Announcing re:Vision 2010: The Young Social Entrepreneurs of Canada’s Inaugural Conference.
The Young Social Entrepreneurs of Canada is looking for young people who are spearheading incredible change in communities across Ontario. YSEC is bringing together the top 100 young leaders in Ontario: a critical mass of organizers, activists and entrepreneurs who are taking changemaking to the next level.
re:Vision 2010 is a weekend conference for leaders 17-30 featuring experts of local and international acclaim. It’s an intensive weekend focusing on building sustainable initiatives, targeting the root causes of social issues, creating systemic solutions, and growing peer networks.
At re:Vision 2010, participants will:
Be among the top 100 young leaders of enterprise and innovation in Ontario.
Gain insight and advice from accomplished leaders in the field.
Learn the analytical strategies critical to better understanding their social cause.
Discover the practical changes their initiative needs to better meet its goals.
Understand how social enterprise challenges traditional organizational structures.
Collaborate for innovation, test assumptions, and learn from their peers.
Join us March 27th-28th in Toronto. Applications are accepted until February 26th with rolling admission.
From 9am – 1pm come attend the Awakening the Dreamer Changing the Dream Symposium, which connects some of the finest scientific, indigenous and activist minds in the world, to explore the current state of our planet from a new perspective. Find new collaborations to form a powerful global movement to reclaim our future. Follow the link for more information.
WEDNESDAY
Leave your lunch at home and drop by International Student Centre (33 St. George St), Baldwin Room for a $4 lunch from Hot Yam!
Looking to volunteer? Want to make Toronto greener? Meet with the Live Green Toronto Volunteers at City Hall, 100 Queen, Street West (21st Floor, East Tower) from 6:30pm – 8:30pm. Get more info at http://www.toronto.ca/livegreen/inspired_volunteer.html
Whitby Environmentalists are being called out to the Sports Garden Cafe at Iroquois Park (500 Victoria Street) for the Durham Region Green Drinks. Grab a drink and discuss environmental issues that are important to you. Learn more at http://www.greendrinks.org/index.php?country=Canada&city=Durham%20Region
THURSDAY
Get started on fun weekend plans tonight with the IABC/AIP’s sustainable Munch ‘n’ Mingle. From 6pm-8:30pm, discuss sustainability issues, enjoy healthy snacks, and maybe even take home a sustainable door prize. Register here.
FRIDAY
The 2010 Green Toronto Awards celebrate the individuals, organizations and companies leading the way to a cleaner, greener and more liveable Toronto. Is that you or someone you know? Because today’s the last day for nominations. Apply here for the City of Toronto’s GT Awards.
This week is filled with events to show your love for our planet. Keep busy and let us know which events you thought were wicked this wick.
Social Enterprise happens all over the world. Here’s a quick list of some SE events happening around the world. It’s always inspiring to know that SE is a global revolution.
Also on Tuesday, one country looks into how a city can stimulate innovative thinking by creating creative spaces with an event called The Secret Behind Creative Cities (Denmark).
On Wednesday, the Arctic Light e-Health Conference event is looking for entrepreneurs and existing health members who can work on organizing a successful collaboration between health care providers, universities, trade and industry within and between regions and countries promotes development and progress.
And right here in our very own Toronto, there’s a killer movie screening TONIGHT (MONDAY, FEBRUARY 1ST).
Come out to the Scotiabank Theatre tonight at 7pm and catch STAND Canada’s screening of the unreleased Hollywood film Darfur, starring Billy Zane, Edward Furlong and Kristanna Loken. Tickets are $10 and can be purchased online.
Now that we know what the rest of the world is up to, we want to know what you’re doing! If YSEC monthly meet ups are part of what keep you busy, join our MembersHip program. For more details message info@ysec.org.
Thursday, March 25, 2010 @ 6-9 pm, Centre for Social Innovation (4th floor)
Join us for our inaugural pitch competition for young social entrepreneurs. 5 social entrepreneurs will have 5 minutes to present their ideas for social ventures to a panel of judges made up of both leaders in social finance and your peers. The prize? $1,000 (interest free loan*).
The prize is funded by YSEC’s Social Finance Chain (SFC), Canada’s first for youth, by youth social entrepreneurship fund. This fund provides interest free loans to young social entrepreneurs with one condition: they pay it forward to other young social entrepreneurs to help them get their ventures off the ground. More information on how this fund works below.
Eligibility Criteria:
Projects must be run by people between the ages of 17-30.
Projects must be designed to create social value.
Projects must be revenue generating, at least breaking even on the initial investment.
A group of experienced consultants and organizational leaders will meet with a small group of social entrepreneurs (15-20 maximum) to offer advice, resources and brainstorming for your business issues in an interactive and collaborative roundtable format.
The roundtable is designed to help you learn the following:
- Different types of financing available:
Sponsorship
Foundation/Govt. Grants
Bank Loans
Angel/Private Investor capital
- What types makes the most sense for your business and why
– How do you obtain each type
– What you SHOULD know before applying for each
– How to do a proper pitch
Plus, you have the chance to have your own social enterprises used as case studies at the event.
So, join YSEC at the Toronto Entrepreneur Advisory Roundtable so you can better understand your different financing options and what you should know in order to access them.
When: Tuesday February 16th, 2010 6:00 to 9:00 pm
6:00 to 6:30 pm: Networking and snacks/refreshments
6:30 to 9:00 pm: Roundtable
Where: Centre for Social Innovation 215 Spadina Ave. 1st Floor (Triple Connector Meeting Room)
YSEC’s first meet up of the year is happening this Wednesday, January 27th from 6:30pm-9pm at 215 Spadina Ave (CSI offices). You should be there and here’s why.
Meet and mingle with the changemakers community
The best way to meet with and ask questions to YSEC staff and members about SE opportunities
You’re curious about SE and how to get started. Meet with peers in the same stage and learn from those who have already started their projects.
You’re full of great ideas and this is great place to get feedback on them, and maybe even find new collaborators to help you bring them to action
Get introduced to YSEC and Centre for Social Innovation.
Every meet up leaves us feeling energized and excited from hearing all your great ideas and loving all the great connections made. We can’t wait to see what this month’s event will reveal.
Listed below are some rare and exciting opportunities to join the Head Office team at Journalists for Human Rights, an organization that works to improve human rights in some of the most difficult environments on earth. Check out the descriptions below or visit their website for more details:
1) Position: International Programs Director (1 position, paid with benefits, full-time, based in Toronto): The successful candidate will be responsible for managing jhr’s existing overseas projects (in DRC, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ghana and Malawi) from jhr’s Head Office in Toronto, and developing new programming in countries around the world. He or she will travel often and will be responsible for managing a diverse team across many countries. For more information and how to apply visit: http://www.jhr.ca/en/getinvolved_headoffice.php#international
2) Position: Overseas Program Coordinator (1 position, full-time, based across Africa): The successful candidate will act as the chief liaison between jhr’s Head Office and jhr’s overseas projects in Ghana, Malawi, Sierra Leone and Liberia. He or she will both live and work in the aforementioned countries, with no permanent home-base. They will ensure all overseas programs are achieving maximum results. For more information and how to apply visit: http://www.jhr.ca/en/getinvolved_international.php#overseas
3) Position: Grant Writer and Fundraising Coordinator (1 position, full-time, salary with benefits, based in Toronto): The successful candidate will write grant proposals to support jhr’s overseas and domestic programming. They will coordinate heavily with jhr’s project management team and financial coordinator in the development of all proposals. They will also manage jhr’s current fundraising initiatives (direct mailings and donor relationships) and develop new fundraising strategies (major donors, corporate partnerships). This is jhr’s first full-time fundraising hire; as such, the successful candidate will be expected to build and eventually manage a fundraising department within jhr. For more information and how to apply visit: http://www.jhr.ca/en/getinvolved_headoffice.php#grant
4) Position: Financial Coordinator (1 position, full-time, salary with benefits, based in Toronto): The successful candidate will be in charge of a variety of crucial bookkeeping, budgeting, grant reporting and office related tasks. The selected candidate will play a key role in jhr’s development. For more information and how to apply visit: http://www.jhr.ca/en/getinvolved_headoffice.php#financial
If you’re looking for places to go and things to do this week, take a look at our favourite SE events of the week.
Canada’s Role in the Global Water Crisis. When: Wednesday, January 20, 2010 (4:10pm – 6pm) Where: U of T (41 Willcocks Street, The Faculty Club, Second Floor) Why: Join Dr. Zafar Adeel, Director of UNU Int’l Network on Water, Environment and Health, discuses how Canada can become a leader in the push to help the, roughly, 1 billion people without access to safe drinking water and about 2.6 billion people without access to adequate sanitation facilities. Follow this link for more information.
Build Social Capital with Smojoe. When: Wednesday, January 20, 2010 (6pm to 9pm). Where: 215 Spadina Avenue, Suite 120 (CSI). Why: For just $40 you will discover everything there is to know about Google Page Ranks, essential blog widgets, how to optimize the “finability” of your posts and YouTube videos, and how to turn readership into sales. Moderated byRob Campbell from SMOjoe social media, who will get specific about the fundamentals of online marketing. For tickets click here.
Health, Housing and Human Rights: Exploring the Connections in Canada and Globally. When: Thursday, January 21, 2010 AND Friday, January 22, 2010 (various times) Where: Various locations around at U of T Why: This series of events with Miloon Kothari, the first United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Adequate Housing, discusses housing policies as they relate to human rights. For more information of the different lectures part of this series just click here.
Make it out to one of these events and tell us your thoughts. Do have an event to tell us about?
Last night at a powerful and inspiring event held at the MaRS Centre, 11 new Ashoka Canada Fellows were inducted. On the list was the Centre of Social Innovation’s executive director Tonya Surman. Congratulations Tonya and all Fellows for what is a truly amazing achievement!
David Bornstein gave a keynote speech that touched upon something extremely relevant and timely – the observation that news/media perpetuates one (negative) view of human nature and social entrepreneurs provide a new, positive and empowering view of the world. A world where human nature is one of compassion, empathy and inspired action to help each other as well as the environment. Bornstein noted that the Milgram experiment highlighted something particularly interesting, and not commonly known – that 90% of participants in the experiment would change their behavior if they saw the person before them change their behavior first. People will follow/replicate what they see.
Or as Gandhi eloquently put it:
We must be the change we wish to see in the world.
