Community Futures Network of Alberta (CFNA), located in Cochrane, Alberta is seeking an Executive Director, a visionary strategist and leader with an applied passion for rural economic development on a provincial scale.
We make business dreams happen in rural Alberta.
BACKGROUND"Selfishness beats altruism within groups. Altruistic groups beat selfish groups."
You may have seen or heard this quote before. It comes from David Sloan Wilson and E. O. Wilson’s paper, "Rethinking the Theoretical Foundation of Sociobiology".
David Sloan Wilson is an evolutionary biologist and has been outspoken in arguing the merits of group selection, the evolutionary theory that groups can be viewed to have functional organization in much the same way as individuals do. In other words, that evolution is not based merely on selfish survival but includes co-operation among individuals within a group context.
This insight has profound implications for community development strategies. Working with Elinor Ostrom, Nobel prize winner in economics, and her colleagues, David helped generalize the design principles of co-operation in successful groups and has now been looking at how they can inform a wide range of community initiatives.
Through experiments with new approaches to sustainable community development including the Binghamton Neighbourhood Project and the Binghamton Regional Sustainability Coalition, David is part of a team that has recently developed PROSOCIAL — a free online platform that helps groups apply the core design principles to improve their efficacy in working together towards common goals.
David Sloan Wilson, SUNY Distinguished Professor, Departments of Biology and Anthropology, Binghamton University
David is an evolutionist who studies all aspects of humanity in addition to the biological world. He manages a number of programs designed to expand the influence of evolutionary theory in higher education (EvoS), public policy (The Evolution Institute), community-based research (The Binghamton Neighborhood Project), and religion (Evolutionary Religious Studies). David communicates to the general public through his ScienceBlogs site and his trade books, including Evolution for Everyone: How Darwin’s Theory Can Change the Way We Think About Our Lives, The Neighborhood Project: Using Evolution to Improve my City, One Block at a Time, and most recently Does Altruism Exist?: Culture, Genes, and the Welfare of Others.
ProSocial –– The Evolution Institute from Alan Honick on Vimeo.
University of Alberta, Augustana Campus
4901-46 Ave
A joint initative of the Alberta Centre for Sustainable Rural Communities (ACSRC) and Battle River Alliance for Economic Development (BRAED)
BRAED (Killam, AB) and the ACSRC (Camrose, AB) are working together to execute a three-day learning commons focused on rural economic and community development. This commons is will be a great opportunity for councillors, mayors, CAOs, EDOs, community development professionals, and students from across the province to engage in various rurally focused topics such as; community and economic development, sustainability planning, social policy, water, continuing care, recruitment and retention, business succession, aboriginal relations and the changing agricultural landscape.
Noon to 1pm Mountain Time
This year Albertans will put billions of dollars into RRSPs. The majority of this money will be invested outside of the province. However, several Albertan community are bucking this trend. They are investing directly in their local economy. This has led to the revitalization of businesses districts, created jobs, and increased vibrancy. By investing locally, community members receive both a financial and social return. One only has to look to the communities of Sangudo and Crowsnest Pass to see the impact.
This webinar will teach participants about raising local capital, to finance local business development. Unleashing Local Capital is a new and innovative local financing program that supports communities in establishing Opportunity Development Co-operatives (ODCs) that pool capital within a designated community using RRSP eligible shares.
This lunchtime webinar will teach you everything you need to get started, as well as provide an opportunity to ask questions and discuss your local business development project. It will include: The webinar will include
At the end of this session you will be prepared to get started on a local financing project in your community! If you are involved in local business, community economic development, or are an entrepreneur this webinar will provide you with some excellent new information and insight into how local financing can be used to build strong and vibrant communities. Opportunity Development Co-operatives can be used to finance:
Opportunity Development Co-operatives also:
For more information please contact Paul Cabaj, Director of Co-operative Development at pcabaj at acca.coop
12pm to 2pm Mountain Time
Calgary Municipal Building, 6th Floor Atrium
800 MacLeod Trail SE
Join Thrive and Calgary Economic Development for lunch with Tim Draimin, Executive Director of Social Innovation Generation (SiG) National, and the Alberta Community & Cooperative Association (ACCA) to explore the history and context of social finance in Alberta.
Social finance is an investment approach that sustains a spectrum of organizational models -- nonprofits, charities, social enterprises and social purpose businesses -- to tackle social and environmental challenges, while generating a financial return for future investment.
At all levels of scale, the social finance system in growing:
During lunch discover the promising initiatives that are shaping the market today and the opportunities on the horizon to mobilize capital to expand local, community and social investment. Be sure to purchase your ticket early as seating is limited.
We need an “ecosystem of democratic, institutional and commercial funding models matched to different elements of social change”
– Michael Edwards
“Beauty and the Beast’: Can Money Ever Foster Social Transformation?”
10:00-11:00am PST
The Local Economy Solution is an entrepreneurial approach to economic development that focuses on local business, creates an ecosystem that supports them, and invites grassroots participation. The goal of this approach is to ensure that economic power resides locally to the greatest extent possible, sustaining vibrant, livable communities and healthy ecosystems in the process.
Do you want to learn how to accelerate the transition to local living economies?
If you are considering enrolling in the SFU Certificate Program for Community Economic Development, this webinar series is a unique opportunity to meet four of our instructors. If you participate in all 4 webinars of this series, we'll mail you a copy of Michael Shuman's most recent book The Local Economy Solution (will be published in June 2015).
