April Newsletter 2010

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April Newsletter 2010

Welcome to the April 2010 Issue of the Canadian CED Network's e-newsletter for the Ontario Region, your information resource on the latest news and projects in CED in Ontario.

Please contact us with your comments by emailing ontario@ccednet-rcdec.ca.

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Avez-vous une idée intéressante pour un article du bulletin? Souhaitez-vous que votre organisme à être présenté dans notre prochaine édition?

Nous cherchons toujours des moyens de rendre nos bulletins électroniques plus intéressants à plus de gens. Nous tenons également à mieux promouvoir les communautés et les activités francophones au milieu de DÉC dans la province. Si vous avez une idée géniale pour un article, ou si vous souhaitez partager des informations intéressantes sur votre organisme ou quelques choses qui se passent dans votre communauté, nous voulons vous entendre.

Veillez à envoyer un courriel à ontario@ccednet-rcdec.ca avec tous les idées, articles, etc., que vous auriez.

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In This Issue

 

 

1. National Summit on a People-Centred Economy

 

Raj Patel to Speak at the 2010 National Summit on a People-Centred Economy.

Across Canada and around the world, people and communities are inventing new and re-discovering old ways of organizing the production, distribution, and sharing of resources that are more sustainable, more equitable and more efficient. The choice of Elinor Ostrom as the recipient of the 2009 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics for her work on the commons is an indication of the signal that these ideas are being taken ever more seriously.

Raj Patel is another leading voice for a new vision of economics and the market. His most recent book, The Value of Nothing, calls on citizens the world over to rethink our dominant economic model, linking current food, climate, and economic crises to broader questions of democracy. ‘If economics is about choices,’ Patel writes, ‘it isn’t often said who gets to make them.’

A New York Times bestselling author, academic, and activist, Patel will deliver a keynote address to open the 2010 National Summit. The Summit will bring together people active in the co-operative, community economic development, and social economy sectors across the country, as well as community and non-profit leaders committed to re-balancing economic systems in order to build healthy, sustainable, and inclusive communities.

Six papers have been drafted on the key Summit themes and are available to read, edit, and comment on a wiki set up in preparation for the event.

Join us in Ottawa from May 30th – June 1st. Register Now – early bird registration discount rates end on April 15th

For more information on the Summit and engagement activities leading up to the event, please click here.

The following networks/organizations are currently engaged in the national steering group coordinating this event: the Canadian Community Economic Development Network, the Canadian Co-operative Association, le Chantier de l’économie sociale, the Canadian Social Economy Research Partnerships, Causeway, the Social Enterprise Council of Canada, Enterprising Non-Profits, the Canadian Centre for Community Renewal, the Women’s Economic Council, and the BC-Alberta Research Alliance on the Social Economy.

 

2. Strengthening the Movement: Next Steps to a People-centred Economy

We are inviting you to Next Steps to Building a People-Centred Economy - Strengthening the Movement, a discussion facilitated by Rupert Downing, Co-Director of the Social Economy Research Hub.

On April 14th, 2010, 1:00p.m. - 3:30p.m.
Location: The Social Economy Centre
CIDE Smart Room on the 7th Floor, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE), University of Toronto, 252 Bloor Street West, Toronto, Ontario M5S 1V6. You can access OISE directly from St. George subway station.

Please RSVP to ontario@ccednet-rcdec.ca.

This discussion is part of a series of events leading up to the 2010 Summit on a People-Centred Economy. Discussion will be around the issue paper, Strengthening the Movement, which is available in pdf format or through a wiki set up for the Summit.

This paper is one of six that will help to develop a common agenda for transforming our economy to address a triple-bottom line. This agenda needs to be developed with input from as many actors as possible, from local nonprofits to large umbrella organizations and from small-scale social enterprises to industry leading co-operatives, since all of these contributors will have a role to play within the final action plan.

This half-day event will be held following the Ontario Nonprofit Network’s Conference and the Ontario Social Economy Symposium to ensure that your perspectives, and those of other actors within the non-profit, co-operative, and social economy sectors, are reflected in the issue paper Strengthening the Movement as part of the upcoming National Summit on a People-Centred Economy.

This event will be catered by The Coffee Shed. Please take a look at their website by clicking here.

Agenda:

1. Introductions
2. Presentation on policy findings from the social economy research program:
- international developments in building a more people-centered economy
- developments in Canada
- management and governance of the sector
- next steps for building a more people-centered economy in Canada
3. Discussion - ask questions, provide feedback, and add your comments
4. Next steps - the summit in May/June 2010
- other national and Ontario movement-building events and opportunities

 

3. Save the Date! Next Steps to a People-Centred Economy: Ontario's Role and Perspective

We are inviting you to Next Steps to a People-Centred Economy: Ontario’s Role and Perspective,
a briefing and discussion facilitated by the Ontario Social Economy Roundtable (OSER).

May 20th, 2010 - All Day (please hold this date!)
Location: Toronto, ON – venue to be determined

This discussion and information sharing session is a follow-up to OSER’s round of regional consultations in 2009 as well as part of a series of engagement opportunities leading up to the 2010 National Summit on a People-Centred Economy in Ottawa from May 30th to June 1st.

This full-day event is being held shortly before the 2010 National Summit to ensure that the Ontario perspectives from the non-profit, co-operative, and social economy sectors are reflected in the issue papers for the summit. We will be providing a series of workshops, facilitated by the authors of the summit papers, to discuss the three papers that directly relate to social enterprise: Finance and Investment with Jessica Notwell, Enterprise Development with John Anderson, and Organizing the Social Economy Marketplace with David LePage, as well as Local Revitalization with Mike Toye.

Once again, these papers are available in PDF format at www.ccednet-rcdec.ca/en/summit or for reading, comments, and editing through a wiki set up for the Summit.

Results and viewpoints from this event and from OSER’s regional consultations will be incorporated into the materials for the 2010 National Summit and will identify key areas where Ontario can take a leadership role in a national common agenda for a people-centred economy.

Travel subsidies will be available for those travelling to Toronto from out of town on a first-come first served basis.

Watch for more information to come, but please hold this date. We are also expecting to make this discussion available through a webinar or teleconference.

 

4. Co-operative Young Leaders Registration Open

Registration for the 2010 Co-operative Young Leaders (CYL) summer sessions began Friday March 5th. Participants (or their parents) may apply online or download an application form. The early bird application cut-off date is May 28th. 

The CYL program is organized into three levels; each week-long camp brings young people together from all across Ontario to learn about, and practice, leadership, communication, and personal development skills through co-operative activities.

Along the way, other great things happen, too. Canadian Youth Leaders develop new support networks and peer groups. They have the opportunity to learn more about themselves and the world in which they live, and they are exposed to new skills and thought processes.

All participants require a co-op or credit union sponsor to take part, allowing organizations to create, or deepen, their relationships with the next generation.

Co-ops and credit unions wishing to sponsor one or more young people should check out the recruitment tips posted on the CYL sponsor pages. Many CYL sessions fill up quickly, and early registration is strongly recommended. Information on fees, payment policies, and registration procedures as well as other information on On Co-op youth programs can be seen by clicking here.

For more information, contact Kerr Smith, On Co-op's Youth and Education Programs Manager, at 1-888-745-5521 ext 29.

 

5. HST: How will you be impacted?

In June, 2010, the Ontario Government will get rid of the provincial sales tax (PST) and implement the new harmonized sales tax (HST). A lot of questions have arisen around how HST will affect non-profits, especially considering the diversity of the sector. The Ontario Nonprofit Network is here to help! In anticipation of the impacts to nonprofs, ONN has created an in-depth "how-to" guide to help assess the impacts of your organization. Three documents, Full ONN Brief on the Anticipated Impact of the HST, Executive Summary of ONN's HST Brief , and How to Assess the Impact of the HST on your Organization, are available by following the links here.

ONN has also created a webinar, hosted by Jonathan Spencer, chartered accountant with more than 20 years experience as a GST and PST consultant and author of the Practitioner’s Guide to Retail Sales Tax. Click here for more details. Finally, a Harmonization Working Group has been assembled that will prepare a brief outlining their analysis and making recommendations to the province for implementation. The brief will be circulated to the field so individual organizations can participate in the discussions around implementation. For more information, click here.

 

6. The Power of Collective Wisdom and the Trap of Collective Folly: Telelearning

Tamarack and Vibrant Communities offer free tele-learning seminars that are brought to you live via telephone conference line. The next seminar will take place on April 14th, 2010 at 11:55a.m. Eastern.

Title: The Power of Collective Wisdom and the Trap of Collective Folly
Series: 2010 CCI Thought-Leader Series, Tamarack Seminar Series
Speakers: John Ott, Paul Born

Collective wisdom is the knowledge and insight gained through group and community interaction. It acknowledges that people have a capacity to learn together and evolve towards something greater and wiser than what can be done by individuals alone. John Ott, co-author of The Power of Collective Wisdom and his fellow-members of the Collective Wisdom Initiative have spent more than nine years identifying the conditions that help collective wisdom to emerge in groups. They are motivated by a belief that enhancing the skill and capacity for how we join together, cooperate and understand one another is essential to finding solutions to our most complex challenges.

John is a graduate of Stanford Law School who began group work as a community organizer, helping residents discern their collective voice. He has spent the past 15 years designing and leading large-scale community and organizational change efforts.

 

7. Government that Works for People: Policy Development and the Social Economy

Over the past four years, NORDIK Institute and the Community Economic Social Development Program at Algoma University have been engaged in an exciting research collaboration with the Universities of Saskatchewan and Winnipeg, entitled: Linking, Learning, Leveraging: Social Enterprises, Knowledgeable Economies, and Sustainable Communities. On April 27th, 28th, and 29th, 2010, in Sault Ste. Marie the policy implications of that research will be explored, and you are invited to be part of that. 

You could make an important contribution to assisting in developing recommendations to government on how to strengthen, expand, and support the social economy in rural, remote, First Nations, and urban centres of Northern Ontario, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan. This work comes at a key time for the region, as it is transitioning from a resource-based economy to economies that are based on sustainability, local strengths, and the peoples of the region.

How can government support this research collaboration as this transition is made? What are the policies which will foster and expand the development of the social economy, local decision-making, and strong local leadership in rural, remote, First Nation and smaller urban centres? What financing strategies are needed? These are some of the questions which will be asked.

The two days shall be a combination of presentations of some of the research of the Linking, Learning, Leveraging project, small group discussion, and larger plenary sessions where recommendations will be developed to take forward to various levels of government.

To receive a registration form or to RSVP, email Rob Rawn at Robert.Rawn@algomau.ca or phone at 1-705-949-2301 ext 4370. Registration deadline is Friday, April 16th.

Travel subsidies are available.

 

8. 2010 Canadian Summit on Socially Responsible Investment

The Social Investment Organization (SIO) invites you to the 2010 Canadian Summit on
Socially Responsible Investment (SRI).

The conference will open on June 14th at 2 p.m. and close on June 16th at 2 p.m.

This year's conference explores how innovation is changing the face of socially responsible investment, and how SRI is revolutionizing conventional investment.

The sessions include speakers on cleantech, oilsands issues, public attitudes, advisor/client relationships, divestment vs. engagement, and innovations in Environmental Social Governance (ESG) research and investment management.

Whether you are actively involved in SRI now, or want to know more, the Canadian Responsible Investment Conference offers an accessible, comprehensive program to learn about SRI.

The Social Investment Organization is hosting a trade show at its conference this year. There is space for approximately 30 exhibiting sponsors, so confirm your participation soon. This is an excellent opportunity for you to reach varied and receptive audiences who want to learn more about your products and services. Delegates will include financial advisors, portfolio managers, SRI analysts, pension and foundation trustees, researchers and consultants, retail and institutional investors, media, and others interested in learning about responsible investment.

For more information, conference agenda, and registration, please click here. Early-bird registration offered until May 12th, 2010. 

 

9. Final Reminder! Ontario Nonprofit Network: Our Sector, Our Vision

A reminder to join the Ontario Nonprofit Network (ONN) and fellow sector colleagues in this pivotal, action-oriented event taking place April 12th - 13th at Hart House, University of Toronto. This two-day provincial conference brings together leaders from the nonprofit, public, and private sectors to shape the course of Ontario’s nonprofits and charities.

The focus of this year's conference is to move ideas into action. Since the last conference in May 2009, ONN has travelled across the province to meet with organizations and learn about the issues they are facing in their communities. Through this process, the top six priorities of Ontario's nonprofits and charities were discussed and now it's time to move into the next phase — ACTION!

Update: ONN is excited to announce that Robin Cardozo, CEO of Ontario Trillium Foundation, will be speaking at the conference. Tickets are selling out fast.

For more information on speakers, prices, registration, and times, please click here.

 

10. Final Reminder! Third Annual Social Economy Symposium

The Social Economy Centre's 2010 symposium is an opportunity for university researchers and community organizations to discuss cutting-edge research issues facing the social economy. It is the third annual symposium of a research/education project on Southern Ontario's Social Economy funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. The symposium is structured to allow for dialogue by all participants. The symposium will be held at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, 252 Bloor Street West, University of Toronto, Toronto on April 12th - 13th.  

For more information and registration options, please click here.

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