12:30pm - 2:00pm 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@canadianworker.coop) by the end of the day on June 23rd. 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.

Learn more about the CoopZone program and how to apply

Download the 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.

"The Advanced Co-op Developer training has enabled me to connect with other Co-op Developers and a Mentor which allowed me to apply what I am learning directly to the groups and projects I am working on, in real time. I would recommend this program for anyone interested in Co-op Development as we are often working alone or in small teams in communities; the course allows you to feel part of a co-op team!" ~ Amanda Hachey, CEC-NB

Let's face it:  Demonstrating impact is critical when making the case for community programs to funders, stakeholders and policy makers. 

But it can also be very hard to do.  Community organizations tend to find the process of impact measurement complicated and expensive. There is no silver bullet, but strengthening evaluation capacity with a range of strategies, such as Social Return on Investment, can help us improve the effectiveness of what we do and enhance the case for support. 

To strengthen the evaluation and impact measurement capacity of our members, CCEDNet has partnered with CanadaMeasures Initiative (CMI) to offer affordable access to a powerful Social Return on Investment platform. 

CMI is an project of Social Asset Measurement (SAM) and the Carleton Centre for Community Innovation (3ci).  It brings together 3ci’s ten plus years of expertise in impact measurement, and SAM’s impact measurement software, the Social Return Intelligence platform (SRI).  SRI has been reviewed and accepted by the UK based international SROI Network, and has been funded by the National Research Council of Canada. 

Participants in CMI receive educational webinars and are walked through the process of creating their own impact measurement framework. They are then able to access the SRI software to continuously report on their impact.

Regular costs for the CMI program are $2,000 for the first year, and $500 in subsequent years.  But in this special offer, CCEDNet members are eligible for a 12%-18% discount. Not a member?  Find out more about the leading Canadian movement for inclusive and sustainable community economies, and join us!

If you want to strengthen your evaluation capacity and try out SROI or other outcomes frameworks, CMI might be right for you. 

Find Out More

• Watch the recording of the informational webinar that was held January 10th.
• Go to cmi.socialassets.org to take CMI's free survey for a customized recommendation of the type of reporting best suited to you, and a workplan for implementing measurement
• For questions or more information, contact Anshula via the CMI website, or email at anshula [at] socialassets.org

Background Information

• CanadaMeasures - How It Works information package
• CCEDNet's compilation of Evaluation and SROI resources

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.

SPEAKER

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.

Additional Resources

ProSocial –– The Evolution Institute from Alan Honick on Vimeo.

• "Generalizing the core design principles for the efficacy of groups" by David Sloan Wilson, Elinor Ostrom, and Michael E. Cox. This was featured in a special supplement of the Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization on June 2013 entitled Evolution as a General Theoretical Framework for Economics and Public Policy
• Binghamton Neighborhood Project
• Evolution for Everyone: How Darwin’s Theory Can Change the Way We Think About Our Lives by David Sloan Wilson (2007)
• The Neighborhood Project: Using Evolution to Improve my City, One Block at a Time by David Sloan Wilson (2011)
• Does Altruism Exist?: Culture, Genes, and the Welfare of Others by David Sloan Wilson (2015)
• Governing the Commons: The Evolution of Institutions for Collective Action by Elinor Ostrom (1990)
• "Beyond Markets and States: Polycentric Governance of Complex Economic Systems" by Elinor Ostrom. This was published in the American Economic Review in 2010.

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

• An overview of the project, drawing from successful examples in Alberta
• The process of raising capital in your community
• Rules and regulations related to local financing, and how to raise capital in accordance to the current rules

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:

• Expansion, renovation, and upgrading of existing businesses
• Revitalization projects of a once-bustling main-street
• Succession planning that will keep an important business in the community
• New businesses

Opportunity Development Co-operatives also:

• Keep wealth in communities
• Let you invest in your community
• Connects you to a local business and the local economy in a meaningful way

Register for Introduction to Unleashing Local Capital

For more information please contact Paul Cabaj, Director of Co-operative Development at pcabaj at acca.coop

10:00-11:00am PST

The economy wants to change.

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).

Register for the Local Economy Solution webinar