Two graduates of this year's SFU Certificate Program for Community Economic Development wanted to share some of their CED learnings from the program to the people in their communities.

Amy Quarry and Diandra Oliver, both accomplished CED practitioners in their communities of Quesnel and Prince George, approached Nicole Chaland, the program director, and economist Michael Shuman, one of their CED instructors, to see if they could make it happen.

And they did! Next week, from May 30 – June 3, Michael Shuman will be touring northern B.C. presenting 'Local Economy Solutions,' a workshop about building community prosperity through strengthening the local economy.

The free workshops, co-ordinated by the Certificate Program for Community Economic Development, will be presented in Prince George, Quesnel, Vanderhoof, Hazelton and Smithers.

“Michael Shuman presents a “local living economies” (LLE) approach to economic development that focuses on building up local businesses and inviting community participation,” says Nicole Chaland, program director for SFU's Certificate Program for Community Economic Development. “As part of the workshop, Michael Shuman guides participants to conduct a leakage analysis on the community, to find out where money leaves the community and to figure out ways to plug those leaks.”

These workshops were made possible through partnerships with local sponsors in each region. Sponsors are the City of Prince George, Integris Credit Union, Innovation Central Society, City of Quesnel, Community Futures North Cariboo, Quesnel Downtown Association, Small Town Love, West Quesnel BIA, Bulkley Credit Union, Town of Smithers, Community Futures Nadina, Doug Donaldson, MLA Stikine, Smithers District Chamber of Commerce, Storytellers' Foundation, Doug Donaldson, MLA Stikine, Skeena Watershed Conservation Society, Village of Hazelton, Northwest Community College - Hazelton campus, Community Futures Stuart Nechako and Invest Local BC.

A huge thank you also goes out to Amy Quarry and Diandra Oliver for their commitment and vision.

Workshop details

Admission is free but registration is required.

May 30, Prince George - The Hubspace, 1299 Third Ave., 1 - 5 p.m.
Register at https://localeconomysolution_princegeorge.eventbrite.ca

May 31, Quesnel - The Lodge, 1262 Maple Heights Rd., 1 - 5 p.m.
Register at https://localeconomysolution_quesnel.eventbrite.ca

June 1, Vanderhoof - Nechako Community Church, 1393 Highway 16 East, 1 - 5 p.m.
Register at https://localeconomysolution_vanderhoof.eventbrite.ca

June 2, Hazelton - The Learning Shop, 1 - 5 p.m.
Register by emailing beth at upperskeena.ca

June 3, Smithers - Pioneer Place Activity Centre, 8:30 a.m.– 12:30 p.m.
Register at http://localeconomysolution_smithers.eventbrite.ca

About Michael

Michael Shuman is an economist, attorney, author, and entrepreneur. He currently is Director of Community Portals for Mission Markets and a Fellow at three organizations: the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies (BALLE), Cutting Edge Capital, and Post-Carbon Institute. He is one of the North America's leading experts on community economics and the advantages of small-scale businesses in an era of globalization.

He has authored, coauthored, or edited eight books including Local Dollars, Local Sense: How to Move Your Money from Wall Street to Main Street and Achieve Real Prosperity, and The Small Mart Revolution: How Local Businesses Are Beating the Global Competition.

A prolific speaker, Shuman has given an average of more than one invited talk per week, mostly to local governments and universities, for 30 years—in 47 states and eight countries. He has appeared on numerous television and radio shows, such as the Lehrer News Hour and NPR's "Talk of the Nation," and NPR’s “All Things Considered.”

Shuman has written nearly one hundred published articles for such periodicals as New York Times, Washington Post, Nation, Weekly Standard, Foreign Policy, Parade, and The Chronicle on Philanthropy. In 1980 he won First Prize in the Rabinowitch Essay Competition of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists on "How to Prevent Nuclear War."

Shuman received an A.B. with distinction in economics and international relations from Stanford University in 1979 and a J.D. from Stanford Law School in 1982. Between 1987 and 1990 he was a W.K. Kellogg National Leadership Fellow. He is also a member of both the State Bar of California and the District of Columbia Bar.

The next program runs from October 2016 to May 2017.

Applications are now open.

Find out more at www.sfu.ca/cscd/ced

The SFU Certificate Program for Community Economic Development is a hands-on professional development program for people who are working on making change in their communities. Every year, the program has a wide mix of students from across B.C. and Alberta. Community builders, social workers, social entrepreneurs, community economic developers and others work together on real problems and business ideas they are working on in their communities.

The program is part-time, delivered mostly online over eight months, with two one-week residencies in Vancouver in October and May.