Canadian CED Network News | British Columbia CED News | National CED News
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CCEDNet Webinars Available Online
 New webinars on the latest social economy research and microfinance are now available online. We also have sessions on social impact bonds, the versatility of coops, community resilience, financial management for sustainability and the Canada Revenue Agency's new guidelines for Charitable Status and CED, among others. Check out our Webinars page for more information on all the sessions. CCEDNet also partnered with the Community Social Planning Council of Greater Victoria for a webinar series they recently offered on youth social entrepreneurship. The three webinars explore how young people and youth-serving organizations are using social enterprise to create sustainable livelihoods. 
British Columbia CED News
Vancity Among Greenest Employers
 For the fifth consecutive year, Vancity has been listed among the greenest employers in Canada. The competition, organized by MediaCorp Canada, is intended to celebrate "the employers that lead the nation in creating a culture of environmental awareness in their organization." The Vancouver-based credit union was recognized for its innovative environmental initiatives, including its efforts to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions, participation in "Bike to Work Week," and waste recycling and battery recycling programs. The complete list was published in the Globe and Mail on Earth Day last month.
Groundswell: Training for Grassroots Economic Alternatives
 Newly launched GROUNDSWELL is an eight-month-long Vancouver-based training institute designed to assist people under the age of 35 in developing the hard and soft skills to build their own sustainable enterprises, including but not limited to co-ops, self-employment, social businesses, collectives, non-profits and other grassroots economic configurations that can contribute significantly to an emerging social and solidarity economy. The project is set to open with 25 participants in September, and they have begun accepting applications.
Social Enterprise in BC: From Granola Roots to Thriving Sector
 The social enterprise sector in BC is thriving. The strength of BC’s social enterprise sector was the topic of a recent Vancouver Sun article, which highlighted the community-building work of businesses such as the Willow Bean Café, Potluck Café, and Tyze Personal Networks. The article notes the exponential growth and interest in social enterprises in BC, particularly since it became the first province to pass legsislation that created the community contribution company designation. Demonstrating this growth, in 2012 Vancity Credit Union financed $9 million in social enterprises, up from $3.7 million a year ago. (Photo Credit: Jason Payne, Vancouver Sun)
Report Card on Housing & Homelessness in Vancouver
 The 2012 report card on the City’s Housing and Homelessness strategy shows Vancouver is currently exceeding all of its short-term targets for protecting and expanding affordable rental housing, building new supportive housing, and ending street homelessness. Vancouver has already met and exceeded its 2015 target for new secured rental housing, achieved 84% of the 2015 goal for new supportive housing units, and is on track to meet or exceed the 2015 targets for new secondary rental units and new social housing. Street homelessness is also down 62% since 2008, from 811 individuals to 306 in 2012.
National CED News
Taking Community Economic Development Mainstream
 Members and supporters of the Canadian CED Network are well aware of the economic and social benefits of CED. But what would it take to bring these ideas into the mainstream? After studying this question for a year, Localise West Midlands has come up with some answers. Using CCEDNet's definition of CED as a starting point, their research report provides directions for how CED can be integrated into local economies to help create more successful, socially just and diverse places. The report also includes a literature review on the benefits of localised economies, which finds that CED-led communities out-perform communities with centralized economies on several indicators including job creation, social inclusion, and income distribution.
CED Tool: Grant Connect
 Imagine Canada has recently launched a new tool, Grant Connect, which is an innovative and comprehensive funder database providing detailed searchable information thousands of funding opportunities for Canadian charities, as well as easy to use donor management tools. Imagine Canada is now inviting non-profits across the country to take part in a free trial of this new service, as well as informational webinars. This proprietary grading system analyzes the capacity of each listed funder as well as their connection to your non-profit's cause. Through Grant Connect, you'll instantly know who your best funding prospects are without having to do hours of research.
CED Book Club - Youth Homelessness in Canada
 Youth Homelessness in Canada: Implications for Policy and Practice aims to fill a gap in the information available on homelessness by providing an accessible collection of the best Canadian research and policy analysis in the field. In this book, leading Canadian scholars present key findings from their research on youth homelessness. In an effort to make this research accessible as well as relevant to decision-makers and practitioners, contributing authors have been asked to address the 'so whatness' of their research; to make clear the policy and practice implications of their research so as to better inform the efforts of those working to address youth homelessness.
A Little Bird Told Us: Top Tweets of the Month
 Here are some of our most popular tweets from the last 30 days. Don't already follow us on Twitter? Click here
- Top 10 Ingredients of a Local Economy: And The Pioneers That are Leading the Way http://bit.ly/14BwsOo @bealocalist #neweconomy
- From #Housing to #HealthCare, 7 Co-ops That Are Changing Our Economy: #Coop stories from diverse sectors http://ow.ly/kmIJ1 @yesmagazine
- Canada should take the lead in encouraging social enterprise http://ow.ly/kmHCl #socent
- New research highlights role of #coop's in strengthening environmental health of local economies http://ow.ly/kUKeH #food
- Social enterprises need a new 'ecosystem' of support, according to a sector expert http://ow.ly/kmIay #socent
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