This Profile of Effective Practice is one of fifteen stories examining how innovative, community-based initiatives are using comprehensive approaches to improve social and economic conditions on a local level.

Many communities in Canada are using community economic development (CED) to successfully combat socioeconomic decline and build strong community-based organizations that contribute to citizen participation and the cultural diversity of their communities. CED refers to holistic, community-led approaches to building stronger communities.

This paper is a starting point for a discussion about the role the co-operative sector can play in assisting immigrants and refugees in Canada and the role that the immigrant and refugee community can itself play in revitalizing Canadian communities through the co-op model. The emphasis is on mutual learning and the sharing of new ideas and practices. We discuss the strengths that immigrants and refugees bring to Canada as well as the barriers they face in their goal to create new lives for themselves and their families.

In Inner City Voices - Community Based Solutions, State of the Inner City Report 2006, The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives - Manitoba, with The Canadian CED Network and many other community partners, examines the accomplishments and ongoing challenges of the inner city and puts forward ideas from those who live and breathe inner city life every day.

This Profile of Effective Practice is one of fifteen stories examining how innovative, community-based initiatives are using comprehensive approaches to improve social and economic conditions on a local level.