COCo Team
COCo Staff
Laila Malik (lailam at coco-net.org)
Laila really digs wordsmithing for social change, and has worked it in the community and non-profit sectors for the past eleven years. Before joining the COCo team, her communications work focused mostly on women and gender rights advocacy with organizations and coalitions ranging from the Canadian Women's Health Network (CWHN) to the Coalition for Women's Equality (CWE) during the 2006 Federal election. An erstwhile columnist for Herizons (quarterly Canadian feminist magazine), her writing has also appeared in the Globe and Mail, and rabble.com. In a former life, she worked as a newspaper reporter in the Middle East.
Spencer Mann (spencerm at coco-net.org)
Spencer has worked and volunteered in community organizing and co-op development for over 11 years. His experience has ranged from community food security with the MUCS Project, to co-operative education and training through NASCO, to integrated design and green building as a member of the Sustainability Solutions Group. At COCo Spencer focuses on collaborative and cooperative organizing models and frequently facilitates trainings on collective decision making, project management, and grassroots organizing strategies. Spencer was born and raised in a solar-powered home on the coast of Maine and moved to Montreal for environmental studies at McGill and for the opportunity to get involved in urban social movements. Spencer loves cooking in community kitchens and cultivates a secret passion for playwriting, sea kayaking, and extreme sledding.
Sabrina Mc Fadden (sabrinam at coco-net.org)
Sabrina has been working, collaborating and volunteering with various community organizations for 9 years, including La Table de concertation Solidarité Mercier-Est, Oxfam (West Africa), Katimavik, Concertation Ville Émard/Côte St-Paul, le Bureau des Élections d'Outremont, Café Coop Touski, L'Arche Montréal, Culture Lanaudière, the Social Forum and the People's Potato. She completed her Bachelor's degree in Administration with a Major in Art History/Fine Arts and a Minor in Human Resources in 2001 at Concordia. In 2007, she joined the cohort of the Human System Intervention (HSI) Master's program at Concordia. Sabrina is COCo's Coordinator with a focus on human resources and she brings a wealth of experience in process consultation, facilitation, training and movement building. On a more personal level, Sabrina cultivates a secret passion for social change theatre, yoga, cycling, cooking, harmony and social gatherings! Sabrina looks forward to building new partnerships with a variety of community organizations throughout la Belle Province.
Chris Lau (chrisl at coco-net.org)
For over 10 years, Chris has been involved in health promotion, HIV prevention/education and sexual health, as well as with the LGBTQ communities. His experience ranges from: program planning/management, community-based research, monitoring and evaluation, community development, human resource management, social marketing and communications. He has worked with such places as RÉZO (formerly Action Séro Zéro), Camp Positive, the HIV Studies Unit at the University of Toronto, the AIDS Committee of Toronto, the AIDS 2006 International AIDS Conference in Toronto and the AIDS Bureau of the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care. Chris has volunteered at AIDS Community Care Montreal, Project 10, Gay and Lesbian Asians of Montreal, the Montreal Gay and Lesbian Community Centre, Coalition Multimundo, the Supporting Our Youth program of the Central Toronto Youth Services and Gay Asians Toronto. In his spare time, Chris plays sports, listens to music, appreciates architecture and spends time with family and friends.
Frances Ravensbergen (francesr at coco-net.org)
Frances has 35 years experience in the community sector including 14 years working as a community organizer and branch director for the Montreal YMCA, sitting on numerous boards including the Lea Roback Foundation and Hemmingford Environment Committee and providing training and consulting on organizational change. She was a founding member of COCo as well as a Co-Director from 2000-2005. Currently she focuses on facilitation for planned change processes (including strategic planning), community-based research, and organizational managment and change. Her doctoral thesis (September 2010) looked at the role of community organizations in social change work. Frances and her partner raised their 4 children on a working farm in southern Quebec. She is well acquainted with the realities and challenges faced by rural communities as well as the English community sector in Quebec. Frances strives to maintain a healthy life-work balance by kayaking, snowboarding, having a yoga practice and reading for pleasure. She also teaches community-related courses at Concordia University.
Tara Santini (taras at coco-net.org)
Tara Santini has been working within grassroots communities for over 12 years. Her work centers around Poverty Rights, Sexual Health and Reproductive Rights, and Criminalized Communities. As the Legal Information Coordinator at COCo, Tara is committed to assisting community organizations in obtaining the accurate and accessible legal information they need to survive and thrive. She is constantly inspired by the incredible and courageous movements and actions mobilized within the community sector, and looks forward to working with other community organizations towards building and reproducing greater aggregates of social justice.
COCo Board of Directors
Claire Abraham has spent the last decade cultivating her organising skills and political analysis with different organisations in Montreal and abroad. Her involvement in Project Genesis fostered a critical approach to anti-poverty organising; cooking in the kitchen at Santropol Roulant added a love for social change through relationships and community building, and playing the cello with the Chaotic Insurrection Ensemble fostered an appreciation for the power of non-hierarchical group structures. Claire currently works in Rosemont on a neighbourhood priorities project called "Décider Rosemont ensemble" ... she jets around on a pink and purple fiori.
Shannon Franssen (bio coming shortly)
Jean-Noé Landry is a democratic development practitioner. Since 2003, he has worked intermittently with the United Nations (UN) and the National Democratic Institute (NDI) in the Balkans, Russia, Afghanistan, the West Bank, and most recently in Kenya, where he supports local civil society and political actors strengthen their democratic institutions. Jean-Noé specializes in training methods and processes, applied public opinion research, and grassroots campaign organization. In between his worldly adventures, he co-founded MontrealOuvert.net, a local citizen's initiative that seeks greater access to municipal public data and has been engaged in several electoral and advocacy campaigns in Montreal and Ottawa.
Line St-Amour - Ancienne participante de Jeunesse Canada Monde, Line St-Amour travaille depuis plus de vingt trois ans dans le domaine communautaire avec le souci d’agir sur les conditions de vie des plus démunis tout en apportant des changements significatifs au quotidien. Elle a été animatrice, coordonnatrice de projets, directrice d’organismes. Durant ces années elle a développé des habiletés en gestion des ressources humaines et développement de projets, un goût pour la concertation et les projets qui soulèvent l’implication de la collectivité. Ses capacités d’analyse, de conceptualisation et de synthèse font partis des atouts que l’on lui reconnaît. Elle a mis sur pied et travaillé au groupe de jeunes mères de Pointe St-Charles, Familles en action pendant 16 ans. Durant ses années et de façon très active, elle a été membre du conseil d’administration de la Clinique communautaire de Pointe St-Charles, membre du comité exécutif de la table de concertation Action Gardien, membre d’une coopérative d’habitation et membre fondateur du Café la Petite Gaule, lieu de d’activités et de conférences sociales, politiques et culturelles. Depuis l’été 2005, elle dirige le Centre communautaire Dawson en se donnant comme objectifs la consolidation des acquis des cinquante dernières années et le développement maximal de cette organisation via ces programmes récréatifs et éducatifs qui touchent les 0 à 99 ans. Depuis trois ans, elle est membre du comité exécutif de la Table de Concertation en développement social de Verdun dont la mission est de travailler en collaboration et en concertation avec les différences instances du milieu à l’amélioration des conditions de vie de la population. Elle est membre du conseil d,administration du COCo depuis 2010.
Rosemary Thomas - Rosemary has worked with community organizations in Canada and abroad for over 15 years. Much of her work has focused on supporting vulnerable populations, especially women and children through organizations such as the Women's Legal Aid Center and the Legal and Human Rights Centre in eastern Africa. On the COCo Board Rosemary helps advise on community research work and leadership development programs, she also draws on her experience as Executive Director of the Refuge Juan Moreno to help guide the evolution of COCo's structure. Rosemary is proud of her African roots and enjoys the richness of juggling between mothering, community work, and academic teaching and research.