The London Sustainability Summit : Bringing London Together for a Equitable, Inclusive & Prosperous Future

We invited Londoners from multiple sectors to participate in the first citizen-led London Sustainability Summit: Your Say on London’s Budget

We challenged them to come to a consensus on only a few budget priorities. Could they come to a consensus? What did they prioritize?

THE GOAL: Bring together a diverse group of concerned individuals and groups to advocate to City Council support for a small number of key fundamental items from the draft budget. We aim to demonstrate broad community support for these items to the Mayor and Councillors so they will vote to include them in the final budget.

WHAT WE PROVIDE: We do the heavy lifting of applying our experience to read the entire draft budget and supporting documents. We apply a multifaceted set of criteria to pull out key sustainability items to discuss with you and other concerned individuals. We provide an easy- to- understand framework and a caring environment to share your ideas and thoughts. We collectively decide, by consensus, on which items should be included in a formal request to council and draft a letter for co-signing which reflects the group’s decisions.

WHAT YOU BRING: Your passion, your desire to make our shared community better, read our concise plain-language summaries prior to the meeting, and then participate in a 3- hour summit meeting.

WHAT IS SUSTAINABILITY? Sustainability is many things and its priority may differ based on your own perspective. It can include the following: protecting nature, housing affordability, increased transportation options, climate action, financial sustainability, food security and protecting farmland, equity, health and ensuring economic opportunities for all. These all have a place in the City of London budget. Often, these issues are discussed in silos, yet they are interconnected. When considered holistically, good decisions have the power to positively affect more than one issue.

We are at a critical time in the world and in the growth of London. The 4-year multi-year budget will set in motion how the City addresses our future. Collectively, we stand a better chance of making a difference and making our voices heard. Please consider participating and share with those you think might be interested.

Thursday January 18, 2024 Event Details:

In-person: First-St. Andrew’s United Church (350 Queens Ave) from 1pm - 4pm

OR

Virtual meeting: Zoom from 6:30 pm - 9:30 pm.

Can’t make the Summit but still want to engage with this initiative? For questions, email LondonCollectiveAction@gmail.com.

Everything is connected - poverty, housing, health, access to transportation, food security, the impacts of climate change. Want to help bring a collective voice to these issues?

Have you wanted more action but didn’t know how to engage? We want to hear from you.

KEY DATES

July 2023: We communicated specific requests and general initiatives to City staff while the detail budget was being prepared

December 12, 2023: DRAFT Budget Released by the City

January 13-25, 2024: City of London Community Drop-In Budget Sessions

January 16, 2024: London Environmental Network Info Session

January 18, 2024: THE SUSTAINABILITY SUMMIT

January 29, 2024: Official Public Participation Meeting on the draft budget

February 2024: Various dates - City of London council budget deliberations

February 27, 2024: 2nd Public Participation Meeting

March 5, 2024: Budget approved

London Environmental Network Info Session

This event is separate from the Sustainability Summit.

City of London Budget Events

For more details please visit:

Impact Phase 1: Send requests and initiatives while budget details are being prepared

We collected various budget ideas or thoughts about priority areas during June and July 2023. Our goal was to engage with the appropriate City of London staff while they were preparing the detailed budget business cases. The various Service Areas, Agencies, Boards and Commissions submit their detailed budgets and business cases to the ‘Finance Supports’ service area by the end of August, 2023. From September to early December, “Finance” costs the various business cases and prepares the draft budget.

Our team examined each of the ideas or priorities to determine what Service Area, Agency, Board or Commission the requests and initiatives should be communicated to and also what sections of the Strategic Priorities report the items related to.

Diverse Participation

Everyone is affected by the multiple crisis we are facing, with the most vulnerable affected the most. The wide ranging effects of climate change, housing affordability crisis, food security and healthcare crisis requires us to collectively come together and not repeat the silo approach of problem solving of the past. Everyone’s voice should be represented in these conversations.

Who should attend

  • Community groups

  • Environment groups

  • Business Associations

  • Health Care professionals

  • Labour representatives

  • Concerned individuals

Will you join us for a one day event?

Discussion Topics

We can’t do everything at once, what do we prioritize?

What would have the most positive impact on your community?

You do not need to know the solution before you attend the summit. The city has a 4-year budget cycle and many business cases are presented to Council to consider for funding. Council has indicated that they will consider proposals that have broad appeal. We will be reviewing the list of business cases based upon a diverse set of criteria with a goal to having consensus by the end of the summit on 3-4 businesses cases to support in a bid to Council.

Consensus Decision Making

How will decisions be made?

Through a combination of small group discussions, Q&A sessions and multiple ‘sticky dot’ votes we hope to come to consensus on 3-4 issues that have broad appeal and are feasible to implement.

As a commitment to working within community, decisions will be based on a consensus model. A suggested model can be found here: 

Planning Team

The London Sustainability Summit is being organized by a coalition of concerned individuals and groups including the following;