The Ontario Social Economy Roundtable @ ONN Policy to Practice, 2012
On September 28th, following the Policy to Practice – Ontario Nonprofit Network Conference 2012, Working Sessions brought together key leaders and innovative thinkers from across Ontario’s public, private and civic sectors. The
Ontario Social Economy Roundtable (OSER) is an affiliation of networks and organizations focused on supporting the province’s social economy. Members of the OSER Steering Committee kicked off their Working Session by echoing a question that was central to the previous day’s proceedings:
How can we, in the nonprofit sector, work together to strengthen Ontario’s communities? The general consensus reached by those at the session suggested that promoting the understanding and ultimately growth of Ontario’s social economy is the responsibility of those within the sector. Instead of simply waiting around for someone else to do it, we must become actively engaged in the conversations surrounding our sector, pushing them forward by cross-sectoral and regionally diverse action.
OSER has actively used a collaborative approach, which has had great success in identifying policy priorities for Ontario, and also driving them forward.The group has published
four social finance policy papers, which have influenced the expansion of Infrastructure Ontario’s popular Loan Program and have been used for joint advocacy in the Partnership Project, an ongoing initiative to build and strengthen the relationship between the Ontario government and the over 45,000 nonprofit organizations currently operating within the province. Members of OSER’s Steering Committee are currently seeking
feedback on the working draft of Principles for Community Financing.
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Wrapping up the 2012 Social Enterprise Survey for Ontario
Here at CCEDNet Ontario we have recently finished conducting the 2012 Social Enterprise Survey for Ontario. The project is building on similar work led by Dr. Peter Hall and Dr. Peter Elson in
Alberta, British Columbia,
Manitoba, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia. The survey has been a tool to profile the size, scope, and socio-economic impact of social enterprise within these provinces. The process and findings have also allowed for considerable comparative analysis across and within these provinces. As we move forward with the project want to hear from you! What is it that you want to know about social enterprise in Ontario? Send your thoughts to
Ontario@ccednet-rcdec.ca.
We would also like to congratulate Dr. Elson and Dr. Hall on their recent publication of
Canadian Social Enterprises: Taking Stock, in the Social Enterprise Journal. Great work!!
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CCEDNet and Weston Wheels make Headlines!
CCEDNet’s work in supporting the development of the youth-led social enterprise, Weston Wheels in the Mount Dennis community in Toronto was recently featured in the
National Post. The Weston Wheels bike shop opened in March of this year and has been providing much needed repair services and cycling safety training to the community ever since. With support from staff at the Learning Enrichment Foundation, over 25 youth have received training and work experience through working at the shop. The community event featured in the article has led to some outstanding feedback that will continue to inform the direction of Weston Wheels over the coming year.
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CED Job Hunters
Are you passionate about Community Economic Development (CED)? Are you looking for work related to CED? Well, then head on over to the CCEDNet website and check out our National Job Postings
page. The extensive list of available CED jobs is updated regularly! Don’t be shy…you may be one click away from your dream job.
A quick reminder to recent graduates working in the nonprofit sector...If you have an OSAP loan, you may want to
apply for the 'Six-Month Extension to the Grace Period for Repaying OSAP Loans for Borrowers Working at Not-For-Profit Organizations in Ontario.
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CCEDNet Member Feature: Operation Come Home, A Growing Home for Youth Social Enterprise
Since its creation in 1971, Operation Come Home (formerly known as Operation Go Home) has been working to help homeless and street-involved youth in the Ottawa area. Operation Come Home has created a unique approach that allows the youth accessing their programs to engage in a wide range of meaningful education and employment opportunities.
Operation Come Home has grown dramatically since Elspeth McKay became Executive Director in 2007. There has been a great increase in program diversification and options for youth. Rather than using the traditional clinical orientation towards programming, MacKay sees work and education as the answer. With a wealth of experience in developing social enterprises, McKay brought the concept to Operation Come Home. She recognized social enterprise as an opportunity to engage clients and staff in a new manner, while at the same time increasing organizational sustainability. When asked to describe social enterprise in her own words, McKay simply stated, “social enterprise is a business with a social mandate…That can be a nonprofit that is using their expertise to sell products and services and putting the profit back into the mission…It may be engaging a marginalized population to provide them with work opportunities”. What McKay emphasizes is that there needs to be a balance between social and financial return on investment and those profits must be re-invested in the enterprise or returned to the parent organization.
Operation Come Home runs four unique social enterprises designed specifically to promote youth employment: Beadworks, BottleWorks, Buy Your Beau’s Online, and Re-Purpose (
click here to check out OCH and their enterprises)
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Investing in Northern CED
On November 21, 2012, Tony Clement, Minister for FedNor announced a Government of Canada investment that will support community economic development, small business growth, and job creation in the Sachigo Lake First Nation community. The $490,000 investment will in part be used to construct a small business centre, which will house a variety of business and community organizations as well as providing incubation space for entrepreneurs. The funding is part of FedNor’s Northern Ontario Development Program, which supports projects that strengthen community economic development, enhance business growth, and facilitate innovation throughout the region.
(Source: FedNor News Releases)Read more
2013 Social Enterprise Student Competition
The Social Enterprise Student Competition supports emerging social entrepreneurs by matching students and recent graduates with mentors to advise on social enterprise plans in order to transform student ideas into social enterprises. The competition is open to students and recent graduates from all disciplines of publicly funded Ontario colleges and universities. Four awards of $20,000 will be provided to winners in order to develop their social enterprises. Applicants must submit an entry form as well as a video highlighting their idea by
January 7, 2013. Ten semi-finalists will then be selected to pitch their idea at an open pitch competition in Toronto in March 2013. Click
here for competition guidelines.
(Source: Ontario Centres of Excellence)Read more
The City of Hamilton Proposes a CED Strategy
At the December 5, 2012 General Issues Committee Meeting of the City of Hamilton, the Planning and Economic Development Department proposed a 3-year CED pilot project. After research and consultation with experts in the community and other senior staff in the City of Hamilton, City of Hamilton Economic Development staff concluded that a “pilot project” for a Community Based Economic Development Strategy could be implemented for a three year term. If this pilot proves successful and achieves results satisfactory to Council, then the program could be continued and/or expanded and included as a component of the next version of the City of Hamilton’s Five Year Economic Development Strategy that will commence formulation in 2015.
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Introducting...The 2012 On Co-op IYC Magazine!!!
The UN International Year of Co-operatives has drawn attention to the unique strengths and successes attributed to co-op movements worldwide. Over the past months the Ontario Co-operative Association has been compiling narratives that highlight both incredible initiatives undertaken throughout 2012 and innovative new directions for 2013. This resulted in a special IYC issue of The Advantage launched last week at the On Co-op Gala! Most co-operatives in Ontario will receive one print copy. If you would like to order print copies of the magazine please contact ashave@ontario.coop . Check out the online version (here).
(Source: The Ontario Co-operative Association)
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The Ontario Nonprofit Network's Open for Business Update
The Ontario Nonprofit Network (ONN) has been closely following the implementation of the 26 commitments made by the Government of Ontario at the final Open for Business Roundtable at the beginning of June 2012. ONN will be reporting on the results through a ‘dashboard’ feature on their website. According to ONN “there has been considerable success on some of the commitments, while others are still in progress. Overall, the sector, with ONN as convener, continues to work collaboratively with specific ministries to achieve results made on the sector’s five Open for Business priorities and commitments made by the provincial government”. Make sure to check out the ONN dashboard to stay in the loop as quarterly updates are posted!
(Source: The Ontario Nonprofit Network)
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Otesha Launches 2013 Tours
Last month Otesha announced its 2013 cycling tours! If you are looking to make an impact, a sustainability and social justice cycling adventure may be right for you. There are four cycling adventure opportunities available throughout the fall and summer of 2013, which include the Changemaker Tour, the Nation-to-Nation Tour, the Pedal to Plate Tour, and the West Coast Tour. Apply soon as the tours are already filling up!
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Social Impact Bonds
Social Impact Bonds (SIBs) are a hot topic in Ontario right now. SIBs have been touted as innovative outcome-oriented investments, which have the potential to tackle challenging social issues. While an approach that would enable governments to pay only for initiatives that meet targeted deliverables is enticing, SIBs also have the potential to greatly alter how many social service programs are structured. While only time will tell in regards to the benefits and drawbacks of SIBs, the topic has flooded the blogosphere and media outlets over the past month. Have a listen to the case for and against social impact bonds in Canada, presented by the CBC on November 20,2012.Read more on what the 'cautionary' SIB camps are saying
Read more on what the ‘pro’ SIB camps are saying
