12pm to 1pm Mountain Time

How might local capital improve economic development in Albertan communities? Would it result in diversification, job creation, development of value added agriculture and downtown revitalization?

The Unleashing Local Capital Program helps communities establish Opportunity Development Co-operatives, or ODCs. ODCs are community led enterprises that raise capital through the sale of RRSP and TFSA eligible shares to finance local business development. Strong examples include the Sangudo and Crowsnest Pass Opportunity Development Co-operatives.

Register for the Unleashing Local Capital lunch and learn webinar

Lunchtime webinar provides

• An overview of Unleashing Local Capital Program, background and local Albertan examples
• How to start an Opportunity Development Co-operative
• The capital raising process
• How local capital can drive economic development
• Rules and regulations related to local financing, and how to raise capital in accordance to the current rules

There will also be time for discussions and questions and answer

This webinar explains how ODCs can be another arrow in your economic development quiver. If you are looking for strategies around addressing economic leakage, succession planning, financing new businesses and growth, this webinar is for you!

If you have any questions, please contact Seth Leon, manager of co-operative services, at sleon at acca.coop

12:00pm to 2:00pm Eastern Time

Innoweave is pleased to partner with Accelerating Social Impact to offer a National Social Enterprise Feasibility Planning Workshop.

The workshop is designed to help leadership teams of 3-4 (including board members) start to explore a concrete opportunity or idea for creating a social enterprise by:

• Assessing the market for their potential product or service
• Identifying potential customers
• Developing potential pricing structures
• Identifying next steps to become launch-ready

Register for the National Social Enterprise Feasibility Planning Workshop

The Innoweave Social Enterprise workshop builds on the Innoweave Introduction to Social Enterprise webinar. Teams may also view this pre-recorded webinar if they were unable to participate on October 3rd, 2016.

Event details:

• When: Tuesday, November 22nd and Tuesday, December 6th, 2016, 12:00 pm - 2:00 pm ET (9:00 am - 11:00 pm PT). Participants are required to commit to both days (the workshop content will be spread over these two sessions).
• Where: This distance workshop will be hosted via Cisco WebEx. A link to the meeting and workshop documents will be provided to successful applicants.
• Deadline: Applications are due by October 25th, 2016. Space is limited. Successful applicants will be notified by November 1st, 2016.
• Cost: Free

Teams approved to participate in the workshop will be asked to meet and complete a brief pre-workshop activity to help prepare for the workshop.

Participating organizations will also be eligible to apply for implementation funding in January 2017 to engage a coach to help them with development following the workshop. Learn more about Innoweave Implementation Funding

If you have any questions, please contact us at info at innoweave.ca.

10:00am Eastern Time

Join longtime CCEDNet member Shaun Loney for the launch of his new book An Army of Problem Solvers.

First Nations reconciliation has to include rebuilding local economies. Problem solvers such as social enterprises, social entrepreneurs and the small farm movement are demonstrating we can tackle society's most stubborn problems affordably. How do we reinvent government to make it all happen?

Learn more about An Army of Problem Solvers

About the Author

Shaun Loney, a longtime member of the Canadian CED Network, is an Ashoka Fellow (first in Canadian Prairies) and Ernst and Young's Entrepreneur of the Year (2014). He has co-founded and mentored 11 social enterprises including BUILD Inc (2011 Scotia Bank EcoLiving Green Business of the year and 2013 Manitoba Apprenticeship Employer of the Year). Shaun was Director of Energy Policy for the Government of Manitoba (2002-2008 and political advisor to Gary Doer's NDP (1997-2002).

Hosted by the Rural Development Institute

www.brandonu.ca/rdi

12:00pm to 1:00pm Eastern Time

Too often evaluation is a mysterious noise. We can’t discern a beat we can tap our feet to. The melody we seek is elusive. From a poverty reduction perspective, we are inundated with the voices of our clients, funders, donors, colleagues, governments, business leaders, and labour counterparts. Reducing or ending poverty is the music we want to create and listen to, but how can we lessen the noise that envelopes us and increase our capacity to make this music together?

On October 14th, join Mark Holmgren and Mark Cabaj as they discuss this emerging innovation about a Game-Changer approach to poverty reduction strategy and evaluation and share your thoughts as well. Topics covered will include:

• What a Game-Changer in poverty reduction looks like and how this approach can help enhance focus on the development and evaluation of big change efforts to end poverty;
• The case for moving from an evaluation focus on attribution to contribution;
• How this approach can help us understand progress and serve as a catalyst for learning about what is working across the country to address poverty;
• How Game-Changer thinking can foster nation-wide attention on needed systems and policy change; help frame research; and also offer a touchstone for funders in their efforts to resource effective poverty reduction initiatives; and
• How Game-Changers can contribute to Movement-Building and a Collective Impact approach to poverty reduction.

Register for A Game Changer Approach to Poverty Reduction Strategy and Evaluation

Start Your Learning Early

Read Mark Holmgren's brand new paper:

Sometimes to Hear the Music you have to Turn Down the Noise

Speakers

Mark Holmgren joined Tamarack in January 2016 to lead its Vibrant Communities initiative and sits on Tamarack’s team of Directors. His background includes providing executive leadership to two Edmonton-based, inner city human service agencies focused on addressing poverty and homelessness; as well as providing consultation to a number of groups on issues relating to social housing development, organizational change, strategy development and leadership. Most recently Mark served as CEO of Bissell Centre (www.BissellCentre.org) where he led a team of 130 staff delivering Housing First services, assertive street outreach, family and children services, and programs in the areas of mental health, addictions, homelessness prevention, FASD interventions, and employment services.

Known for his big picture view and his ability to work on the ground, Mark has a long history of leading and contributing to social innovations that benefit low income people. Examples include leading the collaborative design of the Community Bridge (homelessness prevention); developing a multi-purpose centre with housing attached for inner city seniors; leading the development of three social enterprises; and, developing innovative approaches to employing marginalized populations.

Mark Cabaj has spent twenty-five years as a social change practitioner, policy maker, funder and consultant in Canada, the USA and Europe. He is a former Vice President of Tamarack, and was the Executive Director of Vibrant Communities Canada - one of the country’s first and largest Collective Impact Initiatives.

Mark is now President of Here to There Consulting Inc. currently focusing on developing practical ways to understand, plan and evaluate efforts to tackle complex issues (e.g. neighborhood renewal, poverty, community safety, environmental sustainability). This includes playing a strong role in building the practice of development evaluation - using evaluation to inform the work of social innovators working in fast moving contexts - as well as practical methods for social innovation, systems change and collaborative action.

Reflections from Scotland Social Enterprise Tour

How has Scotland become a global leader in social enterprise? What can Canada learn from the vibrant landscape of 5,000+ social enterprises in that country?

In early September, a pan-Canadian group of social enterprise stakeholders visited Scotland to tour the landscape. Hosted by Community Enterprise in Scotland, the largest third sector business support provider in Scotland, we met with government representatives, intermediaries, and a diverse mix of social enterprises.

This webinar presented key findings from the tour and shared reflections for the continued evolution of the social enterprise landscape in Canada.

SPEAKERS

David LePage, Principal with Accelerating Social Impact CCC, Ltd (ASI)

ASI CCC was created to serve and promote the emerging blended value business and social finance sectors. David works as a consultant, trainer and advisor with a cross section of social enterprises, social purpose businesses and social impact investors. He is a founder of Buy Social Canada, an initiative to promote social purchasing and social enterprise certification.

David is the Chair of the Social Enterprise Council of Canada. He serves as a Program Adjunct to the Sandermoen School of Business MBA in Social Enterprise Leadership. He is a member of the Social Enterprise World Forum Steering Group, the Canadian CED Network's Policy Council, Imagine Canada’s Advisory Committee, and the BC Partners for Social Impact. He is also a Board member of the Vancouver Farmer's Market and a Board member of Ethelo Decisions. David is the former Team Manager of enp-BC and played a lead role in the development of enp-Canada.

Nabeel Ahmed, Network Coordinator for Social Enterprise Toronto

Nabeel is the Network Coordinator for Social Enterprise Toronto. Previously, he was a Financial Analyst at the University of Central Asia in Bishkek as part of a fellowship in microfinance and microenterprise with the Aga Khan Foundation Canada. He was also the Managing Editor of SocialFinance.ca, where his keen eye and deep knowledge of the field aided him in supporting the conversation around social finance and impact investing in Canada.

This fall Nabeel returned to school to complate a Master of Environmental Studies, City/Urban, Community and Regional Planning with York University.

Darcy Penner, Social Enterprise Policy & Program Manager with the Canadian CED Network

Darcy has been working in community economic development since graduating from the University of Winnipeg with a BA (Honours) degree in Politics. Starting at CCEDNet in 2013, his role has seen him work with member-organizations to pursue a broad policy agenda through workshops, presentations, budget submissions, policy papers and community-organizing, while specializing in supportive social enterprise policy and research – including coordinating the Manitoba Social Enterprise Sector Survey and the Manitoba Social Enterprise Strategy being co-created with the Province of Manitoba. Darcy was also a contributing author to the Alternative Municipal Budget for CCEDNet-Manitoba.​