February 2011

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Profile: Kids in the Hall Bistro

There’s always something interesting cooking at Kids in the Hall Bistro, but it’s not just the menu that makes this Edmonton eatery unique. Alongside eclectic and delectable dishes, this lively restuarant serves up second (or first) chances and meaningful opportunities for hundreds of inner-city youth.

Many young people secure their first jobs by greeting patrons or washing dishes at restaurants. Kids in the Hall Bistro not only offers first job experience, but it also offers first opportunities at success. The majority of employees at Kids in the Hall have faced multiple barriers to education and employment in their young lives. Many have been involved with the criminal justice or child welfare systems, grappled with homelessness, or depended on social assistance.

The idea of the Kids in the Hall Bistro was borne out of the need for a safe environment where vulnerable youth could go and gain valuable life and employment skills. This social enterprises' approach to youth engagement is three-fold. Participants begin by attending workshops, which teach life skills like anger management, and career planning. Many youth move on to the education component by taking a variety of courses in a supportive, hands-on environment. Upon graduation, participants are offered a job either working in the Bistro, or with its catering service. From workshops to school to employment, the Kids in the Hall nine-month program supports its participants every step of the way. Its ongoing youth outreach programs has helped upwards of 200 youth, which includes most of the Bistro’s employees.

The Kids in the Hall Bistro is geared to tackle the barriers and issues that have prevented young adults from succeeding in school, at work, and in life. The Program has maintained a high rate of success, which they define by the number of youth who secure employment or continue their education after they have completed the program. Program participants graduate with concrete work experience, life skills, and basic understandings of business practices.

Restaurants are, by their very nature, chaotic places. More often than not, a successful restaurant is one that hides its chaos behind closed kitchen doors, while providing its customers with a calm, yet vibrant atmosphere. While Kids in the Hall Bistro delivers this environment, the restaurant actively seeks out Edmonton youth who are struggling with chaotic domestic lives and offers them a safe haven of opportunity. By providing paid work and priceless skill building opportunities, Kids in the Hall Bistro is a true CED initiative helping inner-city youth transition out of chaos and into successful adulthood.

More information:

cravery@kidsinthehallbistro.com
Phone: 780.413.8060
www.kidsinthehallbistro.com

Canadian CED Network News

Meet our Members

Community First Fund of Saskatoon

 

 


Community First is dedicated to reducing poverty in Saskatoon with the aim of helping people in their community build better lives. The Community First Development Fund provides financing for long-term local community economic development projects. The Fund seeks to support projects that address the causes, rather than the symptoms, of poverty.

Visit their website

CCEDNet on Facebook & YouTube

Looking for more information? Want to stay in the CED loop in between CCEDNet newsletters? Visit CCEDNet's Facebook Fan Page for all the latest updates on CED events, news, and reports from around the country!

You can also subscribe to our growing YouTube Channel for great profiles on CED initiatives and informative talks with CCEDNet staff on community development issues.

  • Featured Video: A Food Policy for Winnipeg? focuses on the issues of food security in an urban centre, and it explores the possibilities and potential benefits of having a municipal food policy

Meet a Create Action Intern

Each year, CCEDNet member organizations hire emerging CED leaders for six month internships with the help of the CCEDNet's Create Action Internship Program. There are currently 40 interns working across the country with various CED initiatives, organizations, and programs.

Tricia Young is the most recent participant in the Create Action Program, having joined CCEDNet - Alberta just last month. She grew up just east of Red deer, Alberta on a horse ranch. Although Tricia is new to the culture of community economic development, she has a great deal of experience working with international and local communities to develop healthy life skills and positive relationships. She holds a diploma in Human Relations, Family Counseling and Life Skill Coaching. For the past six years, Tricia worked as a Youth counselor in social work. As an intern with CCEDNet-Alberta, Tricia will be helping to plan a regional CED event.

Saskatchewan CED News

Building Community Conference Videos Online

In case you missed it, or need a refresher, videos of the Building Community Conference, which took place in May 2010, are now available at the Centre for the Study of Co-operativesí (University of Saskatchewan) website. The conference hosted representatives from leading co-operative organisations in Canadaís retail, finance, healthcare, and insurance sectors. During the conference, speakers explored how the co-operative model currently addresses the most pressing social and economic issues facing our communities.

View Conference highlights 

Roger Herman Accepts New Post at University of Saskatchewan

The Centre for the Study of Co-operatives is bidding adieu to Roger Herman, the Research Officer at the Centre for 12 year. While they are sorry to see him go, the Centre is proud to announce that Mr. Herman has accepted a position as Research and Partnerships Coordinator for the Social Sciences Division of the College of Arts and Science. In the coming weeks, the Centre will be seeking someone to assume some of the responsibilities Mr. Herman has so ably juggled, though they are well aware that he is not easily replaced.

Stay posted on our CCEDNet Saskatchewan web page for an upcoming job advertisement.

Credit Unions Popular Among Saskatchewanians

A new public opinion survey shows that more than half of all Saskatchewan residents use credit unions for their financial services: giving credit unions a larger market share in the province than any other financial institution. The survey, conducted by Canwest Opinion Research for SaskCentral, showed that 53 per cent of the individuals surveyed deal with one or more credit union. The survey also showed that people who deal exclusively or primarily with a credit union are generally more satisfied with the service than those who deal exclusively or primarily with a bank. Satisfaction of credit union members remains strong at 95 percent.

(Source: CCA News Brief, February)

Saskatchewan CED & Co-operative Conference Registration now Open!

Registration is now open for the SK CED and Co-operatives Conference that takes place 8:30 AM-4:30 PM, April 8th, 2011 at Mount Royal Collegiate. Join us for a full day of learning, sharing and networking. Workshops and panel discussions will reflect upon Building Engaged, Sustainable, Inclusive and Enterprising Communities.

Register here

Financing Aboriginal Enterprise Development - U of S Report

In this report, the Centre for the Study of Co-operatives at the University of Saskatchewan explores the potential for Aboriginal Financial Institutions (AFIs) to evolve from their current developmental role to full-service financial providers, possibly by becoming credit unions. The research examined the factors that motivate AFIs to explore new institutional arrangements and the potential challenges or hurdles they perceive or have faced in pursuing this objective. The study considered whether, as credit unions, existing AFIs could continue to provide developmental loans and thus continue to serve their current client base.

Download the report (pdf)

1% Home Sweet Home - World Community Arts Day in Regina

1% Home Sweet Home is an art installation organized by Common Weal Community Arts in partnership with numerous social agencies and concerned individuals, that will be held on Thursday, February 17th from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., Victoria Park. The event will celebrate World Community Arts Day as well as focus attention on the serious issue of housing/homelessness in Regina. Regina has a 1% housing vacancy rate, and the affordability of housing is rapidly becoming less affordable.

Visit the event's Facebook page.


CED Tool

Community Based Planning: Engagement, Collaboration, and Meaningful Participation in the Creation of Neighbourhood Plans

Planning can help communities create a vision for the future and a roadmap for achieving that vision. There are, however, many challenges to community and human-centred approaches to development planning. These challenges can entrench stakeholder positions and magnify interpersonal conflict, inhibiting achievement of desired outcomes. Various planning tools and approaches can help mitigate conflict and maximize opportunities to build a common vision and collaborative partnerships, which leads to successful community development.

This document, written by Karin Kliewer, reviews planning theories, differentiates types of statutory and non-statutory plans, explores different engagement and participatory planning strategies, and considers ways to deal with some of the most likely challenges in the process.

Download Community Based Planning (pdf)

National CED News

CED Book Club: New publications from the Rural Development Institute

Brandon University’s Rural Development Institute (CCEDNet member) recently published two new books on Canadian rural development, both of which include strong CED themes. Dr. Doug Ramsey was one of the editors of Geographical Perspectives on Sustainable Rural Change, while Dr. Kenneth Beesley edited The Rural-Urban Fringe in Canada: Conflict & Controversy. Both are professors in the Department of Rural Development at Brandon University.

Click here for more information or to purchase the books

Canada Without Poverty’s Letter to PM Harper - News he needs to hear



Rob Rainer, Executive Director of Canada Without Poverty, began his January letter to Mr. Harper with the following statement: “Leadership, it has been said, ‘is about telling people what they need to hear, not what they want to hear.” With that, Mr. Rainer reminds the Prime Minister that he has failed to address Canada’s urgent poverty issues and growing inequality gap in his public statements. The letter presents Canada’s critical poverty challenges with hard statistics, and offers some possible policy avenues to address the problem. Mr. Rainer concludes by challenging the Prime Minister to make poverty a “top five” policy and legislative issue in 2011.

Download the letter (pdf)

Social Enterprise: Are There Really Legislative or Regulatory Barriers?

Staff members of Enterprising Non-Profits wrote this article in response to widespread concern about the legalities of non-profits and charities operating businesses or social enterprises. The authors claim that their collective experience has demonstrated that there have never been legal or regulatory barriers that have prevented a non-profit or charity from launching a legitimate social enterprise. The article also offers key advice for planning a legitimate social enterprise.

Read more

New Report - The Road Half Travelled

The University of Maryland’s Democracy Collaborative recently published The Road Half Traveled: University Engagement at a Crossroads. This report examines the challenges and opportunities universities face in leveraging university intellectual and economic activity to benefit local communities.

Read more

The Rationale for Worker Co-operatives - New CWCF Campaign

The Canadian Worker Co-op Federation has created an effective strategy to help raise awareness of democratic and co-operative workplaces based on equality. This promotional campaign includes a new poster and brochure which feature a photograph Manitoba’s Neechi Foods Grocery Store prominently on the cover. Also included in the project is a brief report titled “The Rationale for Worker Co-operatives,” which provides a brief history of the co-operative model and considers its potential role in Canada’s future.




Click here to view the paper, the new poster and brochure.

Take the Pledge – 10 Percent Shift

The Canadian Union of Public Employees in BC recently launched a new online campaign titled the 10 Per Cent Shift. The aim of the Shift is to encourage citizens to shift 10 percent of their household spending towards locally produced goods and services from locally owned businesses. The campaign hopes to revitalize local economies while capturing “the imagination of current and future entrepreneurs by demonstrating that there is serious and growing demand for locally made products sold at locally owned businesses.”

Visit the website and take the Pledge

Research Network Launches Webinar Series

The Measuring the Co-operative Difference Research Network, a five-year project aimed at researching the economic, social and environmental impact of co-ops and credit unions, is planning a series of free webinars over the next three months.The Webinars will focus on co-operative development and the relevance of co-operative enterprise today and in the future.

The first webinar, which will take place at 12 noon EST on February 18, will be on The Co-operative Model: A Durable and Sustainable Enterprise and feature co-operative historians Ian MacPherson and David Bent.

Register here

Job Postings

For the latest CED postings visit the National and Regional job pages on CCEDNet's website

National | AB | SK | MB | North

Positions to post? Send them to breimer@ccednet-rcdec.ca

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Saskatchewan Newsletter