10:00 am CST

The Rural Policy Learning Commons (RPLC) is proud to partner with the Canadian Rural Revitalization Foundation (CRRF) to bring together a panel of rural researchers in this exclusive webinar.

In 2015, CRRF developed the "State of Rural Canada Report" to help draw attention to rural challenges. Panelists will highlight details of the report and identify issues that will likely be discussed at the upcoming 2016 CRRF/RPLC Annual Conference in Guelph in October.

Panelists:

Sean Markey, Simon Fraser University
Ryan Gibson, University of Guelph
Heather Hall, University of Saskatchewan
Al Lauzon, University of Guelph
Laurie Guimond, Universite du Quebec a Montreal
Robert Greenwood, Memorial University
Chris Southcott, Lakehead University

To attend, please RSVP: blatherwickm at brandonu.ca

7:30am to 8:00pm
Venue 1008
1008 14 Street SE

Imagination is a powerful tool. Partner it with design and engineering and you’ve got a combination that can transform – and solve — the most complex of social issues. This year during Beakerhead, meet six founders, engineers and designers tackling social issues through ingenious entrepreneurial endeavors.

Kudo’s from Oprah to ABC’s Shark Tank, Forbes Magazine and B-Corp; growing from 100 units a month to 10,000; hitting revenue of $5 Million; responding to over 270 disasters and humanitarian crises in over 95 countries – these social entrepreneurs have seen it all. Learn more about the presenters

Register for the World of Social Entrepreneurship

Good science is good for the world. An incredible array of partnerships are bringing together some of the planet’s most innovative and creative minds to offer you a day filled with inspiration. They will show how they’re using that stunning brain matter to make our world a better place – and still meeting the bottom line!

Use the hashtag #socentYYC.

$25 per individual session
$50 full day of Sept 16th activities (includes lunch)

7:30am - 9:00am
Michel Gelobter Keynote
Lean Start-ups for Social Change: Insights and Perspective for Social Purpose Organizations. Michel Gelobter is one of the country's leading sustainability and climate strategists, author of the acclaimed "Lean Startups for Social Change: The Revolutionary Path to Big Impact" and founder of his own social purpose organization.

11:30am - 1:00pm
How Doing Good in the World is Great Business
With the inventors of wearable technology that reads emotional cues, bicycles that are warm in winter, and other smart innovations, this lunch of rapid-fire discussion and world changing ideas is more than food for thought! Hosted by Kim Smith, Community Manager for Capital Ideas Calgary. Includes lunch.

6:00pm - 8:00pm
Local Social Venture Pitch - TRICO Presents: The World of Social Entrepreneurship
Calgary's top entrepreneurs and innovators. An award winning panel of judges. A $10,000 prize to make their world-changing dreams a reality, and a panel on "The Art of the Pitch." Have we caught your attention yet? Hosted by Craig Elias, resident entrepreneur for the Chiu School of Business, Bow Valley College, this pitching contest may just have the potential to make our world a better place.

This day of social and scientific stimulation is brought to you by: TRICO Charitable Foundation, Beakerhead, United Way of Calgary and Area, Capital Ideas, ATB BoostR, Calgary Economic Development, Innovate Calgary, Chiu School of Business, Bow Valley College; Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Mount Royal University; Haskayne School of Business, University of Calgary; and The Calgary Foundation.

10:00am Eastern Time

Learn to facilitate effective and transparent decision-making, while supporting equal voice in ANY organization. 

In the first 30 min of this free webinar, Sociocracy For All will present, then all participants will be able to ask questions about facilitation. This webinar requires basic knowledge of sociocracy. Both dates cover the same content so pick one! 

RSVP by email: info at sociocracyforall.org

If you can't make it on August 17th attend the free webinar on August 17th at 3:30pm

3:30pm Eastern Time

Learn to facilitate effective and transparent decision-making, while supporting equal voice in ANY organization. 

In the first 30 min of this free webinar, Sociocracy For All will present, then all participants will be able to ask questions about facilitation. This webinar requires basic knowledge of sociocracy. Both dates cover the same content so pick one! 

RSVP by email: info at sociocracyforall.org

If you can't make it on August 17th attend the free webinar on August 20th at 10am

Learn about the Global Social Economy Forum happening September 7-9, 2016 in Montréal, Canada - and why your organization should attend! 

All over North America community-based initiatives are taking place to ensure more inclusive and sustainable cities that meet the needs and aspirations of their citizens, from housing and access to local products and services, to ensuring decent jobs and fostering socially cohesive communities. More and more local governments have understood that by recognizing and encouraging these efforts they can support the economic and social development of their cities and oftentimes their environmental and/or cultural development as well. In many places in the world, these practices have been defined as “social and social economy initiatives” and in some cases national, regional or local legislation has been passed to ensure their development

The 2016 Global Social Economy Forum – GSEF2016 aims to highlight best practices of collaboration between these community-based initiatives and local governments that foster more equitable, sustainable and smarter cities taking place all over the world.

As members of the Honorary Committee of GSEF2016, CCEDNet and the New Economy Coalition invite you to listen to this introductory webinar on GSEF2016 to:

• learn more about what is meant by the term “social and solidarity economy”
• discover some of the initiatives that will be presented at GSEF2016
• discuss how applicable these are in a North American context
• learn more about the format of the forum and the ways to get involved

Some information on the 2016 Global Social Economy Forum:

The Global Social Economy Forum -GSEF2016 is the third edition of the Global Social Economy Forum (GSEF), a large international gathering that was initiated by the City of Seoul, South Korea in 2013, in collaboration with its local social economy partners. The 2014 edition, held once again in the South Korean capital, culminated in the founding of the GSEF as a permanent international association uniting local governments and civil society stakeholders that recognize the social and solidarity economy (SSE) as a key factor in local economic development.

Initiatives presented at GSEF2016 include:

• Different approaches that have contributed to the revitalisation and social cohesion of cities such as Cleveland, Seoul, Barcelona and Bamako
• Successful and innovative community-based approaches such as Mondragon, today the largest federation of worker cooperatives in the world, or the Greenbelt Foundation, which protects agricultural land and support the Local Food Economy in Ontario. 
• New ways governments are working with the social economy, including social procurement, co-development of new services operated by collective enterprises in municipal spaces, and supporting the commercialisation of local products and services developed by the community.
• Important ways to reinforce the visibility and growth of the social and solidarity economy such as effective public policy implemented at the local and regional level, financial tools to enable the creation of new enterprises and coalition-building at the local, regional, national and international level.

Public officials from over 50 cities have confirmed their presence including Mayors or elected officials of cities such as Abidjan (Ivory Coast), Bamako (Mali), Barcelona (Spain), Bilbao (Spain), Götebord (Sweden), Lille (France), Montreal (Canada), Paris (France), Seoul (South Korea). In all, 2,000 participants from local governments, SSE enterprises and networks, researchers as well as committed citizens from all over the world are expected to attend.

For more information on the program of GSEF2016 and to register, visit www.gsef2016.org. 

Additional Information

US initiatives being presented at GSEF2016:

• Cleveland
• Madison
• Reading

Canadian initiatives being presented at GSEF2016:

• Manitoba
• Ontario
• Toronto
• Toronto again
• Quebec

12:00pm - 1:00pm Eastern Time

This is an information webinar for those who are thinking about taking one of the courses through the CoopZone On-line Training Program. This webinar is open to anyone. 

Please RSVP to Hazel Corcoran (hazel at canadianworker.coop) by the day prior. You will receive the dial-in information by the start of the day of the call. (If you do not receive it by then, please write again at that time.) 

CoopZone offers various levels of training:

• The Introduction to Co-op Development course is appropriate for people interested in understanding the types and roles of co-ops and the basic co-op development process but who will not be active developers; it lasts half as many weeks as Foundations, and it runs from late October through March; 
• The Foundations Program course lasts for one year (mid-October - May).  This level is designed for individuals who are in the position of advising groups interested in exploring the creation of a co-operative enterprise;
• The Advanced Program lasts for two years and both years will be offered each year if there is sufficient demand. This level is designed for people who seek to provide full development services to co-operatives.

All of these on-line courses are designed to fit around a full-time job (a few hours per week). There is a new Course Director, Eric Tusz-King. Experienced co-op developers provide mentoring to students.

To learn more about this course and obtain the application form, please go to: www.coopzone.coop/courses or write to Eric Tusz-King at: CoopZoneTraining at gmail.com.

Download the Introductory Course Brochure

Here's what some of the students have had to say:

"The course is concise, informative and interactive. Mentors and course director are very knowledgeable, skilled, experienced, approachable and helpful. The readings and tools were very useful."   Billy Granger, SEED Winnipeg

"I would absolutely recommend the CoopZone program to anybody interested. The course is pretty amazing in the way that it creates a common community amongst us aspiring co-op developers and several fully established and tremendously experienced ones. The instructors are great, and the mentoring system gives me the chance to have hours of one-on-one time with an expert in my desired field."  Joel Ratcliffe, Ontario

"After working and consulting with non-profits for over 20 years, Co-op Zone training has given me the understanding and tools to finally be able to work with co-ops. During the course I had 4  groups engage me to help start or transition their co-op, and my assigned mentor as well as the CoopZone network helped guide me through it. Thank you!"  Rick Juliusson, FreeRange Consulting, BC

"What I like about the program:

• The webinars and online presentations, and the opportunity to connect with others across the country involved in the same work.
• The mentor element is great it’s been wonderful to have access to (my mentor’s) wealth of knowledge and perspectives.
• Access to the CoopZone listserv & tele-learning sessions has been good, too.
• The wonderfully curated and assembled reading materials.
• Learning together with great people–the director, cohort and mentors.”  Zoë Creighton, Upper Columbia Co-op Council​, BC