administered by "Waska, autonomie et services techniques communautaires", a Québec City-based non-profit organization. It gathers business people from Québec City (and from outside), motivated by:

• CONCRETE actions, HERE and NOW that improve the socioeconomic situation of the community, by consolidating the grounds for sustainable development of empowerment,
  


• quitting throwing money on the problem: with a responsible, economically viable plan, it is possible to help individuals and organizations become pillars of their community and active, autonomous participants in the collectivity,


• taking weight off the socioeconomic burden by reducing taxes to people and businesses,


• favouring and maintaining autonomy (empowerment),


• consult one another, share and perform mutual help in order to improve clientele traffic in businesses, thus consolidating the grounds for a sustainable autonomy and keeping the economic lung healthy!

I know it repeats itself... The mission - officially is:

• Consolidate the grounds for sustainable autonomy (empowerment).
• Create autonomy with concrete actions, immediately implementable.
• Maintain the mutual help network dynamic and well alive.
• Broadcast the mission to gain allies among business people, sensible to the cause.
• Broadcast the mission to inform individuals and organizations who wish to acquire their autonomy (empowerment) that the programme is available to them.
• Broadcast the mission to let Québec citizens know that, by these CONCRETE actions, a sustainable autonomy (empowerment) will take weight off the socioeconomic burden, HERE and NOW.

What we actually do is:

• Participate in the elaboration of the Action Plan (on Internet).
• Attend meet-ups once a month.
• Help drafting the Action Plan (commenting, sharing my expertise in order for the secretary to produce the document).
• Broadcast our endeavours among my clients, business contacts and people of influence.
• Help my peers at Communauté Québec get more business traffic through broadcasting, consultation and mutual help, in order to consolidate grounds for sustainable autonomy.
• As in any non-profit organization, attend general assemblies.

Join us on twitter at http://twitter.com/comquebec and on Facebook, at:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Communaute-Quebec/116162295079679?

Waskafest October 22, 2009 at 6:00 PM in Loretteville

Event:	WASKAFEST OCTOBER 2009
Location:	Salon de quilles Bellevue 169 Louis-IX Street Québec City, QC G2B 1L1
Information:	418-847-4784 Jean-François Néron 418-407-1425 Christian Tanguay
Date and time:	October 22, 2009 (Thursday) 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM
Programme:	Buffet Presentation and discussion on office software and Web 2.0 networking in non-profit organizations Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala Presentation on Waska's learning method (experiential learning) and registering of new members
Cost of entry: Clientele:	Free Welcome to all, dress casual

Waskafest is a meet-up organized by Waska, autonomie et services techniques communautaires in order to gather all the main actors in the inter-NPO dialogue process, in Quebec City. This dialogue process - as the sharing and the exchange of ressources among non-profit organizations - is based on a tight network, with well-informed and well-equipped participants.

The October 22 meet-up will cover the following subjects:

• Presentation and discussion on office software and Web 2.0 networking in non-profit organizations: how to profit from the computer, at the service of the NPO. Quick oversight of the equipment, the costs (obviously, the best deal), the software and their implementation in the reality of a non-profit organization, Web 2.0 networking.
  

• Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala: serious alternative to counter the prohibitive costs of commercial operating systems and software that, aside from being hard to implement in the operations of a NPO, keep bugging and getting infested with viruses.
  

• Presentation on Waska's learning method (experiential learning) and registering of new members: Students dropping out of school in Quebec and their poor performance demonstrate clearly that the academic system, as it is now, simply does not deliver good results. What makes Waska's experiential learning method better and what makes it a solution to this problem? Come and see for yourself. You can also ask questions and even register to the programmes, all evening long.

Come dressed casually. There will be a cold buffet at the beginning of the evening. All beverages are to be bought at the bar of the Salon de quilles Bellevue. There are pool tables for those who wish to end the evening in a relaxed fashion. You can attend this October Waskafest, free of charge. During the evening, games and attendance prizes will add some zest.

There are free parking spaces for all, on both sides of the building. Buses routes 87 and 72 lead you to the location, the bus stop is just across the street, at the corner of Louis-IX and Hôpital Streets. Road works are taking place in the area, please stay posted to read the latest info regarding the changes.

www.communautequebec.org has a facelift

Communauté Québec's homepage is receiving a facelift, today! As a matter of fact, Québec City's non-profit portal will display more of a portal-shape homepage than the blog opening it previously presented. This renovation is part of Waska's new business plan for 2009.

Lots of new services - availbale to members of Waska - will be added to Communauté Québec's portal homepage.

If your non-profit organization wishes to have its endeavours, special events or any news published on Communauté Québec, please write us to bulletin@communautequebec.org! It is free for all Québec City NPOs and those who serve the Old Capital's population. Our team will make sure the text is error-free and meets Waska's standards: positive, constructive, polite, politically neutral, and of Québec City resident's interest.

Waska's relaunch business plan and four jobs created

For the past 27 years, Waska has been operated mostly by volunteer workers. Some were paid by contract but for a very short period of time. The organization now engages in a major structural reform and prepares to hire four employees: three full-time and one part-time jobs will thus be created.

Aside from the job creation, Waska's relaunch business plan includes the opening of a new office somewhere in Quebec City's west end (boroughs of Haute-St. Charles, des Rivières and St. Foy-Sillery).

Waska continues to provide the same good services: empowerment workshops, learning workshops (computer learning and business language), office software technical support, web 2.0 conception and management, community dialogue, and the cybercafé. The new social economy business will revive its Theatre on Video (1983 to 1995) and add the new technical support service for computer repair and maintenance.

What makes Waska different is its welcoming atmosphere, its unique traditions and the way its office is decorated. Also, a major part of it is the social network of friends and mutual help that contributes to increase the positive thinking of Quebec City's people in need, help them regain dignity, empower them so they can become a pillar of the community.

You can read a summary of Waska's relaunch business plan (in French only for now) at http://waska.communautequebec.org/planderelance.html. You can also express your support to the cause by becoming a fan of Waska's page on Facebook.

Waska will submit the plan to the CLD towards the end of August or the beginning of September. Your support is welcome! Write to us at waskaquebec@gmail.com or phone us at (418) 407-3230.

Last SWAFF meeting of the season, May 14

It is already the last SWAFF meeting of the season before summer break. Already! Back in September and so on.

What/where is SWAFF?

It stands for "Soirées Web & Affaires" which means "Web & Business Evenings" which gathers people who want to talk about the web and business in the very casual atmosphere of "Mo Tavern" in Quebec City. It is held May 14, starts around 5:30 PM and lasts until 8:30 PM. It's free; you only pay for what you eat or drink. Click here for the map.

"Mo Tavern" is at 810 Charest Boulevard East, Quebec City (near the intersection of Dufferin Overpass and Charest Boulevard East, where the St. Roch Mall once existed). You can reach Stephane Guerin at 418-575-5424 or contact him by email at sguerin@percute.com. He's the sympathetic host of this gathering.

Who is SWAFF for?

It is for anyone interested - directly or indirectly - in e-business, in other words who is working with the Internet. From the newbie to the expert, employee, IT manager or comm's, contractor, entrepreneur, etc. Everyone is welcome!

Waska celebrates its 27th anniversary!

Waska was founded on April 26, 1982, when students in a St. Foy, Quebec, technical institute join a "human relationships class" group in order to unite forces under one organization called "Club 3E". This non-profit entity has given itself a mission: to help people overcome problems with work exeperience and related training issues. Also, the club becomes a mutual help network. Then follows a great evolution over nearly three decades!

Right from the beginning, the organization takes a modular-shaped form of operation, where each of the elements pursue a specific goal, intended to a specific clientèle. Claudette Lemieux implements the "Aide-Amitié" section (help & friendship) taking care of the social needs of the members. Marc Dubé sets the "sports, activities and environmental awareness group". Jean-François Néron manages the learning workshops and experiential groups.

In 1983, the NPO is then renamed "Waska" and offers its workshops in a basement classroom of the St. Ursule Church in St. Foy, Quebec. To fund its humanitarian endeavours, the organization sells "English learning workshops" and "French as a second language workshops" at a fair tariff. To other associations in the neighbourhood, it is a strange mode of operation. Not used to social economy in those years, they make fun of Waska and dub it "insidious commercial entity". Today, social economy is the modern way (in Canada) to operate a non-profit organization. It is the way of the future since associations learn to be cost-effective and autonomous, which lightens the socio-economic burden of the community. Waska still offers the linguistic workshops and compiles 26 years of exeprience doing so!

1988 is a year marked by the entry of office automation in the widespread world of management. Waska launches its "computer learning workshops". Business is rolling and the NPO moves into its very own office, at 955 de Bourgogne Avenue in St. Foy, Quebec. Neighbouring offices shelter professionals such as doctors, insurance companies and lawyers. In 1991, the association moves its operations to the more prestigious Galeries Duplessis, flanking engineers and equally highly-regarded professionals. Waska adds one element to its modular structure: technical services intended to NPOs as well as individuals.

In 1999, Waska joins in with other NPOs in Quebec City and studies the phenomenon of poverty. It launches its programme "Exit poverty through autonomy/empowerment!", while promoting community discussion and solidarity (Connexion Ouest).

Today, the Quebec City-based organization operates in the cosy Loretteville quarter of the Old Capital City. Its mission is to help individuals and organizations gain empowerment; to implement a community network of solidarity, to promote environmental awareness.

Take part in Waska's 27th birthday

For its 27th anniversary, Waska is inviting you to join its various groups and causes on Facebook:

• become a fan of Waska's Official Facebook Page;
• join the group "Waska 1982-aujourd'hui/today"
• support the cause "Empowered individuals and organizations"

Autonomy and empowerment constitute the key to human justice and dignity because it allows everyone to actively take part in collective success and live a comfortable, happy life.

Waska currently in boosting process and looking for new board members

Waska, autonomie et services techniques communautaires, a Quebec City non-profit organization, is currently in a vigorous boosting process! The board of directors is working hard on a new business plan in order to widen the organization's action spectrum and boost its operation strength.

Basically, Waska helps individuals and non-profit organizations gain empowerment, i.e. bring them to set themselves free from the dependency to public funding and charity, to generate their own revenues. Also, Waska implements a system of community dialogue, exchange and solidarity in order to link up NPOs, various public social workers, small businesses and the population in a way to promote social and commercial relations that help the community live.

Waska has given itself this mandate right from the beginning in 1982, when it was founded in a classroom of the formerly called Technical Pavilion in St. Foy, Quebec, now the Marie-Rollet Professional Training Centre.

In April of 2008, Waska opened a workshop room at 125 Racine Street in Quebec City, in the heart of the Loretteville Quarter (Borough of the Haute-Saint-Charles). Last March 1st, the organization decided to close the location to allow itself more room to manoeuvre, a leeway to carry out its revival plan and establish connections with new business contacts.

The new projects undertaken by Waska will soon be published right here and will allow the organization to reinforce its humanitarian endeavours towards the community, making people happy already for the past 27 years.

Waska president by interim, Christian Tanguay (photo above), invites all persons involved in humanitarian endeavours to join our board of directors in the upcoming election. To be part of Waska means building pillars of the community, reducing its social/economic burden, and help goodwill individuals regain their dignity. You may contact Mr. Tanguay at waskatechnicien@gmail.com or call him at (418) 407-1425.

Whether you are in Québec City or elsewhere, our membership network is awaiting you! We are inviting any person interested in contributing with concrete gestures, ideas, or contacts to the pursuit of Waska's mission. Annual membership fee is $10 for individuals and $20 for non-profit organizations. It allows you to benefit from high-quality services and to partake in social activities related to the organization's mission. You can register directly with Mr. Tanguay or by contacting the Executive Secretary, Mr. Jean-François Néron at (418) 847-4784 or waskaquebec@gmail.com.

Welcome to all!