National CED News

2016 Federal Budget Misses Opportunities for Community Investment

Budget 2016 was tabled March 22nd and while the budget seems to have positive measures and investments to reduce poverty and inequality, improve access to affordable housing, reduce homelessness and invest in First Nations, it misses the chance to strengthen the role community-based leadership can play to support those investments. Check out our assessment of the budget as well as other reactions from CCEDNet members and partners.
 

Victoria City Council Supports Cumberland Social Procurement Resolution

Victoria Mayor Lisa Helps and Cumberland Mayor Leslie Baird today announced City of Victoria support for a ‘Social Procurement Resolution’ being presented by Cumberland Councillor Ketler at the 2016 AVICC conference in Nanaimo next month. Social Procurement seeks to better leverage existing taxpayer spend to achieve positive socioeconomic outcomes. "It’s about moving beyond the Do no harm of the environmental movement to pro-actively leveraging tax dollars to Do some good,” said Sandra Hamilton, a CCEDNet member and leading authority on the topic who has authored the first municipal Social Procurement framework in both BC and Alberta.
 

CAIF Capacity Building/Technical Assistance Grants: Call for Letters of Inquiry due June 10th

The Canadian Alternative Investment Foundation (CAIF) has announced their second Call for Letters of Inquiry in 2016. CAIF builds on the Canadian Alternative Investment Cooperative's three decades of experience as a social lender.  The foundation will provide grants in the $5,000 to $15,000 range in three granting streams.

Deadline: June 10th

CommunityBUILD Social Venture Pipeline Accelerator and Incubator

The Social Venture Pipeline is program of the communityBUILD initiative. It is a curated pathway for those ventures approaching launch into market and revenue generation consisting of a 4.5-month Accelerator program followed by a 3-month Incubator. Participants will be supported to move their businesses forward to launch through education, networking and mentoring provided by communityBUILD’s expert mentors.

Deadline: April 15th
 

2016 TEF Business Plan Competition for Social Enterprises

The Toronto Enterprise Fund (TEF) has announced the launch of its 2016 Business Plan Competition. The competition is open to non-profit social enterprises that provide transitional or permanent employment for people who are marginalized. A total of $155,000 is available for the winners. Prospective applicants must attend all 4 workshops provided by TEF, starting April 29th.

Deadline: October 10th
 

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CED Blogs        

Neighbourhoods Alive! in Year Fifteen: What has been the Impact? Part 3

Blog by Richard Dilay

In 2015, Neighbourhoods Alive! (NA!) celebrated its fifteenth year of operation. After 15 years of operation, it might be a fair question to ask “What has been the impact of NA!, to date?”,  and whether NA! communities are being revitalized. NA! contracted independent Community Impact Evaluations in 2005 and 2010. The 2005 evaluation, conducted by the University of Winnipeg – Institute of Urban Studies (IUS), was done at a more formative stage of NA! and focused on the Community Led Development (CLD) model and the partnership with the Neighbourhood Renewal Corporations (NRC). It concluded that the CLD model and partnership with the NRCs had demonstrated some success, although the NRCs needed further support to fulfill a challenging role...


All members are encouraged to post blogs on their experiences, lessons and successes. If you're interested, contact us.

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CED Resources   

Testimony from the Trenches: Eight Canadian Stories of CED Success

A piece of CCEDNet and CED history...this paper highlights eight examples of effective pursuits of community revitalization through the CED strategy that our Network represents and promotes. These are offered here simply as a resource and as background data for the policy framework presented in this document.
 

This guidebook is written for communities and individuals interested in establishing a renewable energy co-operative or a co-operative intended to develop renewable energy projects, particularly for those involved in such co-ops in the early stages. Organized in nine sections, this book will introduce you to the basics of renewable energy in Ontario including the various technologies, the Feed-in Tariff program and the Green Energy and Economy Act. It will also summarize and direct you through the basics of co-op development, project development and long-term co-op and project maintenance. By reviewing this guidebook, you should gain a solid understanding of the time, dedication and resources required to build and maintain a renewable energy co-op or co-op and renewable energy projects. 
 

New Deal for Communities: A Synthesis of New Programme Wide Evidence 2006-07

The New Deal for Communities (NDC) Programme is one of the most important neighbourhood renewal initiatives in England. The NDC Programme was launched in 1998 with the aim of reducing the gap between deprived neighbourhoods and the rest of the country through community-led partnerships in 39 neighbourhoods. The 39 NDC Partnerships each face unique combinations and types of disadvantage, but all tackle problems across six themes: poor job prospects, high crime, educational underachievement, poor health, poor quality housing and physical environment. Between 1999/2000 and 2005/06 some £1.54 billion (2005/06 prices) has been spent by the 39 Partnerships, about a billion from Government investment and the rest from other sources, especially other public funds (£390m).
 

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CED Videos

Do You Know About Poverty?

Make Poverty History Manitoba, of which CCEDNet is a partner, has a plan to help end poverty in Manitoba.