In This Issue
June 3-5, 2009, Winnipeg, Manitoba
Profile: Roberto Lay
Walking on the Strength of One's Own Legs
"Communities are learning to walk by themselves. It's like the young child who says to his father ‘you know what, I don't want you to hold my hand anymore; I want to walk with the strength of my own legs.' And that's what the Social Economy is about. It's walking on the strength of one's own legs."
Roberto Lay is the Executive Director of the Institute for Development and Peace in the Amazon (IDPA), a social justice NGO located in San Martin, Peru. For more than 30 years Roberto has worked to foster sustainable community development based on food security and community empowerment. His deep appreciation for the Amazonian way of life has led Roberto to become a tireless champion of its cause.
Read more of our network's recently published Social Economy Stories
CED Tools
Youth In Charge CED Toolkit
The Canadian Community Economic Development Network, partnered with Pacific Community Resource Society, has worked with youth in develop local community action plans. The action plans address the human resource needs of employers and seek to find solutions to youth employment issues in urban settings.
Youth (aged 15-30 years old) worked together with community mentors to assess their communities and the issues related to the needs of employers. They created workshops to bring together stakeholders, business owners and other makers of change to find solutions to these challenges.
This resource manual compiles materials and tools from CCEDNet and our community partners that have been created throughout this project to help you and your organizations successfully deliver youth focused and youth led projects in your community. Through the tools found in this toolkit the communities were able to prepare themselves and learn from the challenges to make change in their communities.
To view this resource online, click here.
To download the full document, click here.
National News
Economic Impact of Farmers' Market in Canada
The National Farmers' Market Impact Study 2009 Report serves as a benchmark for measuring the contributions of farmers' markets across Canada as well as to assess trends and opportunities for future growth. With 28 million shopper visits in 2008, farmers' markets are highly valued in Canada as 92% of shoppers feel buying food directly from the farmer who produced it to be important. In addition, farmers' markets are the second largest source for groceries in Canada for 62% of shoppers. The total impact of farmers' markets on the Canadian economy was reported to be up to $3.09 billion.
Growing Home
Growing Home is a non-profit learn-by-doing job training enterprise for homeless and low-income individuals in the Chicago area. Through a social enterprise business model, Growing Home provides learning opportunities and employment in the horticulture field as a way to reintroduce participants back into the workforce. Since its inception in 1992, the program has worked to alleviate poverty through job creation and place-building that gives marginalized individuals the necessary tools to break out of the cycle of homelessness.
Growing Home operates as a social enterprise with its mandate for social change and not-for-profit job training programs. 100% of the proceeds are reinvested in the business to continually improve training programs and to pay for the upkeep of farming sites. As a model of community economic development, Growing Home aims to restore once flourishing Chicago neighbourhoods with an urban agricultural district that focuses on access to and production of healthy food through its provision for business, job training and employment opportunities.
Canada's Rural Leaders Create Vision for a Vibrant and Healthy Community
Healthy and vibrant rural communities are an essential part of Canada's future. That is the consensus of 800 rural leaders from across Canada. Their report, One Vision, Many Voices: How to Build a Sustainable Rural Canada outlines a comprehensive set of priorities for action - spanning governance, infrastructure, economy and environment - that they say are needed to ensure the sustainability of our rural communities.
The report suggests that current thinking that fragments the realities of rural and urban Canada is counterproductive. Instead, our rural leaders have issued a call to all Canadians to work together to create a healthy and vibrant nation with a greater appreciation for our interdependency.
Small Loans, Big Help
ACEM is one of Canada's oldest and most successful non-profit micro-credit loan organizations. Mirco-credit offers very small loans to those in poverty, designed to spur entrepreneurship and is a means to community economic development. CBC highlights the accomplishments made by ACEM by meeting with some of the entrepreneurs they've helped over the years.
Co-op News from Around the World
- Did you know that President Obama is a co-op member?
- The European Parliament recently adopted a resolution on the social economy, recognizing the ability of social economy enterprises to "generate stability in a context of eminently cyclical economies" and states that "social economy helps rectify three major labour market imbalances: unemployment, job instability and the social and labour exclusion of the unemployed."
- Growth! 30% of worker co-ops in Spain, France, and the UK have been created in the last 5 years, and 42% of social co-ops in Italy have been created in the last 5 years.
- Brief updates and profiles from Italy, Argentina, Canada, China, India, Brazil, Poland, Spain, Japan, and more.
Read more about these stories and more in the first issue of "Work Together", the new global information bulletin for cooperatives and worker-owned enterprises in industry, services and crafts.
CED as a Method of Poverty Reduction
The House of Commons Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities is currently carrying out a study on the federal role in poverty reduction. Two recent presentations called for community economic development as a strategy to contribute to poverty reduction.
To read the Canadian Co-operative Association's brief on April 23, click here.
Make Poverty History also specifically mentioned CED and added a point to their list of specific recommended actions from the Canadian CED Network's federal pre-budget submission about the role of social enterprises in economic revitalization. An overview of the presentation can be found here.
CCEDNet is Now on the Steering Committee for Make Poverty History
The Canadian CED Network has endorsed Make Poverty History since it was launched in Canada in 2005. Recently, however, the network has stepped up its involvement by joining its steering committee. Make Poverty History is part of a global call to action against poverty. Its campaigns are active in over 100 countries. Here in Canada the movement has mobilized citizens and organizations on issues related to poverty at home and abroad. Make Poverty History's platform calls for more and better aid, trade justice, debt cancellation, and the end of child poverty in Canada.
To learn more about Make Poverty History visit www.makepovertyhistory.ca
A Call for Papers for the Journal of Aboriginal Economic Development
The only journal of its kind in Canada, the Journal of Aboriginal Economic Development (JAED) provides a view of economic development from a uniquely Aboriginal perspective. Published jointly by CANDO and Captus Press, the Journal is peer reviewed by a distinguished academic editorial board to ensure high quality Aboriginal content. The Journal covers the following areas: learning from experience, lessons from research, book reviews and commentary. The JAED invite papers and case studies by academics and practitioners for the next volume to be published in September 2009.
Click here to find out more.
WearFair: 100% Fair Trade and Organic T-Shirts
WearFair is an Ontario-owned line of wholesale cotton clothing with commitment to people and the planet. WearFair is self-mandated to be actively working towards environmental sustainability and safety for farmers from dangerous pesticides. Their focus on fair trade certification for cotton garments makes WearFair a unique worker cooperative initiative. From seed to stitch, WearFair aims to maintain fair trade certification at all stages of production and manufacture.
Making Waves Magazine
The contributors to the Spring 2009 edition show the breadth of vision and depth of experience and ability that CED and social economy now command in this country.
An Agenda for the Renewal of Our Communities
Sherri Torjman urges organizations of every sector to outgrow habits of short-term, outcome specific, and uni-dimensional action. Instead, let them apply themselves to a "shared space" of programs, investments, and enterprises that build community resilience.
Read about it now.
Seven Prerequisites of Transformation
How is it that so many noted authors have such similar ideas about the habits, practices, and attitudes essential to community transformation? To Michelle Colussi, these "prerequisites" read like an evaluation checklist for her practice. For yours too?
Read about it now.
A CED Dating Service?
Skilled, community-minded professionals and purposeful but cash-poor community organizations - sounds like a match, right? Well ... yes, so long as you're not put off by the range of services in demand and the expectations of pro bono suppliers.
Read about it now.
Equity Capital for CED
To own a productive piece of the local economy requires not only capital, but the competence and capacity to use that capital. New Hampshire's Community Development Finance Authority is a state agency that supplies all three.
Job Postings
For the latest CED postings visit the National and Regional job pages on CCEDNet's website
National | AB | SK | MB | North
Positions to post? Send them to breimer@ccednet-rcdec.ca.