Inaugural Blog: What is Momentum 2.0?

Welcome to Momentum 2.0’s inaugural blog post!

Over the past few months, we realized when writing our news updates that the team often had more to share than what we could fit into the news section or on our social media, so we’ve decided to start a blog! We want this blog to serve many purposes; we want it to provide more information on the work we are doing  to those who want more depth than what we post on the website’s news section and our social media, we want it to allow our team (staff and volunteers) to reflect and share their experiences through being apart of Momentum 2.0, and we want to catalogue our journey, so that we don’t lose sight of where we’ve come from.

So, as first post, what better topic than what is Momentum 2.0 and why was it created?

What is Momentum 2.0?

Momentum 2.0 is a national (Canada) non-profit organization whose purpose is to empower and accompany individuals, communities, and the organizations that serve them, to reach the next stage in their development and, hopefully, allow them to make their dreams a reality. Momentum 2.0 is open to all, though it prioritizes working with under-served communities, such as First Nations, Métis and Inuit, official minority language communities, individuals living with disability, low income, or low literacy, visible minorities, 2SLGBTQIA+ individuals, among many more (for the full list, refer to the Canadian Red Cross’ definition of vulnerable populations). Momentum 2.0, despite not having charity status, has organizational purposes that were crafted to follow the CRA’s guidelines for charitable organizations, notably including:

• Advancing education of and about the barriers facing, the realities being experienced, and the best practices and drivers to support Canada’s vulnerable communities by developing and sharing learnings and knowledge, conducting research, and supporting individuals and groups through training, organizational and community development, and recognition. 

• Enhancing individual and community well-being through efforts targeting mental and physical health, breaking isolation, exploring, connecting with, and embracing one’s identity, learning about, engaging with, and sharing one’s heritage and culture, and empowering individuals, groups, and communities to be who they want to be. 

• Relieving poverty by providing material resources (e.g., clothing, food, furniture, educational material, etc.) and expertise to support and empower people living in poverty to meet their needs, so that they can overcome poverty.

• Supporting community vitality and sustainability through developing and equipping individuals, community-based organizations, and communities with the tools needed to serve vulnerable populations and grow. This is achieved through the development of methods, procedures, and toolkits, created through knowledge-based methods and pilot initiatives, that can be shared across Canada. 

As of writing this at the end of June 2025 and 10-months after legally incorporating the organization, Momentum 2.0 has a variety of projects across the province of Québec (where we are based) and will be starting a consultation of official minority-language organizations across Canada in the coming weeks, as a first foray into meeting our ambitions of being a national organization. 

Why Was Momentum 2.0 Created?

The idea that would become Momentum 2.0 first took shape in 2023. Its founders, Eric, Helen, and Richard Walling, shared a deep desire to empower and strengthen individuals and communities, and saw an opportunity to build a model founded on collaboration, transparency, and putting communities first.

Momentum 2.0's vision was grounded in nearly 100 years of combined experienced, working across the community sector in a variety of roles. That experienced showed us how valuable strong governance, accountability, and clear drive are, and how, working together with community-based organizations and institutions of all sizes, we can work together to foster and bolster these key areas. Through our expertise in project development and management, research, coaching, and facilitation, we at Momentum 2.0 can strive, together and in partnership with community-based organizations, to hear our communities and their needs, bridge gaps, and improve impacts.

Where is Momentum 2.0 Now?

Since our incorporation on September 6^th, 2024, Momentum 2.0 has been true to its name, developing active and prospective partnerships with 50 organizations and applying on about a dozen grants for a total requested funding of $872,762.05 for the 2025-2026 fiscal year. Our current success rate on the applications we’ve heard back from is 63% (we’re still awaiting responses from 20%). To this, we add the incredible generosity of John Roy, who has provided us with around $15,000 worth of clothing and sporting equipment, alongside Eric Walling who has provided Momentum 2.0 with around $52,000 in cash to support the organization’s development. All of this has allowed us to hire a project coordinator and three summer students. Needless to say that we are incredibly proud of what we have been able to achieve in such a short time!

Our currently active projects include the finalization of research on the best practices to develop intergenerational initiatives, a project to encourage senior women to shine and empower those around them, research and development of community networks to support youth dealing with substance abuse, the development of sports and wellness programming in First Nation communities, the co-development of an environmental and cultural education programming with First Nation schools, the development and delivery of digital literacy programming with vulnerable populations, especially those on Quebec’s North Shore, and a consultation of official language minority organizations across Canada. We are also exploring around a dozen funding opportunities to apply for between September and the end of the calendar year. Additionally, we will also be creating our first strategic plan over the summer, and will explore how to diversify our funding, notably by reaching out to and partnering with for-profit corporations, during the fall.

The future is bright and we look forward to sharing our journey together!