The Canadian CED Network's CED in Manitoba Profiles Project presents 50 stories of Manitoba communities working to build fairer and stronger local economies, reduce poverty, and revitalize neighbourhoods.
Click here to read our Profiles of Effective Practice in Neighbourhood Renewal Corporations
Not all of the initiatives highlighted in the Project use a fully comprehensive CED approach, but each represents an important component of a CED solution.
Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN)
Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN) was the first national Aboriginal television network in the world. APTN provides programming by, for and about Aboriginal Peoples, and shares its content with viewers from Canada and across the globe. As a social enterprise, APTN is a non-profit which uses a business model to achieve social, cultural, and economic objectives for Aboriginal Peoples in Canada.
Arctic Co-op Ltd.
For the Inuit Dene and Metis peoples in Canada’s Arctic, cooperation and collaboration are incorporated into the traditions and cultural contexts that frame everyday life. Survival in this harsh climate has always been a struggle, requiring informal family and group cooperation.
Assiniboine Credit Union
Does your financial institution ask you to vote or the board of directors, give you the same voting power as the wealthiest shareholder, share profits with you, and adhere to a set of principles that includes commitment to the community? If you belong to a credit union, then the answer is Yes!
Brandon Neighbourhood Renewal Corporation
The Brandon Neighbourhood Renewal Corporation (BNRC) is a not-for-profit organization that is dedicated to strengthening its community by improving the quality of life for residents in Brandon’s core residential neighbourhoods.
Buffalo Point First Nation Resort
Ideally located on the Lake of the Woods in the Canadian Shield and bordering the United States, Buffalo Point First Nation has taken advantage of its natural beauty, diverse ecosystem and strategic location to draw year round visitors from all over North America.
Building Urban Industrial Labour Development (BUILD)
Most construction contractors specialize in building and renovating physical structures. Building Urban Industrial Labour Development (BUILD) is a bit different. Although BUILD is in the construction business, its core purpose is to break down barriers to employment, build brighter futures for low - income individuals, and create more sustainable housing throughout Winnipeg.
Canadian Muslim Women's Association
The Canadian Muslim Women’s Institute (CMWI) was founded in 2006 to empower Muslim women and their families socially, economically and spiritually, within the spirit of Islamic principles. In Winnipeg, community leaders recognized that existing Muslim settlement and development initiatives served men, or men and women together.
Carberry Child Care Coop
The Carberry Child Care Co-op (CCCC) is a non-profit organization that provides quality licensed childcare to families in Carberry, the RM of North Cypress, and surrounding areas. Thanks to dedicated volunteer fundraisers, the Co-op recently moved into a new 1.6 million dollar facility where both their Nursery School Program and Early Learning and Care Program are under one roof.
Diversity Food Services
Feeding hungry university students is no easy task. Few businesses understand this challenge better than Diversity Foods, which operates four locations on the University of Winnipeg campus. Diversity is not your typical university cafeteria. Owned and operated by two non-profit organizations, Diversity is a social enterprise whose mission is to serve healthy, local and affordable food and reduce the campus’ environmental footprint.
Ellice Cafe and Theatre
Although no longer open, the Ellice Cafe & Theatre was a business operated by a non-profit in Winnipeg’s West End, established by New Life Ministries (NLM) in 2005 in order to contribute certain community services, and to generate financial support for their community initiatives.
Elton Energy Co-op
The Rural Municipality of Elton is a small, predominantly agriculturally-based community located just north of Brandon. Within this modestly sized R.M. an energy co-operative is emerging that, if successful, will be the first of its kind in North America.
enVision Community Living
In 1956, a group of people from Steinbach began to work together to explore a range of supportive service for people living with intellectual disabilities. They all had the same dream: that their children could live with dignity and quality of life in their own community.
Fesitval du Voyageur
Not even the coldest winters in the world can keep Manitobans from celebrating the Festival du Voyageur! The internationally renowned 10-day festival is held in Winnipeg’s Fort Gibraltar every February, and encourages visitors to celebrate Franco-Manitoban culture and the history of the Voyageur era. The festival is named for the French Canadian settlers (Voyageurs) who worked for the fur trade company.
Friendly Corner Bake Shop
Bread, perogies, and CED? Who knew? This story begins 30 minutes west of Dauphin in the small community of Grandview, Manitoba. In 1987, as part of a provincial housing project titled “Welcome Home,” seven people living with disabilities came home to live in Grandview from various locations throughout Manitoba.
Frontiers Foundation
From standing trees to standing homes! The Frontiers Foundation is committed to developing homebuilding skills in communities where there is fine standing timber, people who need jobs, and a demonstrated need for sturdy and affordable housing.
Green Bean Coffee Imports
A passion for coffee is what drives Green Bean Coffee Imports. The opening quote on their website reads: “We all know what freshness means; we all have our own experiences... Those smells, tastes and experiences stay with you throughout your life. That is what your coffee experience should be.”
Habitat for Humanity and the Habitat ReStore
Many Manitobans became familiar with Habitat for Humanity in the summer of 1993 when former US President Jimmy Carter came to Winnipeg to support the building of 19 homes for low income families to own.
Harvest Moon Local Food Initiative
Who’s YOUR farmer? This question is often asked by members of the Harvest Moon Local Food Initiative as a reminder that while we have doctors, mechanics, dentists, handymen, accountants, and sometimes lawyers that we know well, most of us don’t know of anyone personally who can provide local, safe, healthy and nutritious food!
Inner City Development Inc.
People who work in CED understand that there are many people who face significant barriers to employment in the formal labour markets. Social enterprises are quickly becoming a popular solution to this problem by using a business model to create social benefits where the market has not responded.
Ka Ni Kanichihk Inc.
Ka Ni Kanichihk, literally translated from the Ininew (Cree) language, means ‘those who lead,’ an apt name for this non-profit community based organization. Established in 2002, Ka Ni Kanichihk is an Aboriginal human services organization governed by a council of First Nation and Metis peoples.
La Siembra Co-op
People with sweet teeth are connected across the world by a popular treat: chocolate, and the cocoa and sugar that make it so much fun to eat. But how often do we stop to think about how those rich ingredients are produced, and how much of our purchasing dollars ends up in the hands of the people working so hard to supply it for our enjoyment?
Le Marche de St. Norbert
In 1988, on a sunny day in July, eight vendors met on a lawn in St. Norbert to sell their wares. Since that modest beginning, this “make it, bake it, grow it” market has grown into a non- profit co-operative with 130 full- time vendors and as many as 50 casual vendors.
Mountain Equipment Co-op
Mountain Equipment Co-op (MEC) is one of the world’s best known brands, and Canada’s largest supplier in outdoor and camping equipment. However, like many successful businesses, MEC came from humbling beginnings. MEC originated in 1971 in British Columbia by a dozen friends who wanted to provide people who shared their passion for the outdoors with quality gear that was not typically available in Canada.
Neechi Foods Co-op
Seeking to take control of their own futures, Aboriginal organizations in Winnipeg worked with the Metis Economic Development Training Program in the 1980s to design and create Aboriginal-owned and controlled services and enterprises in Winnipeg’s inner city.
Northern Manitoba Scrap Metal Removal Program
What to do with scrap metal including items such as construction equipment, old appliances, old aluminum, vehicles and building materials left lying around our Great White North? These rusting footprints left by big industries that have come and gone have been piling up for decades.
Nostalgia Radio
One of Manitoba’s most musical social enterprises was created by a dedicated group of Winnipeggers who established a community radio co- operative known as Nostalgia Broadcasting Co-operative Inc., or CJNU.
Pollocks Hardware Co-op
The resurrection of Pollock’s Hardware is one of Winnipeg’s great CED stories. When store owners Wayne and Lois Cash decided to retire, they put the 85-year-old business up for sale. However, after a year there were still no buyers and Pollock’s was forced to close in December 2007.
Red River Co-op
Organizations are only as strong as their members and supporters. Based on this measurement, the Red River Co-op, with over 203,000 members, is very strong indeed. The Red River Co-op is a dynamic, Winnipeg-based co- operative owned and guided by its members and a dedication to superior customer service.
Resource Assistance for Youth (RAY)
Facilitating meaningful relationships between young adults and their neighbourhood is an important way to create trust amongst residents, help build stronger communities, and create economic opportunities for local youth.
SISTARS Community Economic Development Coop
Dreams become reality when motivated individuals join together to address shared needs, and multiple benefits result when a comprehensive approach is taken with community-led development.
Spence Neighbourhood Association
Spence neighbourhood, located in inner-city Winnipeg, was, until recently, in serious decline. Between 1991 and 1996, two out of every three Spence residents moved out of the area.
Tall Grass Prairie Bakery
In 1981, the seeds of a vision were beginning to grow into what has now become a nationally recognized enterprise that builds community, impacts the local economy in several ways, and models food system justice.
Ten Thousand Villages
From humble roots to one of North America’s largest fair trade organizations! The story of Ten Thousand Villages is one of an international development organization that originated through relationships that grew out of service and outreach work in the Caribbean, but evolved into market-based support for artisans around the world looking to provide for themselves and their families.
The Chocolate Shop
Although the historical Chocolate Shop restaurant is now closed, this nearly century-old local institution re-invented itself in a new and unique way and deserves mention. The menu cover declared this to be “Winnipeg’s Oldest Operating Restaurant Since 1918” and reminisced that in its early days, the Chocolate Shop was a busy dining room that was open from early morning to late evening for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and anything in between.
The Good Food Club
There is a program operating in the heart of Winnipeg with a mandate to help make healthy, nutritious, and affordable food available for West Broadway residents: The Good Food Club (GFC).
The Marquis Project
What could possibly connect Brandon, Manitoba with Tanzania? Well, there might be many things, but one concrete partnership is active through the work of The Marquis Project.
The Northern Star Worker Co-op
Northern Star blankets are stories stitched together by history, tradition, and art. Sewn in the heart of Canada's largest urban Aboriginal community, the artisans of Northern Star Worker Co-op create unique Star Blankets in the Aboriginal tradition, to honour, respect and bless both the giver and receiver.
The Philippine Canadian Centre of Manitoba
Early immigrants and refugees from the Philippines, the majority of which were medical professionals, began to settle in Winnipeg in 1959. Half a century later, in part due to the Government of Manitoba’s Provincial Nominee Program, Winnipeg’s Filipino community is the second fastest growing ethno-cultural community in the city with a population of over 50,000 people.
The Up Shoppe
Doesn’t everyone want to look good? Winnipeg’s North End Women’s Centre (NEWC) recognized this basic element of human dignity and created a social enterprise: a second-hand clothing boutique called the Up Shoppe.
The Waste Reduction ReStore
How often do we think about what happens to take-out containers, Styrofoam cups, plastic cutlery, and plastic plates once they are used? The reality is that many of these disposable items are not generally reused, and end up in a landfill shortly after their purpose is served.
Tiny Treasures Children Day Care
CED initiatives often emerge when the status quo simply will not meet the needs of local people. CED leaders then work with community residents to identify the need and create a solution. The story of Tiny Treasures Children’s Centre in Grandview is one of these stories.
University College of the North
Because of their harsh climate and sparse population, among other factors, many remote communities in northern Manitoba face unique challenges connected with educational and training opportunities.
UNPAC Manitoba
United Nations Platform for Action Committee Manitoba is an association committed to the empowerment and equality of women in Manitoba. UNPAC's mandate and focus are articulated in the Platform for Action of the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995, which is where UNPAC has its roots.
Urban Circle Training Centre
Urban Circle Training Centre Inc. started in 1990 when Aboriginal women volunteering in a second hand clothing depot in Winnipeg’s North End voiced their desire to take training that would lead to employment. These women wanted to gain employable skills to support their families and contribute to their neighbourhood’s local economy.
Voyageur Communications Coop
The Voyageur Communications Co-operative is located in Ste. Anne, Manitoba and currently provides high-speed wireless internet to over 335 households and businesses in the rural south-eastern region of Manitoba.
Westman Coalition for Employment Opportunities Inc. (WCEO)
Looking to meet the employment services for individuals with disabilities, community partners in the Southwest region of Manitoba decided to pool their resources and created the Westman Coalition for Employment Opportunities (WCEO). This partnership consists of 13 service providers located in the Westman region who facilitate interagency collaboration through this coalition, creating synergies that accomplish more than would be possible through their existing organizational capacities working in isolation.
West Central Women's Resource Centre
The West Central Women’s Resource Centre (WCWRC), which opened in a basement office in inner city Winnipeg in 2001, recognized that several needs in their low-income community could be addressed by a single initiative: the Childminding Program.
The CED in Manitoba Profiles Project was made possible by the support of:
