Workshop information is now available for the National CED Conference! Check out what workshops you can attend, including:

• Québec's Social Economy: from Bread and Roses to a Framework Law
• The Local Economic Impacts of Community Renewable Energy
• Community Benefit Agreements and Social Procurement
• The Emerging Enabling Policy Environment for Social Enterprise
• Measuring Social Value Impact
• Vermont's New Economy: Public Banking, Complimentary Currencies and Genuine Progress Indicators
• The UN Sustainable Development Goals and CED
• Financing Co-operation
• Participation of the Private Sector in CED
• Rural Social Enterprise and Community Ecosystem Development
• Integrated Learning Models for Workforce Development
• Crowdfunding and Technology for CED and the Social Economy
• Austerity and Local Development - the Québec Experience
• and many more...

Don't miss the Early Bird deadline this Friday, March 18th!

National CED News

2016 Alternative Federal Budget would Lift 1.1 Million Out of Poverty

The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives's 2016 Alternative Federal Budget (AFB) projects a federal deficit of $29.2 billion for 2016-17 when Liberal platform measures are taken into account.

This year's AFB includes proposals for:

• the creation of a National Community Development Agency;
• a purchasing strategy that incorporates social and environmental value-weighting in all municipal procurement and that uses a community benefit clause on all appropriate contracts;
• a federal neighbourhood revitalization fund of $500m over five years. 

CCEDNet Endorses the Our Power Campaign

CCEDNet's Board of Directors has endorsed the Our Power campaign, supporting community-based approaches to renewable energy.

Last fall, CCEDNet's Board identified climate justice and community renewable energy as a key priority, connecting CED's entrepreneurial strength and focus on equity with the urgent need for transition to a low-carbon economy. 

Our Power, a project of TREC Renewable Energy Co-operative, is a voice for individuals and organizations celebrating renewable energy across Canada and around the world.
 

CCEDNet Member Momentum Recognized for Social Innovation in Calgary

Momentum was recognized with the 2015 Spirits of Gold: Social Innovation Award for their leadership in convening, designing and stewarding the Financial Empowerment Collaborative. With this group, Momentum has been leveraging what they’ve learned through their financial literacy programs to create systems change with the potential to affect change for 45,000 Calgarians living on low incomes by 2023.
 

New Call for Proposals: Support for Women’s Empowerment

Status of Women Canada is inviting organizations to submit proposals for projects to increase women’s participation in democratic and public life. The call for proposals is divided into two streams:

1. Empowering Indigenous Women for Stronger Communities
Deadline: June 1, 2016

2. Empowering Women for Political and Community Action
Deadline: April 20, 2016

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CED Blogs        

How Can You Change a System if You Have No Power

Blog by Kate Swade

Systems thinking can seem complex and inaccessible but even the smallest group of people working towards change can learn from it. Kate Swade sets out five ways to use it.

Google ‘systems change’ and you get almost 1.5bn results. Do the same with ‘systems thinking’ and you get almost 23 million. There is a wealth of thinking, debate, theory and practice out there – once you become aware of the language, it can seem that everyone’s doing it, or talking about it at least.

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   

Challenging the Crisis: A Guide to Social and Solidarity Economy

Through Development Education practices, the Challenging the Crisis project engages citizens from highly indebted EU countries to increase their understanding of the interdependences of local and global justice issues and to enable them to become active advocates for global justice, supporting national and EU development policies despite austerity measures at home. The overall objective of Challenging the Crisis is to contribute to a more just and sustainable world through awareness raising and empowering EU citizens as global development advocates.

"Challenging the Crisis" is a 3-year Development Education project led by IDEA, in Ireland, with partners in 5 other EU countries - Portugal, Italy, Slovenia, Spain and Greece.
 

Taking on the role of being a Citizen Action Lab Leader is taking a courageous dive into exploring and supporting cutting edge work in human services.

Through the lab you’ll be part of...

• Helping improve quality of life outcomes
• Helping teams to come up with creative solutions
• Helping support the citizenship of people with disabilities

How Can Cryptocurrency and Blockchain Technology Play a Role in Building Social and Solidarity Finance?

First, this paper considers claims made by Bitcoin proponents concerning the positive role Bitcoin can play as a tool of financial inclusion, or as a tool to build new systems of property rights in countries with unstable governance. It also considers technical and political critiques of these claims.

Second, the paper looks at the attempts to design new cryptocurrencies—such as Faircoin—based on explicitly cooperative and social justice principles.

Third, the paper considers the emergent wave of “blockchain 2.0” innovation, in which the underlying “blockchain” technology of Bitcoin is expanded into realms like share issuance and micro-insurance.
 

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CED Videos

A Story about Social and Solidarity Economy by Challenging the Crisis

Challenging the Crisis campaigns for the inclusion of Social and Solidarity Economy on the political and economic agenda of the European Union, particularly working towards a European Year for Social and Solidarity Economy.