Who We Are
Photo Credit: Thomas Lalonde
Who We Are
The LearningCITY Collective is an independent, member-founded, and funded organization committed to transforming Calgary into the city that never stops learning.
Our Purpose
Transform Calgary into the city that never stops learning.
Today, a city’s ability to develop, attract, and retain talent is the most significant predictor of social and economic prosperity. In this world, the factors that drove Calgary’s prosperity in the past will not be sufficient in the future.
As a city, Calgary has faced volatility before, but this time, it’s different. Calgary’s economy is shifting, and employers need people who can adapt to this dynamic future.
Calgary will be defined by the adaptive capacity of its systems, organizations, and people. Adaptive capacity demands a continuous cycle of learning, unlearning, and relearning.
Today, fifty percent of kindergarten children will live to be 100 and have sixty-year careers, and the half-life of skills can be measured in months.
To prosper, Calgary must transform into the city that never stops learning.
Our Vision
The LearningCITY Collective is where learning communities collaborate to prepare Calgarians for our changing world.
Imagine a Calgary where people view disruption as a chance to reinvent themselves. Imagine a Calgary with an ever-evolving talent pool. Imagine a city that attracts investment and talent from across the globe because it’s known as a city that never stops learning. To create this city, we need to rethink how we learn.
If the model that got us here resembles a ladder, the new learning model resembles a rapidly expanding climbing wall. It recognizes infinite ways to learn, from traditional classrooms to employment, to volunteering, an art class or playing sports, listening to a podcast and everything in between.
Calgary’s learning climbing wall today incorporates 3,063 organizations and 180,000 talent developers, delivering 30,870 programs annually. The challenge is this climbing wall is not a system; rather it is thousands of isolated experiences.
To compete in the new world of talent, Calgary’s talent system must commit to a culture of collaboration and experimentation.
The LearningCITY Collective is where learning communities collaborate to prepare Calgarians for our changing world.
Adaptable
Accessible
Empowered
Open
Our Values
Adaptable: Calgarians embrace disruption and change as an opportunity.
Accessible: Justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion are embedded in the learning process and championed by all.
Empowered: Calgary’s learning system empowers personalized, purpose-based learning
Open: Calgary’s learning system is open and drives performance and innovation.
Since 2019, the LearningCITY Collective has engaged thousands of talent seekers, developers, stewards, and learners. This engagement highlighted a deep desire to transform from a series of isolated learning silos to a learning system rooted in open innovation and collaboration. This learning system recognizes the unique contribution of each learning community by becoming a community of communities committed to four core values: