Canadian CED Network

In late 2015, when Prime Minister Trudeau released his ministerial mandate letters, an important commitment was included to develop a national strategy on social innovation and social finance. 

The federal government recognizes that persistent and complex social problems which particularly affect Indigenous people, seniors, youth, immigrants, and women, require new and innovative responses.   With a social innovation and social finance strategy, the government wants to provide better support for community organizations working to achieve positive solutions to entrenched social problems, including those faced by vulnerable populations.

This spring, a Co-Construction Steering Group made up of practitioners and experts from the community, philanthropic, financial and research sectors was announced to co-develop the strategy with the Government of Canada.  After a very busy summer, the group is now beginning consultations on the proposed themes and possible actions that the strategy could address. 

CCEDNet is pleased to partner with Employment and Social Development Canada to offer a consultation on the development of the strategy at EconoUs2017.  

David LePage and Roselyne Mavungu, two members of the Co-Construction Steering Group, will lead the session.

The policies and initiatives that will emerge from the strategy will likely shape the federal government’s support for social enterprise and community investment for years to come, so this is an extremely important opportunity.  Come hear the latest on progress to date and provide your input so that the strategy, which is due to be announced in Spring 2018, will build on the community-led innovation for shared prosperity that is already happening across the country. 

Join us and register now for EconoUs2017!

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sharingWe’ve all heard the stories. Homeless Homejoy cleaners. Uber drivers on food stamps. Grad students Airbnb-ing their extra rooms in gentrifying neighborhoods to cover their own rent.

For all of its promises to increase prosperity and sustainability, the so-called “sharing economy” has a serious dark side. As the sector undergoes explosive growth (25 percent in 2013), it is a force that those of us working to build more equitable and resilient cities need to be engaging with—and helping to shape. Experience shows that new tech platforms will not automatically plug low-income communities and communities of color in to their regional economies. Connecting the most vulnerable to this newfangled form of capitalism in positive, beneficial ways—and preventing the deepening of exclusion—can only come about through targeted strategies, policies, and campaigns.

Now is the time to start thinking creatively about how to bend the nascent sharing economy toward equity. Inclusion is not just the right thing to do—it is the key to building strong companies and sectors and a robust and resilient economy. Business owners, city leaders, workers, and community advocates all have a stake in making inclusion the reality. Here are some questions to start the conversation:

What should we call it?
The sharing economy is the most popular alias for the growing array of app-based tech platforms that connect the buyers and sellers of various goods and services: rooms, rides, funding, housecleaning, clothing, chores, dog-sitting, grocery shopping, copyediting, and more. The collaborative economy, the peer economy, the on-demand economy, and the gig economy are others.

Names evoke powerful frames, and the sharing economy conjures up a warmer, fuzzier form of capitalism that offers more access to goods and services at a lower environmental and financial cost, and without the burden of individual ownership. But as Catherine Rampell notes, calling this digitized version of commerce sharing is “an insult to the intelligence of existing businesses, regulators, and 5-year olds everywhere.” At the same time, the sharing economy is quite diverse, and some segments of it (casual carpools, for example) might actually pass a preschoolers’ sniff test.

On the whole, a better choice might be the “gig economy,” which emphasizes the types of jobs being created by these new online marketplaces: contingent, part-time gigs that offer flexibility and variety but not the regular hours, benefits, or protections of traditional employment. Some 53 million Americans—34 percent of workers—are freelancing to make a living, and that share is expected to grow to 40 percent by 2020.

How can the gig economy create good jobs?
While gig economy CEOs see themselves as unleashing new opportunities for legions of “microentrepreneurs,” workers express growing discontent over the terms of their labor. A key issue is that the gig economy’s online marketplaces are not structured as employers, but as intermediaries that help connect the sellers (who are independent contractors), with buyers.

Many worry that this model transfers too much risk to workers, with too few protections, and could significantly drive down wages and increase economic insecurity. As Robert Reich put it: “There is no economic security, there is no predictability, and there is no power among workers to get a fair share of the profits.”

Glimmers of a higher-road gig economy business model have emerged. Some companies decided that becoming employers who have relationships with their workers, pay them well, provide benefits, and train them to deliver high-quality services is actually a better business model. Others have raised wages and offered benefits.

These are promising developments that hint at a good jobs path for gig economy companies, and finding workable employee-friendly business models is critical. (And perhaps if they truly have a social mission, they could become certified B Corporations.) But in the face of a growing contingent labor force, policies that ensure strong legal protections for workers against wage theft and other violations, a minimum wage that is a living wage, benefits, a strong safety net, and the right to organize will be essential.

Can vulnerable communities participate on fair terms?
Sharing economy businesses promise to make goods and services more available to everyday people, but the reality is that they are often still inaccessible to those who are already excluded economically. Take car-, ride-, and bike-sharing. Low-income communities and communities of color carry the heaviest transportation burdens and could benefit tremendously from flexible, low-cost transportation options. But as a recent study commissioned by Living Cities shows, they rarely use these transportation options and face multiple barriers to doing so, from the absence of facilities in their neighborhoods to the lack of Internet access and more.

Fair pricing is another challenge. There are no neutral platforms in a racially inequitable society, and on the seller side of things, there is a risk that people of color engaging in profile-driven platforms are not on a level playing field. A Harvard Business School study found that New York City Airbnb hosts who are not black charge about 12 percent more than black hosts for comparable properties.

It will take holistic, intentional strategies, policies, and long-term planning to extend the sharing economy to the most vulnerable communities. The Living Cities study concluded that there was no silver bullet strategy to make these systems work for low-income communities, but those that were most successful addressed multiple barriers at once. Equity leader Nikki Sylvestri describes how “accessibility, relevance, and relationship” are crucial.

How will we regulate the click economy?
As the fights over Airbnb, Uber, and Lyft in New York City, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and dozens of other cities demonstrate, new sharing economy models are shaking up systems of regulation designed for the pre-Internet era. Regulation is the key challenge for the growth of sharing economy businesses, resulting in high stakes and fiery debates.

Equity advocates and community leaders need to be ready to engage in these debates and weigh in with their own ideas and proposals to make the click sector work for inclusive growth. Rapid gentrification in the 1990s gave birth to the community benefits agreement movement. In the face of rapid technological, economic, and demographic transformation, what will the next era of equity policy innovation look like? Those working in and for the most vulnerable communities have important knowledge to bring into these discussions, and need to be at the table.

Originally Appeared on Rooflines, by Sarah Treuhaft, PolicyLink Director of Equitable Growth Initiatives

Sarah TreuhaftSarah Treuhaft is director of Equitable Growth Initiatives at PolicyLink, a national research and action institute advancing economic and social equity. She leads the organization’s work on demographic change and the economy, collaborating with local and national partners on research and action projects that aim to build a more equitable economy. She manages the development of the National Equity Atlas (www.nationalequityatlas.org), a web-based data and policy tool produced in partnership with the USC Program for Environmental and Regional Equity.

*The opinions expressed in blog posts are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the position of CCEDNet

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Created by the Trico Charitable Foundation in 2011, the biennial Social EnterPrize celebrates and advances leadership and excellence in social entrepreneurship in Canada. Social enterprises are organizations, for-profit or not-for-profit, that blend the social and the entrepreneurial by using business models/markets to solve social problems.

“Our 2017 recipients are remarkable examples of what can be accomplished when you blend the power of business models with the desire to solve the world’s social problems” says Daniel Overall, Executive Director of the Trico Charitable Foundation. “Partnering with over 90 community agencies and 12 plus corporate partnerships, Furniture Bank is breaking new ground on the possibilities of scale, while from its nails to its neighbours the intentionality of Fogo Island Inn is extraordinary. Together they are demonstrating the breadth and depth of the how a social enterprise can be – to paraphrase Abraham Lincoln – of the community, by the community, for the community.”

In line with the goals of the Social EnterPrize to both advance the work of leading Canadian social enterprises and inspire and inform others, the recipients receive $100,000, a video profile, and will be the subject of an in-depth case-study undertaken by a Canadian post-secondary institution.

The awards will be formally presented during EconoUs2017 on the evening of September 14th, 2017. Click here for more information and to register for the three-day conference.

New: Tickets for the evening presentation of the award – which includes a panel discussion – are now available.  

Click here to register for Doing Business Differently: An Evening of Celebration and Alignment

Furniture Bank – Dan Kershaw

“We are thrilled to be recognized for the work we are doing in social enterprise. When customers use Furniture Bank’s social enterprise they are a part of a 72 hour cycle where the customers problem is another families solution as they build a dignified home with the donations collected through the social enterprise. The synergy between customer and beneficiary is very special to our social enterprises success. We are honoured to join the Trico Foundation family and the other Social EnterPrize recipients”, Dan Kershaw, Executive Director, Furniture Bank.

Furniture Bank is a registered charity and social enterprise that has been helping people in the Greater Toronto Area establish their homes since 1998. It transfers gently used furniture and household goods donated by the community to people who are in need of a fresh start. The organization’s fleet of trucks are on the road throughout the year, picking up furniture and delivering items to formerly displaced individuals directly to their homes. Furniture Bank’s goal is to expand these activities to support furniture banks across Canada.

Fogo Island Inn – Diane Hodgins

“Social Enterprise has given us the opportunity to redefine how business is used as a tool to strengthen community and develop the inherent capacities of people, as well as create models for community ownership of economic assets. It is very meaningful to have the Fogo Island Inn recognized in this light and we are deeply appreciative of Trico Foundation’s work to support development in this field”, Diane Hodgins, CFO of the Shorefast Foundation.

The Fogo Island Inn is an initiative of the Shorefast Foundation, a registered Canadian charity with a mandate to provide relief of poverty on Fogo Island, a small fishing community off the coast of Newfoundland. Shorefast employs business-minded means to achieve social ends. In the midtwentieth century, factory overfishing by international trawlers caused a dramatic decline in commercial cod stocks off the coast of Newfoundland, eventually leading to a moratorium on cod fishing in 1992. Since that time, the people of Fogo Island have struggled to make a living in the place they’ve called home for over 400 years.The Fogo Island Inn is a direct response to a pressing need to find new relevance for traditional knowledge, and was created to be a cultural and economic engine for Fogo Island. When taking stock of existing skills on Fogo Island, we chose to build on Fogo Islanders’ innate predisposition towards exceptional hospitality, creating the Inn as a further expression of that talent.

Congratualtions Fogo Island Inn and Furniture Bank! 

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Manitoba GovernmentLast week the Province of Manitoba announced a single-window intake for 6 programs, including Neighbourhoods Alive! Community Initiatives, Neighbourhoods Alive! Neighbourhood Renewal Fund, Community Places, Community Planning Assistance, Hometown Manitoba and Partner 4 Growth. Intake for 2017/18 closes September 11, 2017.

See the press release here.

CCEDNet Manitoba has spoken with the civil service, and has received some further clarity.

Applications for the 2017/18 fiscal year are being accepted until September 11, 2017 and the civil service has committed to making decisions by end of October, 2017 (this does not account for the time it takes to go from project approval to a signed agreement). Projects must conclude by the end of March, 2018. This means organizations have at most 5 months to begin and complete their proposed initiative.

As these programs are still considered to be under review, it is unknown if or when there will be an intake for 2018/19.

Multi-year agreements, whether under the NA! Neighbourhood Renewal Fund or Neighbourhood Development Agreements, will continue to be funded, however these agreements are still subject to annual approval by Treasury Board.

While the NA! Community Initiatives and the NA! Neighbourhood Renewal Fund have a minimum $5,000 for project size, the civil service could not speak to an average size of project.

In terms of the types of projects that will be considered, priority will be given to new applications focused on the following:

  • Accessibility and reducing barriers for Manitobans of all ages, gender, cultural background, sexual identity, physical or mental ability or income,
  • Green space and active transportation such as parks, playgrounds and trails; and
  • Newcomer support, either through building on or encouraging involvement in the community.

According to the civil service, “accessibility” is to be understood as a broad term. For instance, access to the labour market would be included.

Other considerations that will be prioritized include “Projects that involve partnerships with two or more community organizations, demonstrate broad local government and community support and are regional in nature will receive additional priority consideration.”

Furthermore,  “Community organizations may submit other requests for strategic projects, which may not meet the program criteria outlined above, but that meet provincial priorities, leverage funding from other sources, strengthen local capacity, support a community’s ability to improve its economic and social conditions, assess needs, determine objectives and create a strategy for progress.”

We understand provincial priorities to be the 3 themes noted above, as well as the content in the mandate letters provided to Ministers last year.

Organizations are encouraged to get in touch with program staff to discuss further questions.

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ccednet manitobaThe Canadian CED Network hosts a number of “Strengthening Non-Profits” workshops throughout the year on a variety of topics identified through engagement and consultation with our members and partners. Check out the following offerings in 2017. For more information or to let us know about a customized Build-Your-Own workshop you’d like to see, contact Jenna Drabble at jdrabble at ccednet-rcdec.ca.

All of the events will take place at:

Time & Location Cost
9:00 am to 12:00 pm
United Way of Winnipeg Learning Centre
1st floor, 580 Main St.		 Price: CCEDNet Members $25 | Non-members $75
Not a member? Join CCEDNet

Working Together to Create Inclusive Community Programming

September 21st​

Working in diverse communities requires strategies for community engagement that are inclusive of all people. How do we ensure that our programs are welcoming and engaging? How do we recognize barriers to participation and what can we do to address this? This interactive and discussion based workshop will encourage participants to share their challenges around community engagement and present some practical tools for developing more inclusive community programming.

Facilitator: Levi A. Foy

Build and Grow Your Social Enterprise

October 5th

Non-profits and social entrepreneurs are increasingly considering social enterprise – a blended value model where business methods are put to work achieving social impacts. This workshop will explain what social enterprise is and what it’s not, then lead participants through an overview of the typical steps in an enterprise’s early development. The facilitators will introduce participants to tools for deciding if you’re ready to take on an enterprise, how to clarify your idea, test its feasibility, plan the business model including legal and financial considerations, start-up and then evaluate and strengthen.

Anyone curious about social enterprise will benefit from this half-day session. Non-profit organizations considering the model and economic or business developers wanting to expand their knowledge are particularly welcome. All participants will receive a copy of the Canadian Guide on Social Enterprise, developed by Enterprising Non-Profits.

Facilitators: Frank Atnikov and Gilbert Dion

When Media Comes Calling: Prepare and Deliver!

November 16th​

So you have landed the interview or you have been booked for a media panel, now what? This workshop will offer up skills and tips on how to prepare for a print, radio or TV interview, how to deal with challenging interview questions, and techniques to make sure your key messages are delivered. Participants will get hands-on practice and take away tools that will help them prepare for and leverage media opportunities.

This three-hour workshop is designed to give individuals the tools and practice they need to…

Facilitator: Cate Friesen

Marketing and Brand for Non-Profits: tools and best practices to increase impact

December 7th

This workshop will distill brand elements into three simple questions: Who are you? How do you help? And who do you serve? The goal is to discover brand and marketing tools that you need to effectively advocate for change, build capacity and tell your story in a way that will encourage others to take action. This workshop will cover marketing theory tailored for social good, while giving participants the practical tools and insights they can implement back at the office for easy and immediate results. If you’ve ever struggled to get a consistent, impactful message out, or make sure everyone in your organization is telling the same story to clients, funders and others – this workshop is for you.

Facilitator: Jill Knaggs

For more information on either session, contact for more information.

The Gathering Registration opens September 1st!

For more information on this year’s Gathering, how to sponsor or get involved, contact 

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Nine weeks of workshops on Social EnterpriseCCEDNet Member NORDIK Institute, Algoma University’s community-based research organization with ongoing goals of increasing employment and promoting community resilience is hosting a series of nine workshops geared to Social Enterprises, Social Entrepreneurs and new business start-ups.

The Social Enterprise and Entrepreneurship (SEE) Northern Region Partnership workshops will be held at the Sault Community Career Centre every Wednesday evening from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. from Wed Aug 2 until September 27th. They will cover a variety of topics including Social Enterprises 101, Business Planning 101, Market Research and Financing and Capital 101. Open to everyone, a dedicated team will support the learning of these topics through interactive sessions geared at entrepreneurs and enterprises who are starting or expanding a business and taking that next step to apply for funding. These sessions will also be broadcasted online.

“Within the last three years, NORDIK and SEE have been instrumental in capacity building, training and support for social enterprises and entrepreneurs, starting from the conceptualization stage, to educating them on skills and components of owning and managing a business, to the process of writing a funding application in the Northern Ontario context,” says Sean Meades, Acting Director, NORDIK Institute. “These nine weeks of workshops will build on our previous efforts and help educate participants in learning about Social Enterprise and how one can begin a business that can help tackle community problems.”

Social Enterprises engage citizens and spark community change through developing innovative ideas and employment opportunities while responding to social, cultural and environmental needs. They differ from other small businesses in that they use the “triple bottom line” (People, Planet, Profit) to assess success, and their governance structure often reflects community or collective control, such as with cooperatives or non-profits.

“One needs to be very prepared to take on any business, especially a Social Enterprise, and these workshops will help interested Social Entrepreneurs understand the various aspects of business as it applies to their venture,” says Erika Luoma, SEE’s Project Lead and Communications Coordinator. “Our project is dedicated to developing supports and resources to allow social enterprise to succeed and these workshops will help us do just that.”

For more information on the workshops, please visit the SEE website, www.seethechange.ca

Originally Published on Sault Online, July 31 2017

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Neighbourhoods AliveNeighbourhoods Alive! is a clear case of intelligent public investment, but the provincial government has halted funding, and the program is inactive. This is counterproductive and does little to heal the bridge between First Nations and the rest of Winnipeg.

Neighbourhoods Alive! funds community development initiatives in 13 low-income urban areas in Manitoba, including six in Winnipeg’s inner city. In 2015-16, the program invested $4.8 million into 182 projects in urban areas with high rates of complex poverty. It has been instrumental in bringing about much-needed positive change in these neighbourhoods.

A good example is Lord Selkirk Park, which is Winnipeg’s largest public housing complex. It is located in the heart of the North End. In the 1990s, it was half-empty. Units were boarded up. Those who lived and worked there at the time routinely referred to it as a “war zone.” It was not safe and was widely seen as a place to avoid.

In 2005, the North End Community Renewal Corp., which receives core funding from Neighbourhoods Alive!, secured a federal government grant to work in the complex to reduce crime and violence.

The renewal corporation team began its work in the complex by meeting with residents, developing relationships, earning peoples’ trust and learning about the hopes and fears of those who lived there. This is classic community organizing.

People told us they wanted a safe space to meet, where they could talk with neighbours and break down the social isolation they experienced. We responded by creating a resource centre in an empty unit. Neighbourhoods Alive! contributed significantly to its funding.

Residents told us they wanted to earn their Grade 12 diploma. Many were single parents with, on average, junior high-level education. They were stuck on social assistance and hated it. They wanted to change their lives. We negotiated with the provincial government to locate an adult learning centre in the complex and to create a literacy program. Because parents — especially single parents — needed child care to take advantage of educational opportunities, we negotiated again with the provincial government to locate a 47-space child-care centre in Lord Selkirk.

It is just over a decade since we started. Throughout that decade, Neighbourhoods Alive! has provided consistent and substantial financial support to both the renewal corporation and the complex’s resource centre.

Today, Lord Selkirk is a different place. It is fully occupied. There is a wait list of people wanting to live there — evidence of the many improvements. There are some 60 newcomer families living there; they have become a seamless part of the largely indigenous community. Approximately 80 adults have graduated with their mature Grade 12 diploma from Kaakiyow, the adult learning centre. Few would otherwise have been able to earn their Grade 12. The literacy program is full to capacity and has a wait list — residents want to take advantage of opportunities to change their lives. The child-care centre is piloting the Abecedarian model and is proving to be hugely beneficial to children, especially in terms of language acquisition. A recent evaluation of the resource centre reported it is “highly successful” and is having a “profound impact in the lives of neighbourhood residents.”

This is a dramatic success story. What was one of Winnipeg’s most difficult neighbourhoods has been transformed significantly. It has taken only a decade. If this can happen in a neighbourhood as challenged as Lord Selkirk was, it can happen anywhere. But it requires the kind of funding that Neighbourhoods Alive! provides.

There is much more still to be done.

On the day the provincial government announced that the funding was frozen, the renewal corporation released a new five-year vision for the North End. The plan for economic and social renewal was developed in collaboration with North End residents. It prioritizes opportunities for youth to break intergenerational cycles of poverty, which is especially important since the North End has the highest child-apprehension rates, and shamefully, more than 10,000 children — 90 per cent of them indigenous — in the care of child and family services.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the Phoenix Sinclair inquiry have called for solutions that get at the roots of this problem. The renewal corporation’s plan is intended to do that. That’s what has happened in Lord Selkirk. But this work needs resources, and so restoring provincial funding is essential.

Originally published on the Winnipeg Free Press on December 12, 2016 by Jim SIlver

Jim SilverJim Silver is a professor and chairman of the University of Winnipeg’s department of urban and inner-city studies,needs resurrection and was an active member of the team that worked in Lord Selkirk Park starting in 2005. Dr. Silver is also a research associate with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives — Manitoba.

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The Canadian CED Network’s Policy Council submitted a response to the federal government’s invitation for pre-budget submissions for the 2018 Federal Budget.  This year, the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance called for submissions that addressed productivity and competitiveness.

Read the full pre-budget submission

Our Recommendations for the 2018 Federal Budget

1. Business Development – Enhancing the Supply and Variety Services​
       a. Expand the capacity and access to existing small and medium enterprise services through the Canadian Business Network
b. Support the creation of innovation incubators and labs on priority social issues (such as community renewable energy, population aging, social inclusion) to accelerate social innovation and the creation of social enterprises and cooperatives focused on social impact across Canada.
c. Provide a supportive regulatory framework giving charities and non-profits more flexibility to pursue business models that generate both social and financial impacts.
d. Support innovation networks and communities of practice to connect relevant stakeholders across sectors, such as through the Social Enterprise Ecosystem initiative being led by the Canadian CED Network, the Chantier de l’économie sociale, the Social Enterprise Institute and Buy Social Canada.
e. Adapt Québec’s program for OLTIS (organisations de liaison et de transfert en innovation sociale) to create pan-Canadian social innovation knowledge transfer centres such as the TIESS.
2. Access to Markets and Capital – Increasing the Supply of Social Finance and Intermediary Tools
a. Contribute to the capitalization of tailored, demand-designed investment funds such as the Co-operative Investment Fund proposed by Co-operatives and Mutuals Canada, the non-profit social enterprise investment fund proposed by the Social Enterprise Council of Canada, and the social finance fund of funds proposed by the National Impact Investment Practitioners Table.
b. Support market access initiatives such as the Social Enterprise Ecosystem for Canada project that would create a pan-Canadian online directory and e-commerce platform for social enterprises, building on the success of the Québec-based Commerce solidaire.
3. Social Purchasing – Growing Demand for Social Enterprise Services
a. Implement social value weighting in all federal RFPs and contracts.
b. Include community benefit agreements in federal development projects.
c. Implement a Living Wage requirement for all contractors, including their subcontractors, on government contracts.
4. Employment and Skills Training ​
a. Reintroducing in the new agreements the intention and spirit of the former Labour Market Agreements
b. Amending the funding formula for the Labour Market Development Agreements to ensure that LMDA allocations are distributed equitably and rationally
c. Eliminating the Canada Job Grant program, or ensuring that it does not impact funding intended to support vulnerable Canadians. This program has mainly served as an upskilling fund.
d. Establishing a portable account, financed by contributions from workers, employers and the federal government, for Canadians to draw upon to pay for lifetime learning and job retraining.

Read the full pre-budget submission

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CCEDNet member Groupe Convex Prescott-Russell, under the leadership of Caroline Arcand, announced on April 21, that it received $369,000 from the provincial government to offer mentorship, coaching and financial services to people with disabilities. Those asking for funding or support will self-identify when they present themselves. When Arcand heard about the Social Enterprise Demonstration Fund (SEDF), she asked the PRCDC to help her apply for a grant from the fund.

“For me it was imperative that we don’t do a medical check on participants. We know that some people might abuse the system, but we didn’t want to be in a position to discriminate in any way, shape or form,” said Caroline Arcand, Executive Director at Groupe Convex.

If a person identifies him or herself as having a disability, whether is it mental or physical, he/she will be approved by the program. Anyway, you still need to have a viable business idea to have access to grants or services,” added Arcand.

The SEDF supports job creation and economic growth by providing opportunities for social enterprises to get funding. Her goal is to help 10 social enterprises hire people with disabilities and help 20 entrepreneurs with disabilities launch their businesses.

Suzanne Hocquard is in charge of recruiting future entrepreneurs at Groupe Convex. She will also supply start-up funding and help entrepreneurs write their business plan. Edith Jean-Louis from PRCDC will support the initiative by taking care of credit and directing the entrepreneurs towards more programs.

“We cover Eastern and Southern Ontario so it’s a pretty big territory. We get candidates through our partners who refer potential entrepreneurs and social businesses to us and we are also always on the lookout. Aside from the $15,000 grant, we also offer coaching services for an array of activities. The $15,000 can also be used to help participants of the program to get more funding from banks. So the initial fund can generate a lot more capital, as long as the business plan demonstrates a viable business. The business plan is usually priority number one for the program,” said Hocquard.

The program, which was launched in April, has financially supported three projects and more entrepreneurs are under review or have received coaching services. The cut-off date is at the end of March 2018. When asked if Groupe Convex companies could benefit from the program, Arcand said that “yes, Groupe Convex companies could benefit from the program, but I would see a conflict of interest at that point and I would have to step out of the decision-making process.”

“As of now, only two companies within the Groupe Convex umbrella could benefit from the program since they are growing. But we have other means to achieve our goals. The priority right now is giving a break to entrepreneurs living with a disability,” added Arcand.

At the unveiling of the program on April 21, Grant Crack commended the work of Arcand and stated that, “The $ 369,000 that the minister has given us will help you greatly in the process of your new and important program. The emergence of entrepreneurship among people with visible and non-visible disabilities will help create jobs and enable society to grow its economy with the talented future of workers and entrepreneurs.”

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The Social Enterprise Ecosystem project (S4ES) launched on May 10th, 2017, is a groundbreaking partnership between the Canadian Community Economic Development Network, the Commerce Solidaire, Buy Social Canada, Social Enterprise Institute and Social Value Lab that seeks to establish a more coherent ecosystem in collaboration with the many other social enterprise developers throughout Canada.

The Social Enterprise Ecosystem ProjectThis project connects training, marketing, and impact measurement resources for social enterprises anywhere in Canada. S4ES is mandated to address five of the “Six Pillars of the Supportive Ecosystem for Social Enterprise“, as determined by the Social Enterprise Council of Canada.  The objective is to scale up accessible, self-sustaining platforms for social enterprise skills development and market access that will strengthen the pillars of a social enterprise development ecosystem.

With support from Employment and Social Development Canada, the J.W. McConnell Family Foundation and the Mental Health Commission of Canada, S4ES will take an integrated approach to developing business skills, markets, finance and impact practice, to scale up accessible, self-sustaining platforms for social enterprise skills development and market access to strengthen the pillars of Canada’s social enterprise development ecosystem.

The program will introduce key innovations, including:  

  • An online learning platform;
  • A national social enterprise directory and e-commerce site
  • Social purchasing and branding certification
  • Tools and resources to strengthen social impact measurement by social enterprises
  • A social enterprise grant fund
  • A social enterprise accelerator
  • Thematic and regional communities of practice

Find out more on the S4ES Website 

Meet the S4ES team: 

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Building innovators for social impactThere is much debate as to how social impact education can up the ante in building social innovators. (For an expert and very insightful cross-examination of this ongoing debate, check out The Stanford Social Innovation Review: The Future of Social Impact Education in Business Schools and Beyond). But for the sake of bringing something new to this discussion, first let’s reverse engineer this question of how to build innovators for social impact? What exactly does it actually mean to be an innovator? What does an innovator look like, think like, and feel like? Perhaps you instantly imagine the typically young, white founding fathers of some trendy startup named Airbnb, Uber, or Bla Bla Car? In fact, you probably don’t think of Dr Martin Luther King Jr and the civil rights movement who created one of the earliest carpooling systems during the Montgomery Bus Boycott (where black people refused to ride on segregated buses and therefore had to find other forms of transport).

Innovation always seems so shiny and new but to be an innovator is to be a rule breaker; someone who seeks new opportunities to push the boundaries and has the guts to not take no for an answer. An innovator is a risk-taker who disrupts the status quo despite a wall of resistance or a lack of readiness to think outside that box we are so often reminded of. Not everyone is an innovator but for those who are, it can be a long lonely road full of doubt, frustration, and rejection.

So how can we help these forward-thinkers, anti-bandwagoners, and anomalies to threaten our old and comfortable habits with weird and wonderfully new ideas in the spirit of social innovation?

Well, the first practice has already been hinted at above when imagining what an innovator looks like, or rather, doesn’t always look like. It’s a well-known fact that teams demonstrate higher levels of innovation when they are more diverse and inclusive. In this sense, it is important that schools, universities, and non-formal educators make programmes available to both the privileged and underprivileged. Cohorts need to reflect and represent changemakers irrespective of: gender; class; colour; culture; disability; or educational level (not forgetting more subtle barriers such as immigration status and English language fluency). Social impact education must reach those who live with and suffer the ‘problem’ on a daily basis for the simple fact that they are much more likely to creatively and resourcefully solve said problem as well as withstand the storm of executing their solution. So education providers should not shy away from the challenge of empowering the underdogs and unsung heroes of our ‘glocal’ ecosystem but rather find meaningful ways to reach those both lost and found on the sidelines and frontlines of our communities.

The second practice comes post recruitment and more during the incubation itself. As the name suggests, incubator programmes take participants into their womb to nurture them with all the knowledge, wisdom, and inspiration they’ve got. In session, participants sit, stand, and sit again listening, learning, post-it noting, ideating, design thinking, business model canvassing… and fingers crossed much more. Our budding innovators are told over and over again to just start doing, however, they’ve spent all this precious time absorbing and talking rather than learning by doing and executing. This is not the case for all social impact schools of course but it’s not an uncommon experience either. Here, the CEAL model (Community-based Entrepreneurship Action Learning) works well. The CEAL model challenges participants to come up with a team project that answers a local problem. Like this, participants’ understanding is not only tested but immediately put into practice. They get used to taking action, achieving small victories, celebrating small failures, pivoting, taking feedback, building confidence and breaking fear – all in a safe and guided environment. In other words, educators should think about how to create a culture of doing by creating a space where they are actually doing.

The third practice arrives after graduation day when our budding innovators begin their long and treacherous journeys into the unknown. This particular phase, coined by The Do School as the ‘Implementation Phase’ is crucial to the success of any social impact innovator or entrepreneur because here comes real life. Our seedlings will need all the continued guidance, ongoing support, and close mentoring that a programme’s resources can allow for. A Facebook group is simply not enough. People go back to their old routines, issues, and insecurities which they may not announce on a social media page that quickly goes quiet. Mentoring (virtual and/or physical) inspires motivation, encourages evaluation, and demands accountability. It also restores the balance between the often heavier focus on a hard skill-set learnt during incubation (such as brand messaging, team management, and impact measurement) and the increasingly important survival skills needed during implementation (such as perseverance, courage, and self-awareness) which are the backbone of any innovator who has lived to tell the tale. Educators should take a leaf out of The Do School’s mentorship methodology and understand that the learning curve for participants must not be driven by content but by contact.

Naturally this is not a definitive list of ‘best practices’ when building innovators for survival and success. The whole point of innovation is that nothing is or should be definitive. However, when nurturing innovation, what is most important is a lifelong nourishing of ideas, inquiry, insights, and instinct. Here, it’s not only the responsibility of educational institutions to stay ahead of the curve but rather the collective responsibility of our society to create a more habitable environment for our innovators to eventually disrupt.

Originally posted on What A Mission on March 25, 2017

Vanessa FaloyeVanessa Faloye, British-Nigerian, is a workshop facilitator, curriculum developer, and consultant in social impact education. She designs and delivers social innovation programmes for international organisations with the aim of empowering youth and marginalised groups to become social change-makers. She uses multiple lenses of diversity, equity, and inclusion; critical and systems thinking; and problem-mapping in her pedagogical approach. She is also a motivational speaker on topics relating to social innovation. Vanessa holds a post-graduate certificate in Social Enterprise and Innovation at The Do School – Berlin, Germany. She is passionate (and slightly obsessed) with traveling, reading, and raving.

*The opinions expressed in blog posts are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the position of CCEDNet

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ACEM Working TogetherCooperation, collaboration, community organizing, collective impact…whatever you call it, and however you go about it, the fact of the matter remains – we need to work together.

We need to work together because…

  • together we can get more work done, avoiding duplication of efforts, accessing a greater variety of skills and other assets, and tackling multi-faceted social issues from a variety of angles and in coordination with each other.
  • too many people are left out of the economy, left out of the community, left out of the conversation. The cost of inequality and exclusion are too great and we only end up losing out on human potential.
  • together we can hold each other accountable. By working in our own silos we might not recognize a need to change.

Community economic development (CED) emerged as a response to the failures of the ‘attract and retain’ model of economic development to address issues of local and regional economic decline and the systemic economic and social exclusion of marginalized members of the community. Central to the CED approach is having people within a community (whether one of place, identity, or organized around specific issues) work together to identify their collective strengths, find opportunities and collectively make an action plan. What a CED plan looks like and how it is developed in one community could be totally different in another community.

Intentionally, most of the work of the Canadian CED Network is collaborative in nature, working with and for our members and in partnership with other organizations with whom we share an affinity in mission. EconoUs2017 is a great example.

Every year we tender proposals from prospective co-hosts. With the successful co-hosts we identify strengths and opportunities at the local, regional and national levels, including other potential partners who could be involved in various aspects of the conference planning and program. As a result, each conference we’ve co-hosted has been different, reflecting the culture, mission, and networks of the local co-hosts.

Past National CED Conference Co-Hosts
Montréal | 2016
CEDEC
Winnipeg | 2009
Ka Ni Kanichihk and SEED Winnipeg
Saskatoon | 2008
Quint Development Corporation
St. John’s | 2007
Futures In Newfoundland And Labrador Youth! (FINALY!)
Vancouver | 2006
Fast Track to Employment
Sault Ste. Marie | 2005
Community Economic and Social Development Program of Algoma University and the Ontario Healthy Communities Coalition
Trois-Rivières | 2004
CDEC de Trois-Rivières

This year our co-hosts in Calgary are Thrive, Momentum, Calgary Economic Development, REAP, the Institute for Community Prosperity, and the Calgary Regional Partnerships (the table to the right shows who some of our co-hosts have been over the years). Planning EconoUs2017 has truly been a partnership between all 7 organizations, each bringing their own team, networks, resources, and unique perspectives to the table.

To help us develop a program reflective of the diversity of the CED field in Canada we also assembled a Program Committee charged with the difficult task of reviewing workshop proposals, making recommendations about what workshops are to be selected and where there might be gaps, and guiding the development of other program elements like speakers, networking time, special events, etc.

Of course, the program wouldn’t come together if not for the participation of workshop leads and plenary speakers. They provide the real substance of the conference, delving into a diversity of topics that include anti-racism, economic empowerment of women, indigenous leadership, local investing, co-operative renewable energy, microlending, agriculture, and so much more! At the time that I am writing this, we have 72 confirmed speakers, 51% of whom are women and 35% of whom are from the host province. A full third of workshops will have simultaneous translation, showing our dedication to inclusion of both official languages. The speakers also represent a wide diversity in types of organizations/professionals involved (co-operatives, social enterprises, SMEs, government, nonprofits, funders, researchers, etc.).

While we have a lot of experience working in collaboration with others (see other examples below) that doesn’t mean we’re perfect at it. Every new working relationship is different and demands an openness in everyone to learn from each other and to be called out when expectations aren’t met. At last year’s conference, ECONOUS2016, we were rightfully called out for a lack of racial diversity in both the program and the overall participation. Our staff team took it seriously and met for the full day after the conference to start a conversation as an organization about diversity: ‘what do we mean by diversity,’ ‘what kinds of diversity are we talking about,’ ‘what are we already doing well,’ ‘what we could do going forward.’

We know that this is going to take some time, that more relationships need to be built. In our values statement we say that “the Canadian CED Network and its members are committed to the values of inclusion, diversity and equity.” This is no idle talk. We are open to suggestions and continued feedback on how we could do better.

​We hope to see you at EconoUs2017!

Other Examples of CCEDNet’s Collaborative Work

The Manitoba Gathering

At the Gathering, everything is collectively planned by a team of about 15 representatives from as many of the kinds of organizations we hope to serve at our event. This includes United Way, health care, post-secondary, neighbourhood or place-based development, co-ops and credit unions, social enterprises, women’s/newcomers/Indigenous serving organizations, and others. This team starts meeting 9-10 months ahead of the event and starts with a review of the previous year, a high level brainstorm about themes, speakers, and program, and then moves into program planning and logistical support. They curate the program, suggest sponsors, promote the event, and are the key volunteers. They bring in new stakeholders and ensure we use the event to role model CED principles in every aspect possible. While staff operationalize and implement their vision, the event is theirs collectively and it shows in how our participants feel the day is theirs.

The Social Enterprise Ecosystem for Scale (S4ES) Project

In order to foster continued successful growth of social enterprises and connect them with new social finance opportunities, we need to strengthen the social enterprise development ecosystem to provide adapted and accessible supports for business skills, market access and financing that will support growth-ready social enterprises to scale up their activities. 

S4ES is a collaborative effort of four of Canada’s recognized leaders in the social enterprise ecosystem and an acknowledged, international evaluator.

  • Canadian Community Economic Development Network, CCEDNet, will be the SEES project contractor & coordinator (ccednet-rcdec.ca)
  • Buy Social Canada will lead the Brand & Social Procurement efforts (www.buysocialcanada.ca)
  • Chantier de l’économie sociale will be implementing the on-line Social Economy Marketplace
  • Social Enterprise Institute, SEI, will lead the Business Skills and Capacity building activities
  • Social Value Lab, an international hub for social enterprise policy research and evaluation, will provide methodological and design expertise on project-wide evaluation and learning exchange

Ontario Social Economy Roundtable

The Ontario Social Economy Round Table (OSER) is a collective of independent and connected organizations interested in growing Ontario’s Social Economy. OSER aims to be a focal point for social economy stakeholders, who intend to put resources together in order to improve the general quality of life and the well-being of our society as a whole. Based upon the principles of democratic governance, equity, equality, solidarity, inclusion, sustainability and cross-collaboration, OSER is a space for dialogue, exchanges and collaboration to promote the growth of social economy.

Matthew ThompsonMatthew Thompson is Communications Manager with the Canadian CED Network (CCEDNet). He has worked with CCEDNet since 2007 in a variety of capacities including research and knowledge mobilization, event organizing, and the coordination of the national internship program, CreateAction. Matthew also co-authored Assembling Understandings: Findings from the Canadian Social Economy Research Partnerships, 2005-2011 a thematic summary of close to 400 research products on the Social Economy in Canada.

*The opinions expressed in blog posts are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the position of CCEDNet

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