CED Learning Journey
June 7, 2011
On June 7, 2011, a bus of 30 participants took part in a CED Learning Journey in
Toronto, Ontario. They visited 6 different social enterprises that have found a way
to blend business with social work, helping those with the greatest barriers to
employment in our current economy. Here are the innovative organizations that
were hosts during the half-day bus tour.
FIRST STOP:
FoodShare Toronto
90 Croatia St.
www.foodshare.net
Contact:
Zahra Parvinian, Director of Social Enterprise
(416) 583-5411 (direct)
zahra@foodshare.net
FoodShare Toronto is a non-profit community organization whose vision is Good
Healthy Food for All.
We take a multifaceted, innovative, and long-term approach to hunger and food
issues. At FoodShare we work on food issues "from field to table" - meaning that we
focus on the entire system that puts food on our tables: from the growing,
processing and distribution of food to its purchasing, cooking and consumption.
We operate innovative grassroots projects that promote healthy eating, teach food
preparation and cultivation, develop community capacity and create non-marketbased forms of food distribution.
Public education on food security issues is a big part of our mandate: we create and
distribute resources, organize training workshops and facilitate networks and
coalitions.
We believe that food is vital to the health of individuals and communities, and that
access to good, healthy food is a basic human right. FoodShare promotes policies such as adequate social assistance rates, sustainable agriculture, universal funding
of community-based programs and nutrition education - that will make food a
priority at all levels of society.
FoodShare’s Social Enterprises
- Good Food Box
- Field to Table Catering
CED Learning Journey – Tour Descriptions 1
SECOND STOP:
The Raging Spoon
761 Queen St. West
www.ragingspoon.ca
Contact:
Joyce Brown, Co-Director
(416) 504-1693
jmbrown@on.aibn.com
The Raging Spoon Catering Company, established in 1997, is one of three
consumer/survivor businesses operating under the umbrella of the Ontario
Council of Alternative Businesses (OCAB). OCAB (www.ocab.ca) is a provincial
organization that assists in the development of economic opportunities for people
who have been through the mental health system. OCAB is an association of
businesses that employ over 600 psychiatric survivors in various initiatives across
the province. The Council provides hands-on development support to groups
wanting to address their economic status through business development and
entrepreneurial activities. The Council continues to encourage existing traditional
vocational rehabilitation sectors to review their approach to psychiatric survivor
unemployment. The Council actively promotes the notion of "real work for real
money."
OCAB’s Social Purpose Enterprises
- The Raging Spoon Catering Company
- The Raging Spoon Cafe
- Out of This World Cafe and Espresso Bar
- Parkdale Green Thumb Enterprises
- Grassroots Research: Community Based Research and Peer Research
Consultants.
THIRD STOP:
Inspirations Studio
761 Queen St. West
www.inspirationsstudio.org
Contact:
Theresa Morrin, art teacher, kiln technician
and facilitator
416-367-2728
inspirations@sistering.org
Inspirations was established in 1994, with funding from the Women’s Community
Economic Development Network. Inspirations established itself as a woman’s
craft/artisan collective by providing under-housed/homeless women an
opportunity to participate in meaningful economic activity, by providing direct
access to the market place for women working with handmade crafts.
Inspirations was initially sponsored by OCAB (see above) and later by the 761
Community Development Corporation. The initiative was established via craft
groups with women at hostel and drop-in settings in Metro Toronto. There were 4
CED Learning Journey – Tour Descriptions 2
locations, where women met: including Sistering Drop-In, Hostel Outreach Program
(HOP), On Our Own, The Parkdale Activity and Recreation Centre (PARC). The
women from the five locations became comfortable in their own environment, and
with the idea of selling their own goods; they were then invited down to the central
location of 761 Community Development Corporation to work as a group.
The women were given skills in artistic craft and production through involvement in
Community Economic Development and in micro business development literacy.
Inspirations’ members used these skills to produce artistic craft products and
participated in off-site market places on a regular basis. They were also able to
establish a designated area within Prezents of Mind, a marketplace for crafts people
experiencing long-term poverty, including consumers/ survivors of the mental
health system.
Sistering has several years of experience in project management and specific
knowledge of managing similar initiatives gained through its “Crafty Sisters” project
funded by Ontario Women’s Directorate in 1997 and 1998. Crafty Sisters was a
multi-component project, which included practical crafts and arts focus, and a
community economic development component. The project was developed with
these two components, to increase participants self-esteem as there are therapeutic
benefits to the self-expression aspects to arts and crafts, and to provide
opportunities for women earning income that would supplement their existing
income (the majority of the participants were social assistance recipients). With this
experience Sistering, in 2001, was asked by Inspirations’ members and funders to
assume responsibility for the project after 761 Community Development
Corporation closed. Since then Inspirations has been an innovative program of
Sistering and has grown since its beginnings in the early 90’s.
Sistering has been supporting homeless, underhoused and low-income women in
the Toronto community since 1981.
FOURTH STOP:
St. John’s Bakery
153 Broadview Ave.
www.stjohnsbakery.com
Contact:
Shawn Burk, Bakery Administrator
416-850-7413
stjohnsmission@sympatico.ca
St. John the Compassionate Mission started as a drop-in centre in a strip mall on
53 Blake Street in the middle of a densely populated Public Housing Project in South
Riverdale in 1987. Two stores down was Joe Link's bakery. The second day after the
Mission had moved in, Joe arrived with a whole tray of doughnuts, and after that he
just kept dropping by and bringing wonderful, fragrant goodies from his bakery.
CED Learning Journey – Tour Descriptions 3
Joe's history took a turn for the worse. He took ill and lost his family and his
bakery—everything. He ended up on the street. But slowly, he started pulling his life
together, baking bread at the drop-in centre with his old equipment. The Mission
saw him being transformed; he "rose" like his bread. The Mission started to sell his
bread throughout the neighborhood. Two years later, Joe died. It was a terrible loss
to the community, but he left his old dough mixer and a taste and desire for good
bread and honest labour.
St. John the Compassionate Mission now runs St. John’s Bakery, a social enterprise
business specializing in handmade organic sourdough breads made in the
traditional French method, and sweets handmade from scratch. They use certified
organic flours and all-natural ingredients and are striving to ensure that most of
their ingredients come from local suppliers.
FIFTH STOP:
Phoenix Print Shop
11 Ordnance St.
http://phoenixprintshop.ca
Contact:
Alexandra Djukic, Business Manager
416-364-4716 ext. 256
alexandra@phoenixprintshop.ca
Eva’s Phoenix Print Shop is arguably one of the most successful social purpose
enterprises in Toronto – having achieved an enviable balance of its blended value
proposition: sustainable business results, remarkable social outcomes, and
environmental responsibility.
Opened in 2002, the Phoenix Print Shop is a socially and environmentally
responsible commercial printer that supports the award-winning Foundations of
Print training program for youth who are homeless or at risk of homelessness. Print
services are competitively priced and on-time delivery is guaranteed. Customers
include Toronto Hydro, TD Bank, Bombardier, PwC, the Toronto Training Board,
and Eva’s Initiatives. The Print Shop is powered with green electricity, and is in the
process of becoming Forestry Stewardship Council (FSC) certified.
The Print Shop recruits participants from shelters and employment programs
across Toronto. Once they pass an initial screening, they go through a three-month
training program, called Foundations of Print, to learn the basics of the print
business including the operation of equipment and machinery.
Described by Print Action magazine as “Canada’s leading social program with print
ties”, the Eva’s Phoenix Print Shop has connected over 100 youth with career
building opportunities in the vibrant graphic communications sector. Over 80% of
youth who complete Foundations of Print connect with full-time work, and many
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return to school via our Scholarship Fund. We are particularly proud of our
commitment to long-term follow-up that helps youth graduates sustain their gains
and achieve self-sufficiency. It was for leadership in this area that the enterprise
received a Toronto Community Foundation 2007 Vital Ideas Award.
LAST STOP:
The LOFT Youth Centre for
Social Enterprise &
Innovation
850 Bloor St. West
www.conccommunity.org
Contact:
Lynn Daly, Executive Director
416-516-8642 ex.32
lynn@conc.ca
The LOFT Youth Centre for Social Enterprise and Innovation (YCSEI) is a
pioneering multi-use space that fosters creativity, community engagement and
entrepreneurship amongst youth in Toronto. The LOFT YCSEI provides youth with
social supports, skills training, mentorship, resources and networking opportunities
through programs and employment. The space contains three in-house social
enterprises: Under The Radar Design, The LOFT Sound Studio and a
cafe/boutique/gallery currently in development. Each operates with a triple bottom
line of “people, planet, and prosperity” in mind - creating community benefit,
practicing sustainability and generating profit that is used to support service
delivery. Firmly rooted in the local community, the LOFT YCSEI will also provide
links to a constantly growing global network of social enterprises.
The LOFT YCSEI is an initiative of the Christie Ossington Neighbourhood Centre,
a multi-service organization located in Toronto’s West end providing community
based programming for high-needs children, youth-at-risk, homeless men and
women, newcomers, as well as other vulnerable community members form diverse
religious and ethno-cultural backgrounds. The Centre was incorporated in 1997 as a
non-profit organization, gained charitable status in 2002 and became a United Way
Member Agency in 2001.
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