Community Activation Network (CAN)

You CAN participate in the Community Activation Network

CNPE invites you to join in the Community Activation Network (CAN) conversation. CAN is a virtual forum/table for nonprofit social impact leaders, volunteers, and funders to hear about our community’s most pressing issues and needs. You hear from leaders across the region and experts from the field. It’s a place to learn about substantive issues that impact our work and our community in deep ways. It is a place to create shared learning and understanding, to make connections and strengthen relationships – a place where diverse voices are lifted up and listened to.

Who should participate in CAN?

CAN is for anyone in the nonprofit/social impact space who wants to help improve it. We welcome board members, officers, staff, and volunteers from nonprofits and foundations. We also invite those who support this sector financially – as well as those working to help our community who may not be connected to an existing nonprofit. We want a lot of voices and points of view as we work together to find effective solutions to the many social challenges we face in Greater Louisville and Southern Indiana.

Up Next: CAN Meeting on June 20, 2023

Calling all CAN participants! CNPE will be hosting a CAN reunion that will allow us to digest as a group where we are as a community. Join Louisville Magazine publisher Matthew Barzun and editor Josh Moss for an interactive conversation designed to take large groups on a journey of reflection and insight

You will, in real-time, see immediate snapshots of what your colleagues think about a host of issues – from our efforts to stop gun violence to the state of philanthropy in our community to what employee recruitment and retention look like in our current economy — and more. Learn more and register here. 

Check out some of our past CAN meetings:

October 2022 Mayoral Forum:

CNPE hosted a mayoral forum ahead of the general election in November. This allowed nonprofit leaders to submit questions that went directly to the two candidates. You can watch that event here.

August 2022 CAN Meeting: Good jobs in the nonprofit sector

The August CAN meeting continued our June discussion on the challenges in recruiting, hiring, and retaining frontline workers in the nonprofit sector. Aleece Smith, Director of Inclusion and Sector Strategies from KentuckianaWorks, shared a valuable presentation on Designing for Good Jobs. And Natalie Harris, Executive Director for the Coalition for the Homeless, spoke to the issue from an organizational leadership perspective. If you missed this discussion, you can watch the video here.

June 2022 CAN Meeting: Workforce issues in the nonprofit sector

The June CAN meeting highlighted challenges in recruiting, hiring, and retaining frontline workers. We hosted representatives from KentuckianaWorks and Volunteers of America to discuss the current workforce challenges and strategies to meet them. If you missed this discussion, you can watch the video here.

March 2022 Mayoral Candidate Forum

On March 29, CNPE convened its inaugural Mayoral Candidate Forum ahead of the primary election. For 90 minutes, seven candidates from two parties responded to questions submitted by CAN members, moderated by Stephen George of Louisville Public Media and Rachel Platt of the Frazier History Museum. You can view a replay of the event here.

After the forum, all participating candidates were also sent an extensive list of questions that could not be addressed during the forum due to time constraints. To date, we have received responses from Craig Greenberg, which you can read here.

CAN's Origins:

In 2021, CAN began as we addressed public safety from many points of view, including from local, state, and federal government and elected officials; from nonprofit leaders; from FOP members; from youth; and from members of different communities. More than 900 people participated. See the six-page summary of the 2021 CAN meetings on Public Safety.

CAN in 2023 and beyond...

Going forward, CAN’s power comes from its ability to address a significant topic affecting our entire community, engaging a wide variety of stakeholders. We will continue to address such significant topics. And we will ensure that CAN gatherings remain fresh, timely, and relevant.

This means that we are no longer planning for monthly meetings at set times. Instead, we will be more flexible and responsive. When a critical issue arises within the nonprofit community or throughout our Louisville/Southern Indiana community in general, we will convene an ad hoc CAN gathering to address it. (To suggest a topic that CAN should address, please contact Ed Cortas at ecortas@cnpe.org.)

What will not change is CNPE’s commitment to host these convenings, and others like them, so that we can address critical issues together. We hope that CAN meetings will continually broaden everyone’s idea of what “we” means.

Learn more, including CAN’s origins and guiding principles.