Lisi Heise, General Supervisor, Development Services Urban Planning & Economy - City of Edmonton, says:
“Action Lab is such an important space to our city - and to the design of public sector services. Skills Society's Action Lab team has guided me through the development of critical services for Edmontonians, ensuring that citizen's experiences and perspectives are at the heart of everything we do.”
Jodi Calahoo-Stonehouse, Executive Director, Yellowhead Indigneous Education Foundation, says:
“Edmonton Action Lab’s space and approach is accessible, inclusive, and flexible in ways that lift, honor and embrace Indigenous ways of knowing and being. Facilitators are warm, brilliant, compassionate and are committed to working in good relationships to make progress on complex problems.”
Tim Draimin, Social Innovation Generation (National), says:
“For social innovation labs to be effective they need:
The right stewardship, which Skills Society has experience with through their Citizen Action Lab approach.
The space and tools that elicit fresh thinking, collaboration, creative problem solving and building solutions as a collective.
Access to the most promising practices emerging in the national and international community of social labs, which Ben Weinlick and Skills Society have been pro-active in developing.”
Keren Perla, Co-founder of Alberta CoLab, Director of Energy Futures Policy Collaborative, says
"The value of a space like Action Lab cannot be boiled down to a series of uplifting events, or a list of critical services or even access to some of the most innovative practices defining social innovation today. Walking through the doors of Action Lab means walking into a world of infinite possibility where we can come together to imagine where to next, and that's something we need more of now than ever.”
Alex Ryan, SVP Partner Solutions, MaRS Discovery District, says:
“Action Lab is much more than a cool space. Action Lab is a mighty team of passionate professionals dedicated to helping their community collaborate and innovate to transform complex social challenges into opportunities.”
Hunter and Jacquelyn Cardinal, Co-founders of Naheyawin, say:
“Naheyawin has had the pleasure of working with the Action Lab for several years now. Their constant pursuit of aligning themselves with the spirit and intent of Treaty within their programming and daily operations is outstanding and inspiring. The values of collaborative problem solving, support for the employment of people with disabilities, and their steps towards and beyond reconciliation makes them a singular asset to Edmonton as well as Canada.”
Mark Cabaj, Here to There Consulting, says:
“The Action Lab team’s stability and commitment to continuous learning and improvement places it amongst the premiere innovation labs in Canada.”