Local Organizing for Fair Economies Community of Practice
The COVID-19 global pandemic is a challenging time, and we offer Friday's Community of Practice as a chance to learn and share together (virtually, as always). Join a conversation to explore how local organizing principles and approaches can contribute to the creation of more sustainable, fair and inclusive economies - now & in the era that will follow this crisis.
One of the tools to build more resilient local economies can be through Social Procurement and Community Benefits. March's call will be focused on "Organizing for Social Procurement and Community Benefits".
A wave of change toward social procurement is sweeping the country, including leading municipalities, anchor institutions and community benefits. This session will provide a ‘how-to’ guide to organize for social procurement wherever you are.
Join us from 1:00-2:30pm Eastern Standard Time on Friday, March 27, 2020.
Additionally, this session is offered as a primer for Buy Social Canada's Digital Symposium on April 22, 2020 - a deeper dive into the topic. More info available here.
AGENDA
What are Community Benefits and Social Procurement?
-
Elizabeth Chick: Executive Director, Buy Social Canada | David Lepage: Managing Partner, Buy Social Canada
-
For certain the future will be different, and Buy Social Canada (BSC) wants to engage in the discussion of a future economy, based on community values and social procurement.
To achieve that goal Buy Social Canada advances and promotes social procurement by bringing socially driven purchasers and social enterprise suppliers together, building business relationships that generate social benefits to communities across the country.BSC is working with multiple levels of governments, including urban, rural and remote municipalities, provinces across the country and several Federal Ministries.
BSC is engaged with corporate purchasers to enhance the social value of their supply chains.
BSC offers a social enterprise certification, now becoming a marketing advantage as evidence of social value outcomes emerges as a common part of many purchasers criteria.
-
Examples of Community Benefits and Social Procurement (confirmed speakers so far)
- Got an example to share, or questions to ask? Feel to come to the Community of Practice prepared with some comments or questions to share!
- Gordie Howe International Bridge Community Benefit Package
-
Frazier Fathers is Director, Continuous Improvement and Advocacy for United Way/Centraide Windsor Essex County. In his role he oversees public policy research and program measurement related to system change. He is the author of a number of community reports on Poverty, Educational Attainment and social issues in Windsor-Essex County. He spearhead the community engagement process related to the Community Benefit Package on the Gordie Howe International Bridge and was instrumental in the founding of the Windsor-Essex Community Benefits Coalition. He drafted the Community “ask” on behalf of the Coalition that was submitted to the Windsor Detroit Bridge Authority for consideration in 2018. In 2019 – over $200 Million of Community Benefits were announced successfully satisfying over 75% of the community demands.
Frazier holds a Masters’ degree in Political Science from the University of Windsor and a Master Public Policy from University of Michigan, he lives in Windsor with his dog Izzy.
-
LOGISTICS
-
The Local Organizing for Fair Economies Community of Practice is an online conversation space, held through video conferencing on Zoom.
-
This session is in English.
-
You will need speakers or a headset on your computer. To ensure your system will be compatible with our webinar platform, look at the Zoom quick start guide prior to the session.
-
Further login details will be sent along with a registration confirmation.
ABOUT THE COMMUNITY OF PRACTICE
The Local Organizing for Fair Economies Community of Practice facilitates conversations with people from across Canada and Indigenous territories to:
- Curate resources (Community Benefits page)
- Facilitate conversations about challenges and solutions
- Track policy updates (municipal, provincial, federal, Indigenous, etc.)
- Help identify resources available