16 October, 2009
11 am - 6 pm
Michel Pujol Room, Student Union Building,
University of Victoria, Coast Salish Territory

Free admission

Co-operative Economy Forum

• Diverse, local organizations committed to sustainable and co-operative community-based action
• Thought-provoking speakers
• A social 'trade fair' offering opportunities for education and networking, and featuring participants from sectors such as health care, environment, and social justice

Open to students, faculty and greater community.
For more information: rochdale @uvic.ca

AGENDA:

11:00-11:30 Welcome Address: Theorizing the 'Co-operative Economy' and 'Sustainability'
Ana Maria Peredo, Director, B.C. Institute for Co-operative Studies

11:30-12:00 Financial Co-operatives: The Role of Credit Unions in Securing a Sustainable Economy
Patrice Pratt, Board Chair, Vancity

12:15-12:45 Finding Your Place in the Green Economy: Career Planning for Today's Youth
Emily Menzies, Youth Climate Leadership Alliance

1:00-1:30 Cooperation and the Co-operative Economy: Past, Present, and Future
Dr. lan MacPherson, Founder, B.C. Institute for Co-operative Studies

1:30-2:15 Social Fair and Lunch

2:15-3:15 Energy and Food Security through Community Cooperation
Mark Gauti and Tyier Finnie, T'sou-ke Smart Energy Project
Miranda Cross, Campus Urban Agriculture Collaborative (CUAC)

3:45-4:15 Towards a Solar Economy: Is the Profit-Motive Sustainable
James Rowe, Environmental Studies department, UVic

4:30-5:00 Student Housing Co-ops: DIY Approaches to Student Housing
Sol Kinnis, Founding member of Roofs and Roots Housing Co-op

Info: 250-472-4539, rochdale@uvic.ca.

To learn more about the hosts: www.bcics.org, www.victoriaco-ops.ca.
Poster: http://www.bcics.coop

In his lecture, A Culture of Sustainability: Re-embedding the Economy in Social Life and The Ecosphere, Dr. Noel Keough will discuss Community Economic Development and more recently, the notion of a Social Economy enjoying a resurgence in Western Canada. For the past three years, Dr. Keough has collaborated with a group of Western Canadian social economy academics and practitioners with an interesting in understanding, mapping and advancing the social economy. Dr. Keough's work has focused on mapping of local social economy clusters, new approaches to sustaining the cooperative housing model and opportunities for social economy participation in the emerging green economy. A common theme of this work is the relationship between sustainability and social economy. A key question in all of this work is: How do we move the social economy from the margins to the centre?

Dr. Keough is Assistant Professor of Sustainable Design at the University of Calgary, Faculty of Environmental Design; co-founder and Senior Researcher for Sustainable Calgary Society and Member of the Board of Directors for PLAN:NET Ltd Development Consultants and a co-researcher with the BC Alberta Social Economy Research Alliance. Noel has over 15 years working in community sustainability planning, sustainability indicator design and adult and environmental education. He has worked as a professional engineer, environmental consultant and community development specialist. Noel has worked with communities in Asia, Eastern Europe, The Middle East, Central and South America and across Canada using Participatory Action Research, Adult Education and Popular Theatre Methods to facilitate community action and research. Noel is also a member of the Atkinson Foundation's National Working Group of the Canadian Index of Wellbeing. For more information visit: http://www.ucalgary.ca/evds/keough

Explore venture development and analysis processes from the point of view of an economic development practitioner. Participants will start from regional economic analysis, follow a series of steps including selection criteria, feasibility studies, and business plans, and end with an examination of different business forms to find the one that best fits the venture.

Looks at the ways in which communities organize in order to build the skills, knowledge and confidence of local people to act for social, economic and political change.

Explores how globalization has transformed the way economies operate and what this means for local and regional economic development.

Explores the roots of economic shifts and examines the stages a community goes through from notification to revitalization and what action practitioners can take to assist the transition.

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This workshop is part of SFU's Certificate Program for Community Economic Development Professionals: www.sfu.ca/cscd/ced

 

What people are saying about the program...

"The Program's broad-based, grassroots approach to community economic development is extremely valuable, surprisingly innovative, and completely refreshing. Every economic development professional should take the SFU-CED Program!"

- David Kalinchuk, Economic Development Manager, Rocky View, Alberta

"I loved every second of the program. I was expecting to leave with a deeper understanding of CED, and I did, but more importantly I connected with my fellow students and have been inspired by their passion and enthusiasm for making a difference in their communities."

- Michelle Eggli, enterprising non-profits program, Vancity

"The CED courses at SFU have proven to be an invaluable asset for my staff who have participated. They not only get instruction from highly qualified instructors but, in most cases, from instructors who are still working at the grass roots level in CED."

- Ray Gerow, Manager, Prince George Aboriginal Business Development Centre