Dementia Inclusion Community of Practice Network- Planning Next Steps for Building Capacity

We have an opportunity to build on the knowledge and commitment that was developed in partnership with 11 community groups across BC’s lower mainland through the six-year Building Capacity Project. More community organizations are doing dementia inclusive work across BC but they are working in silos; there are no structures in place for ongoing capacity building to support dementia inclusion across the community sector. We will organize a half-day in-person event at UBC to plan and launch a community of practice (CoP) Network to fill this gap. The network is part of a broader strategy to mobilize knowledge to sustain and scale out dementia inclusive community initiatives that were implemented through the Building Capacity Project. A nascent CoP network (with lead KU Lopes) recently met online and identified their commitment and some (limited) capacity to support online meetings. An in-person event will help solidify and extend these community relationships and develop a shared understanding/ terms of reference. It will function as a “launch event”, creating the foundation for an ongoing online CoP Network to sustain and grow dementia inclusive community initiatives. It will also identify priorities for knowledge mobilization research in this area. We have an invitation list of 20 attendees, including people with lived experience (n=6), community organizational leaders (n=9), municipal decision-makers/ advisors (n=2), and non-UBC researchers/ trainees (n=3). Half of the attendees were part of the Building Capacity Project and half are new partners. They are from urban, small town, and rural areas of the Lower Mainland, Vancouver Island, and the Interior/ Northern regions of the province. Our team will prepare a discussion paper consolidating knowledge from our Building Capacity research to be shared with attendees before the event. We will plan and coordinate the event, which will include a light meal, sharing past experiences of dementia inclusive community initiatives, identifying priorities and commitments, and mapping a plan for the CoP Network. After the event, we will prepare a synthesis report to share with attendees. To extend event learnings more broadly, we will also share a summary brief of the plan for the CoP Network on our website (www.crpid.ubc.ca), through social media, and strategically with key interest holders identified by attendees. We will also submit an application for a knowledge mobilization grant based on event learnings.