It’s my pleasure to release our newest report, Connected and Ready: The Impact of the Manitoba Social Enterprise Strategy. This report is an impact analysis of the Manitoba Social Enterprise Strategy (MSES), a 3-year partnership between the Government of Manitoba and the Canadian CED Network - Manitoba which sought to develop and nurture an ecosystem that facilitates the strengthening and growth of social enterprises creating job and training opportunities for individuals facing barriers to employment.

Read the MSES Impact Evaluation Report

• A total 133 events, workshops, meetings and presentations.
• 47 presentations and meetings to advocate for social enterprise.
• 59 meetings to engage and support the social enterprise sector.
• 17 capacity building events.
• Over 700 attendees at events and meetings, representing over 400 organizations.

Supported by the work that the MSES has done on sector development so far, more work integration social enterprises are turning interesting, exciting ideas into reality faster and better, thereby making demonstrable progress especially in lower income communities. The activities of the MSES met sector training and development needs leading to a greater impact by social enterprises in Manitoba.

Key areas of impact included:

• Organizational development
• Network development
• Awareness-raising and advocacy
• Market development
• Sector readiness for future growth

The MSES provided the opportunity to pilot strategic programming to support work integration social enterprises, and yet there is much more possible if the needs for organizational development, networking and market development are met. Many of the MSES initiatives were of great value. There are initiatives that made a clear impact and show potential for replication, while other initiatives did not address the sector need as well as intended. In these instances, a sector need remains and a better understanding of how to address it has been gained.

Social enterprise isn’t just about poverty reduction or workforce development, it’s also about great business models and ideas that have many positive spin-off effects in our communities, the environment and local economies. We know there are barriers to address as we strive for the next level in Manitoba, but the engine is warmed up and ready to go.

Staffing Changes at CCEDNet Manitoba

It’s also bittersweet to announce my last day at CCEDNet will be June 7. It has been an honour to work alongside so many inspiring people doing phenomenal work since I started here in 2013. Everyday I’ve seen the impact of our member’s work in our communities, and I’m grateful to all of you for all you do. Keep up the incredible work and I’m sure we’ll cross paths soon enough.

Frank Atnikov will continue to provide social enterprise development supports, and CCEDNet Manitoba is now hiring for a new policy coordinator.

Until next time...

Darcy Penner has been working in community economic development since graduating from the University of Winnipeg with a BA (Honours) degree in Politics. Starting at CCEDNet in 2013, his role has seen him work with member-organizations to pursue a broad policy agenda through workshops, presentations, budget submissions, policy papers and community-organizing, while specializing in supportive social enterprise policy and research – including being the Project Manager for the Manitoba Social Enterprise Strategy being co-produced with the Province of Manitoba, and coordinating the Manitoba Social Enterprise Sector Survey.