Supporting our community of change-makers

February 22, 2016
2 min read

Ryan Jones

On February 3, some of Vancouver’s most forward-thinking change-makers gathered in the Hootsuite greatroom to participate in the second Dreamers + Doers community event. D + D is Vancouver’s most widely-known secret society and volume one in April 2015 included networking, musical guests, and presentations from people committed to doing social good. This year’s edition elaborated on the format, adding a grant competition. Over 80 applications were received for the $1,000 grant provided by Chimp. Before the event began, a panel of judges winnowed the list down to five applicants who were asked to give a presentation at the event explaining their project and what they would do with the prize money.

While all of the presenters showed us amazing ideas, when the audience votes were tallied at the end of the evening, Anika Barlow from ACTS Canada came out on top. ACTS works to provide clean drinking water to Uganda through both infrastructure and education programs. When asked about the importance of the event, Anika said it “felt like a bit of a ‘welcome to the neighbourhood’ for ACTS…We moved to Vancouver less than two years ago, and the work of developing a community takes time. In one night, we got to share our story with about a hundred people – and hear many of their stories as well. It was exciting to see such a supportive response to new ways of engaging our community around the cause of clean water.”

Chimp is proud to have been a part of Dreamers + Doers: Volume II, from the planning stages to judging applications to furnishing the grant. The D + D community is an inspiring and impactful force in this city and we intend to continue to support and empower change-makers in any way we can.