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Creating Funds for Social and Environmental Impact - National Launch of 'Community Finance Solutions'

Community Finance Solutions provides expert advisory support to high-potential initiatives creating new impact investing funds and innovative financial products. We envision a vibrant marketplace of effective impact investing funds and innovative financial products in communities across Canada, pooling and placing capital to create social and environmental impact.
 
The national launch will take place on Thursday, March 6, 2014 at 12 p.m. EST through a webinar. The launch event is entitled Creating Funds for Social and Environmental Impact and will provide an insider’s view on developing a new impact investing fund. The launch webinar will be moderated by Katie Gibson from the MaRS Centre for Impact Investing and will feature the following speakers:
  • Jane Bisbee, Social Enterprise Fund (Edmonton, AB)
  • Garth Davis, New Market Funds (Vancouver, BC)
  • Margie Mendell, Concordia University speaking about La Fiducie du Chantier de l'économie sociale (Montreal, QC)

Who is eligible for support?

Our clients are individuals and organisations located across Canada who are working to launch new impact investing funds or innovative financial products. Please see our online application for more details.
 
Community Finance Solutions could support the following types of initiatives:
  • Creation of an investment fund focusing on First Nations communities, affordable housing, sustainable food and water, or renewable energy;
  • Development of a community loan fund for local businesses;
  • Creation of a blended philanthropic and investment fund to finance projects with a social mission;
  • Issuance of a community bond to finance an infrastructure project; and
  • A variety of other impact investing funds and products that meet our established criteria.

[ Register today ]

More information:

For more information or if you have further questions about Community Finance Solutions, please contact kgibson@marsdd.com or visit our website. 

Good Till the Last Drop: Strategies to Manage Stormwater While Greening Communities & Creating Jobs

Speaker: Sharyn Inward, Program Manager, RAIN, Green Communities Canada
Managing stormwater with infrastructure improvements can help to mitigate the impact of traditional development practices, which can cause the combined volume of rain and wastewater to exceed a sewer system’s capacity. Pollutants in the runoff from rainwater can destroy biodiversity, while excess stormwater backups can result in the increase of street and basement flooding. Practices that can green stormwater infrastructure include modifications to a range of soil, water and plant systems in order to green housing, yards, community spaces and municipal lands that intercept stormwater, infiltrating a portion of it back into the ground, air and sewer system.
Affordable housing providers, municipal environmental service departments and community organizations will have an opportunity to learn about practical, cost effective stormwater management solutions, such as rain gardens, treescapes, rain barrels, container gardens and porous pavement. We will be joined by Green Communities Canada Sharyn Inward, who will discuss these strategies, along with exciting new programs in the United States that work with housing, neighborhood groups, schools and businesses to manage stormwater that, in addition to creating jobs, have created more livable, prettier communities with higher property values and improved health outcomes.

[ register here ]

SPEAKER

Sharyn Inward has over twentyyears of experience researching, developing, funding, implementing, managing and evaluating community-based environmental awareness and action programs. Notable examples include Cancer Prevention (Women’s Health and Environmental Network) and Well Aware and Pesticide Free Naturally (Green Communities Canada). Sharyn’s latest work includes developing and implementing the RAIN Program, addressing lot-level stormwater management in eight Ontario communities and Depave Paradise, both for Green Communities Canada, as well as designing green buildings and houses in her spare time. Areas of specialization include community engagement, program development, water quality, stormwater, energy efficiency, green building, passive solar greenhouses and architecture for small, natural buildings.
  • Green Communities Canada(GCC) is a national association of community organizations that help people go green – in their homes and gardens, on the road, at work and in the community. Sharing knowledge and best practices, GCC is a leader in delivering programs and services at the community level, and is represented in every region of the country.

Space is limited. REGISTER NOW!

Please note that, as always, webinars are free for CHRA members. 
For non-members, the cost is $40 + tax.

Fostering a Vibrant Sea to Sky Regional Economy

Whistler Conference Centre
6PM: doors open, cash bar
7PM: presentation, panel, discussion
9PM: cash bar continues, mingling

Focusing on local economic development strategies from around North America, Mr. Shuman will provide compelling ideas and success stories of how communities shift economic development initiatives into creating more local wealth.

Mr. Shuman is an economist, attorney, author and entrepreneur. He has led community-based economic-development efforts across North America and has authored, coauthored, or edited eight books, and has written nearly 100 published articles. His most recent book is “Local Dollars, Local Sense: How to Move Your Money from Wall Street to Main Street and Achieve Real Prosperity.”

Register now

* Registering today could win you a signed book

Want to learn more from MIchael Shuman? Join us for a breakfast discussion the next morning…
We will probe deeper into Mr. Shuman’s work and potential strategies for the Sea to Sky Corridor. Thursday February 27th from 8:00-10:00am / Delta Whistler Village Suites
Early bird $25 (regular $30) / Email to register: info@whistlercentre.ca

Hosted by the Whistler Centre for Sustainability, the 2014 Sustainability Speaker Series is designed to inspire, engage and spark ideas for creating collective impact. Please contact us if you would like to sponsor the event.

New Relationships, New Realities: Canadian Rural Revitalization Foundation's 2014 Fall Conference

The conference theme, New Relationships, New Realities, reflects the changing relationships across industry, local and senior levels of government, and community organizations. Changes in policy and service environments, as well as changes in funding support, have reshaped expectations and operations while producing new realities for stakeholders in small communities. These changes call for new capacities and understandings.

The 2014 conference will provide opportunities to explore how new labour arrangements, development opportunities, and policies are reshaping community and economic development practices. In addition to sharing lessons and best practices, there will also be opportunities to build new skills and tools in order to strengthen the capacity of rural practitioners, researchers, and other stakeholders.

The 2014 annual rural conference will be held in Prince George, British Columbia! The conference will take place from September 25-28, 2014 and will be co-hosted with the Community Development Institute at the University of Northern British Columba.

Read more

View program

Register now

 Early bird discount rates are available until August 1, 2014.

Embracing ComplexCity: 2014 SCARP Student Symposium

How can we work toward building resilient and inclusive cities in the face of deeply complex environmental, social, and economic challenges? Join us as we explore opportunities for
Embracing ComplexCity!

This year marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of Horst Rittel and Melvin’s Webber’s seminal publication that framed the challenges confronting planners as “wicked problems.”  These problems are inherently hard to define and therefore difficult to address. They are constantly evolving and encompass many interacting systems. Improving the resilience of our towns, cities, and regions to wicked problems like climate change, demographic change, and structural shifts in our economy is a critical issue for the next generation of planners.

Understanding the space around us as a complex web of interdependent pieces and challenges has tremendous implications for planning, but it is unclear how this framing can be translated into practice. Together we will explore tools and strategies we can use in our practice to embrace the complexity of our towns, regions, and cities.

This year we’ve again partnered with the Planning Institute of British Columbia and Yukon (PIBC) to offer 7.5 Organized/Structured CPD Learning Units to PIBC members.

Mike Lewis, CCEDNet member and Executive Director of the Canadian Centre for Community Renewal, will be presenting as part of the panel session on Public Land in Developer’s Hands: Partnerships to Realize Social Purpose Development Projects and CCEDNet Communications Manager, Matthew Thompson, will be moderating the panel session on The Future of Rural Communities: The Urban-Rural Interface.

Register now

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