Welcoming Jed Emerson to Carleton
(From L to R) George Brown (OCLF), Jed Emerson, Tessa Hebb (3ci), Francois Brouard (SCSE), Margie Mendell (Concordia)
On October 14th, 2010, The Carleton Centre for Community Innovation, Sprott Centre for Social Enterprises, and the Ottawa Community Loan Fund hosted a seminar with the well known thought leader on social finance and blended value, Jed Emerson.
Jed Emerson has extensive experience leading, staffing and advising funds, firms, social ventures and foundations pursuing financial performance with social/environmental impact. He is an internationally recognized Thought Leader in sustainability and sustainable finance, blended value, impact investing, social entrepreneurship and strategic philanthropy. Emerson has played founder roles with some of the nation's leading venture philanthropy, community venture capital and social enterprises. He is a Senior Fellow with Generation Investment Management (David Blood and Al Gore) and a Senior fellow with the Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship at the Saïd Business School at Oxford University.
The hour and a half -hour session explored social finance, impact investing, mission-based investing, and social return on investment. In the near future, we will post excerps of the video and Jed's presentation. Please check back soon.
  
|
Photos From the
May 27, 2009
Social Economy Dinner and Bus Tour
Click here to access full size slide show >>
Social Economy Progressive Dinner and Bus Tour
May 27th, 2009, Ottawa
After a day of PowerPoint presentations and panel discussions on topics related to the social economy, participants of the Association for Non-profit and Social Economy Researchers (ANSER) conference got a taste of Ottawa’s rich social economy, literally. Over the course of the evening, guests were transported by a big yellow school bus to three social enterprises within the Ottawa-Gatineau area. At each stop, they were served a course of a meal prepared by a social enterprise. They were met not only by the host, but also twelve other social enterprises throughout the evening.
The first stop on the tour was Family Services á la famille Ottawa. Appetizers were served and guests were free to make their way around the room, which was set up as a mini tradeshow displaying five social enterprises/non profit organizations. These included the Centretown Laundry Co-op, Beadworks and Bottleworks (both part of Operation Go-Home), and Project Porchlight.
The main course of the meal was catered by Krackers Katering, a social enterprise operating under the Causeway Work Centre umbrella. At Causeway, guests participated in “speed dating” with seven different social enterprises operating in Ottawa as they enjoyed their meal. This was a great opportunity for everyone to share ideas, questions, and stories in an intimate setting. In addition to the enterprises operating under the Causeway, including Cycle Salvation and Good-natured Groundskeeping, other enterprises that were represented at the dinner included Eco-equitable, the Otesha Project, Equili-brio, and Panini X-press.
The final stop on the tour involved venturing to Gatineau for desert, coffee, and tea at the Dépanneur Sylvestre, a warm and welcoming cafe. As board game night was taking place in the background, guests heard about the history and mission of the Dépanneur as well as the Ottawa Community Loan Fund, a source of funding for social enterprises. The evening concluded with one last trip on the bus back to Carleton University. Although having our guests return a few pounds heavier after all that delicious food was unintentional, it was our hope that they return a little more knowledgeable about Ottawa’s social economy; something too rich to be squeezed into a PowerPoint presentation. A sincere Thank-You to all of the social enterprises and participants on the tour.
The Social Enterprises that Participated:
Centretown Laundry Coop has been operating since 1999 with a mission of providing low-income individuals access to laundry facilities at a low cost. It operates as a membership based mentoring program with the intention of involving members in its operations and eventually in management of the organization. Membership cost is one dollar per year and the cost to do laundry is one dollar per load, with all supplies provided, including a sewing machine and laundry detergent. Members are encouraged to contribute through cleaning, volunteering, or participating in meetings and gatherings.
Family Services á la famille Ottawa is a private registered charitable agency that has been operating in Ottawa since 1914. It offers a variety of services including employment, counseling, education, and support, with the intention of meeting the needs of the community. In 1989, Family Services Ottawa began offering our counseling expertise to workplaces in an effort to address the unique needs of employees and the workplace through the Family Services Ottawa Employee Assistance Program (FSEAP Ottawa). Clients are offered a variety of workshops and training services designed to create a win-win situation for employees and employers by developing a healthier workplace while at the same time reducing absenteeism and improving the quality of work and productivity of workers.
The Ottawa Community Loan Fund provides short-term loans of up to $15,000 to small business owners, aspiring entrepreneurs, not-for-profits and charities operating businesses, and individuals involved in international training and community groups. In providing loans, the Ottawa Community Loan Fund operates under the philosophy that credit histories and tangible assets are just part of a formula for granting financing. “We take the traditional formula further and make it more inclusive by also considering the character, talent and ability of the applicants”.
Krackers Katering is an agency-sponsored entrepreneurial business that operates under the Causeway Work Centre umbrella. Its primary purpose is to employ persons with severe and persistent mental illness to develop the skills and confidence necessary to break the cycle of isolation, poverty and unemployment and build independent, self-supporting futures. Krackers provides training opportunities, as well as full-time, part-time, and casual paid employment. It demonstrates that people with mental illness can be productive, contributing members of the community.
Operation Go-Home is a non-profit organization dedicated to helping youth on the streets. It operates Five Pillars of service delivery for youth including a Drop-In, Education, Employment, Outreach and Reunite.
Under the employment pillar, Operation Go Home supports two social enterprises: Bottleworks is a commercial bottle collection and recycling business designed to provide a pick-up service to local restaurants, bars, hotels, condominiums, conference facilities and to collect Beau’s bottles from various drop off locations throughout the city of Ottawa. Bottleworks employs at risk youth in the business. Bottlework's website
Beadworks is another new enterprise operating under the employment pillar of Operation Go Home, which began last summer with the donation of beading supplies. More than 40 youth became involved in designing and making beaded jewellery. Having never made jewellery before, our youth, both male and female, discovered talents they did not know they had, finding creative work a positive way to spend their time. We sold over $2000 worth of merchandise at “The Underpass”, a pilot project of Arts Court and The Rideau Street Business Improvement Association. We now have our jewellery in two shops, “Workshop” in the Byward Market and “Brush Strokes” in Carleton Place. 65% of the money, earned by Beadworks, goes to the youth involved in the enterprise.
One Change empowers people to believe that simple actions matter and to make smart choices that protect the environment. Their most successful campaign is Project Porchlight, which makes energy conservation accessible, relevant, and personal by engaging citizens, community groups, and municipalities to promote simple yet effective changes that have a global impact. In 2005-2006, with the support of Hydro Ottawa and the work of community groups and volunteers, Project Porchlight delivered 225,000 free CFL bulbs to homes across Ottawa. To date, Project Porchlight campaigns have ‘seen the light’ in over 500 communities in Ontario, Saskatchewan, Alberta, British Columbia, Yukon, Vermont, and New Jersey. Over 10,000 volunteers from over 2,000 community groups are currently engaged and have seen the delivery of over 2,000,000 energy-saving light bulbs.
Dépanneur Sylvestre is a café and meeting space for the community it serves. Its primary purpose is to facilitate healthy and simple community lifestyle which emphasizes inclusion and harmonious relations within the community. The café features local music, seminars on global and local issues, introduction to meditation, community dinners, weekly board game nights, and discussion groups. In addition to operating a small café which sells healthy food, the café also has a used clothing store and a small market.
The Otesha Project offers Cycling and Performing tours for youth and education programs for the whole community using a variety of theatre, multi-media, storytelling, motivational speaking, games, facilitation tools, and workshops related to sustainability issues. Cycling tours offer an opportunity for youth to connect with communities, learn about the challenges they face and the solutions they’re implementing. The Otesha Project has performed to more than 85,000 people. Otesha’s education programs and performances focus on re-evaluating our daily choices to reflect the kind of future we'd like to see - rethinking what we really need, conserving resources, and voting with our dollars.
EcoEquitable is a non-profit small scale textile manufacturing enterprise creating work for immigrant women, the unemployed, and part-time workers with the goal of facilitating the integration of these women into the workforce. In addition to offering job creation for unemployed workers, EcoEquitable offers a repair and alternation service for the community and the creation of recycled products such as promotional and fashion bags, yoga mat bags, dog clothes, etc.
Panini Xpress is an employment skills and development initiative with the goal of providing employment and life skills to those interested in working in food and restaurant services. Panini Xpress offers twelve week vocational training programs to individuals who face barriers to employment. The program also provides assistance with resume and interview skills and offers certification in Food Safety and Smart Serve. After successfully completing the program, participants are matched with employers in the community.
Equili-brio.ca is a non-profit social economy enterprise specializing in the production of high quality natural food for domestic animals. Equili-brio.ca's social mandate is met through its economic activities by creating stable and rewarding jobs for persons with developmental disabilities in an integrated environment. This approach promotes the development and inclusion of persons with a developmental disability as members of our community. Profits are reinvested in the enterprise in order to create more work opportunities for persons with a developmental disability.
Good-natured Groundskeeping is a social enterprise operating under Causeway Work Centre, with the objective of achieving a double bottom line. This is achieved through offering residential and commercial groundskeeping services while at the same time, providing training and employment to people who are economically disadvantaged. Services include lawn maintenance, spring and fall yard clean-ups, snow removal, and property and garden maintenance.
Cycle Salvation is a social enterprise operating under the Causeway Work Centre. It strives to meet a triple bottom line (profit, people, planet) by providing training to people who are economically disadvantaged, and at the same time diverting bikes destined for scrap and landfill sites and selling repaired bikes to the community as an alternative mode of transportation.
|
