NEWS RELEASE

Community Economic Development Organizations Question Harper’s $1-Billion Community Development Trust 

Victoria, BRITISH COLUMBIA – The $1-billion dollar fund promised to communities under the Conservative government’s Community Development Trust announcement, will be short-lived unless led locally, says the Canadian Community Economic Development Network (CCEDNet). CCEDNet – representing the interests of thousands of community economic development organizations – believes the measures outlined in the announcement do not take into consideration the extensive challenges facing resource-based communities. They also state that the government has made no indication of working with pre-existing community organizations to find solutions to local needs.

While CCEDNet welcomes federal investment in community efforts to manage economic change, they point out the importance of ensuring that community leaders are part of the decision-making process deciding how the funding will be spent. CCEDNet recommends that the government make use of the combined expertise of local community organizations, non-profits, co-operatives, and entrepreneurs who are already working to diversify the economies of resource-based towns across Canada.

Like other groups concerned that the amount of money pledged is not enough to deal with the crisis facing many communities, the Canadian CED Network is also concerned that the funds are tied to a new budget and the political process associated with it.

“If the federal government really were serious about reducing poverty, they would make these funds available now to respond to the needs of hard-pressed communities facing economic change,” says Rupert Downing, Executive Director of the Canadian Community Economic Development Network. “They have the authority and existing programs to make this money available today.”

Community economic development has a long history of success in revitalizing communities across Canada through locally-led action engaging a diverse cross-section of community members. The combined values of inclusiveness, sustainability and reciprocity ensure that economic change is long-lasting for struggling communities.

“The combined vision and energy of concerned local people is what actually turns a community around,” says Mr. Downing. “It is imperative that the federal government commitment isn’t a one-time shot. What our communities really need is sustained support from all levels of government.”

The Canadian Community Economic Development Network (CCEDNet) is a national non-governmental charitable organization established to support the work of community organizations that are creating economic opportunities and enhancing social conditions in Canada. The membership of CCEDNet is made up of hundreds of community groups, municipalities, foundations, and practitioners from every region of the country. CCEDNet brings these groups together to share expertise, mobilize communities, and build a national focus on CED.

Community Economic Development (CED) is action by people locally to create economic opportunities and better social conditions, particularly for those who are most disadvantaged. CCEDNet’s national office is located in Victoria, BC.

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For more information, please contact Erin Brocklebank, Communications Coordinator, (250) 386-9980 ext.106.

To download a PDF version of this release, please click here.

ANNUAL MEETING
JUNE 5 – 7, 2008
UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA

Cooperative Renewal: Cooperatives in the Twenty-First Century

Cooperatives and theories of cooperation have successfully adjusted to extensive social, economic, and political challenges over the more than a century and a half of since the writings of Robert Owen and others influenced the founding of the Rochdale Cooperative in 1844.

In fact, renewal could be seen to be an essential feature of cooperative study and practice. However, it could also be argued that the combinations of forces confronting cooperatives and theories of cooperation in the twenty-first century pose the most serious challenge yet to their relevance and continued survival. This conference encourages scholars, practitioners, and “fellow travellers” of cooperation to participate in discussing frankly the necessity for, forms of, and challenges to, cooperative renewal as well as the adjustments required (if at all) for cooperation to survive and thrive throughout the upcoming century in Canada and the wider world.

Click here to download a copy of the Call.

CALL FOR NOMINATIONS: CANADIAN CO-OPERATIVE ACHIEVEMENT AWARD, GLOBAL CO-OPERATOR AWARD, INNOVATIONS IN CO-OPERATIVE GOVERNANCE AWARD

The Canadian Co-operative Association (CCA) has issued a call for nominations for its annual Canadian Co-operative Achievement Award and Global Co-operator Award. Nominations from individuals or organizations are to be submitted to CCA by January 31st, 2008. The awards include honourary membership in CCA and will be presented during the CCA Annual General Meeting and Congress in Winnipeg, Manitoba, June 25 – 27, 2008. For more information including terms of reference and past recipients. Staff and members of CCA’s Board of Directors and the Co-operative Development Foundation of Canada‘s Board of Governors are not eligible for nomination.

CCA is also accepting nominations for the inaugural Innovations in Co-operative Governance Award. These awards will recognize governance innovation and excellence in co-operatives and credit unions across Canada. The awards seek to showcase the movement’s strengths in the area of governance and provide the opportunity for co-op and credit union boards to learn from each other. The closing date for applications is January 31, 2008. Winners will be announced at CCA’s Annual General Meeting in Winnipeg in June 2008.

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.