Pour lire le bulletin hiver 2007 cliquez ici.

Click here to read our Winter 2007 national newsletter.

Speaking
notes for the Right Honourable Paul Martin P.C., M.P.,

Unleashing
the Power of Social Enterprise

 

Marlo Campbell | Uptown Magazine

They came armed with business cards, notebooks and a determination to make Manitoba a better place.

On Nov. 23, almost 400 representatives of community groups, small businesses, the Manitoba government, funding organizations, church groups and academia descended on St. John’s High School for Manitoba’s 5th annual community economic development gathering, hosted by the Canadian Community Economic Development Network.Established in 1999, CCEDNet now supports thousands of fledgling and established CED groups across the country, while also promoting CED concepts in hopes of influencing government policy.

So just what exactly is ‘community economic development?’

“We have debates about the definition,” jokes Rupert Downing, CCEDNet’s executive director and an international leader in the field, with over 28 years of CED experience in Canada, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean.

“Basically, it’s action by community organizations to create economic opportunities and address social needs and, increasingly, it’s a triple bottom line of environmental, social, and economic benefits,” Downing says.

In other words, while poverty reduction strategies play a large part of CED work, the concept is more holistic.

Manitoba’s CED gathering featured 33 different workshops on topics such as advocacy, housing co-ops, sustainable neighbourhood planning, art as a tool for healing, the experience of newcomers to Canada, alternative energy, child care, and food security.

The conference also applied CED principles throughout the day: it was free of charge and open to all; served organic, fair-trade coffee; and provided lunch sourced from several local CED caterers such as Neechi Foods, served on biodegradable, eco-friendly dishes.

To read the entire article, click here.

 

 

Check out our new national job listing bank by clicking here.

 

Eunice Grayson, founding member of CCEDNet and Executive Director of the Learning Enrichment Foundation, passed away in October, 2007. She will be greatly missed by all of us who knew her in the Canadian CED Network and in the greater CED movement in Canada.

To read more about her work in the CED movement in Canda, please click here. 

The Government of Canada’s Building Communities Through Arts and Heritage program offers support for activities that are intended for and open to the general population and celebrate local heritage, artists and artisans.

To view a fact sheet on this opportunity, click here.

By Judith Maxwell, printed in the Globe and Mail

Talk of corporate tax reductions and incentives to invest in new technologies does not do much to inspire the workers whose jobs have been side-swiped by intense international competition and the high and volatile dollar.

So, when first ministers meet in coming weeks to discuss the impact of the dollar, they have to address two audiences: the hard-pressed business leaders and the communities which are losing their prime source of employment.

To read the entire article click here.

New Project! Community Development Service Learning Initiative

The Community Development Service Learning Initiative is a national project to strengthen service learning opportunities in CED organizations for students, build youth engagement in CED, and facilitate effective experiential learning partnerships between community organizations, educational institutions and youth. 

To learn more about the project click here. 

This work is supported by the McConnell Foundation. 

City incubator hatches culinary entrepreneurs

The 2,000-square-foot facility in northwest Toronto offers a commercial-grade kitchen, mentors and advice on finance and marketing

JENNIFER LEWINGTON The Globe & Mail

As newcomers to Canada in the late 1990s, India-born chef Hemant Tallur and his wife Minal dreamed of starting a food business that captures the ethnic diversity of Toronto.

Their idea – signature dishes from India, the Caribbean and the Philippines packaged as ready-to-eat meals for the North American market – was a blend of his recipes and her expertise in food technology.

Now their fledgling business is getting a boost from a new facility, unveiled yesterday, intended to nurture entrepreneurs in the city’s specialty food industry.

“Someone who starts something new needs help to learn all the nuances of business,” said Mr. Tallur, who left a high-paying computer job to launch his new food career. “You keep a baby in an incubator until it gets healthy,” he said with a laugh. “I am a big baby.”

The new Toronto Food Business Incubator provides a certified, commercial-grade kitchen, peer mentors and advice on finance, food safety and marketing to selected start-ups, – like the Tallurs’ Eat-In – that come in with a business plan, recipes and financial backers.

Yesterday’s opening had the cheerful air of a maternity ward after a birth.

As Mr. Tallur hovered with parent-like pride, chef Mohan Sunal ladled out dal chawal (slow-cooked black lentils) and tikka masala (marinated chunks of chicken), which are among the products Eat-In now prepares onsite and sells to specialty food stores.

“Immigrants come to Canada from different backgrounds and they become true Canadians,” Mr. Tallur said. “This is a perfect opportunity for ethnic foods to be called truly Canadian.”

The 2,000-square-foot facility on Rivalda Road in northwest Toronto, set up with three-year funding from the federal government, the city and its Toronto Economic Development Corp., can serves as many as nine entrepreneurs who pay a registration fee of up to $750, and $30 an hour for the use of the kitchen.

“It not only takes an idea, it takes passion and a tremendous amount of courage to step into the unknown,” said Barbara Shopland, chairwoman of the non-profit incubator and on staff at George Brown’s culinary centre.

Toronto Councillor Kyle Rae (Ward 27, Toronto Centre-Rosedale), chairman of council’s economic development committee, sees the incubator “as the first step in a larger vision we have to create a food processing and innovation centre” in a city where manufacturing jobs are fast disappearing.

With industry and government support, the city hopes to set up a 433,000-square-foot facility to spur commercial applications of culinary ideas.

Toronto’s food “cluster,” ranked third in North America by size in 1999, is a little-known giant that employs more than 40,000 people and generates $20-billion in sales.

Kraft Canada and Campbell Soup are big industry names here, but small and medium-size firms account for 75 per cent of sector jobs.

Specialty food businesses, like those under development at the incubator, are growing twice as fast as the industry average, catering to multiethnic and mainstream consumers, city officials say.

Capitalizing on the trend is the ambition of 30-year-old Adeola Oluyomi and her husband Kola.

They are turning their breakfast catering business into a wholesale maker of a high-fibre, low-fat breakfast cookie.

“There is not a lot of convenient breakfast food that is healthy,” said Ms. Oluyomi, who met her husband at the University of Nigeria and joined him in Canada in 2001. “I thought I would create my own options.”

With the incubator, she pays for the kitchen when she needs it, and has full access to advice on packaging and marketing contacts.

“It’s like a dream come true,” she said.

CCEDNet joins with others concerned about growing social and economic inequality in Canada. These are our recommendations for implementing a Community Economic Development approach to eliminating poverty and revitalizing communities. This is our case for change.

A Communities Agenda:

1. Build Fairer and Stronger Local Economies

2. Tackle Poverty and Homelessness

3. Invest in Sustainable Communities

To download a printable version of our policy brochure please click here.