This Sunday, April 22nd is Earth Day. This year Earth Day Canada is encouraging everyone to take up a new habit that is good for the planet and you. Have you decided what your new habit might be? How about supporting an environmental social enterprise or an environmentally conscientious social business?

 

 

 

 

Green Calgary is a social enterprise that is a wonderful resource; they provide knowledge, workshops, volunteer opportunities and the healthy homes program. The Ecostore operated by Green Calgary is a great place to stock up on earth friendly products and the funds raised are then re-invested in community environmental programs. To find out more on Green Calgary and the Ecostore visit their website at http://www.greencalgary.org/ and follow them on twitter @greencalgary

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another environmental social enterprise located in Cochrane, Alberta is Home Reno Heaven. Home Reno Heaven accepts donations of home renovation products, appliances, tools and landscaping products and resells them to generate revenue for self sustaining affordable housing. If you have been thinking about acquiring new appliances, you can donate the old ones to Home Reno Heaven. They will resell them, use the proceeds to support the Cochrane Society for Housing Options and best of all there is no waste! Make sure you follow the donation guidelines, they only accept donations of products that they can resell. To learn more about Home REno Heaven and their donation program vist their website at http://www.homerenoheaven.com

 

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We are excited to announce that starting today we are bringing back our Follow Friday blogs!

Just like last year, we will feature a wide range of social enterprises on our blog. However, we have decided to expand our reach by featuring exciting and innovative social enterprises from around the world! If you have an organization you feel should be featured, please let us know in the comments section.

In 2012, our blog will also highlight the Trico Charitable Foundation’s enterprising non-profits Alberta (enp-ab) 2011 grantees. These posts will provide us with insider knowledge of the planned and established social enterprises currently in Alberta. Lastly, the Trico Charitable Foundation Team will be blogging on a variety of subjects related to social enterprise. Keep posted, each week will feature new and exciting information!

For our first 2012 Follow Friday post, I am thrilled to feature an arts based social enterprise, the Craftworks Society. If you are located in Vancouver you are probably familiar with their unique, fun and educational craft products. Established in 1966, the Craftworks Society facilitates the creation and retail of handmade crafts created by adults with disabilities.

The Craftworks Society has volunteers and adults with disabilities working together to produce quality handmade crafts. The craft’s produced in this program are very diverse and include: hand puppets, felt story boards, toys, Christmas decorations, halloween ghouls, easter bunnies and much more. They will even do custom orders when requested! (Just make sure to give some lead time for large orders).

The crafts they create are sold at the Craftworks Society location, craft markets and on their website via email. The monies raised are shared with the participants and re-invested into the Craftworks Society. This program encourages participants to be creative, raises their self esteem, provides valuable work skills and you end up with a unique, handmade gift. To find out more about the Craftworks Society visit their website http://www.3hcraftworks.com/ or follow them on twitter @craftworkson4th

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Visiting a mall in the next few weeks is bound to be a trying experience. If you’re looking to skip the hassle this year and purchase gifts from the comfort of home, you should take at look at The Promise of a Pearl’s online store. There’s sure to be someone on your shopping list who would love to receive a piece from their high quality, affordable jewellery line.

Based in Halifax, The Promise of a Pearl is a social enterprise operated by Autism Nova Scotia. The handmade items they sell are produced by craftspeople on the autism spectrum who are paid per piece for their work.  In addition to earning income and being supported by a job coach, the artisans receive job training and instruction in jewellery making and design. Friends and family are also encouraged to participate in the project by contributing their time to make jewellery sold by the social enterprise. As their website states, “the vision of the Promise of a Pearl is to increase awareness, and to share the inspiring message that the pearl represents the strength, beauty and promise of people with autism.”

To find out more about Promise of a Pearl, check out their website and follow their updates on Twitter via @PromiseofaPearl.

Ps. If you have a favourite Canadian social enterprise to share with us, we’d love to hear from you in the comments section!

 

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Well all know that eating salad is good for the waistline, but did you know that it can also be good for your community? In Halifax, a youth-driven social enterprise called Hope Blooms makes it easy to eat your greens and support grassroots philanthropy with their line of locally grown, handmade salad dressings.

Hope Blooms is a garden/salad dressing social enterprise that engages at-risk youth (ages 5 to 16) in the development, marketing, and sale of “Hope Blooms Fresh Herb Dressings.” Youth make all of the venture’s major decisions, such as choosing what to grow, attending board meetings, developing products, and taking their salad dressings to market. Revenue from the enterprise goes toward a scholarship fund for inner-city youth, as well as the purchase of the seeds, soil and ingredients used to produce the salad dressings. The number Hope Blooms participants has increased substantially each year, allowing even more youth to become active change agents in building their dreams and futures.

To find out more about Hope Blooms, check out their website and follow their parent organization’s updates on Twitter via @NorthEndCHC.

Ps. If you have a favourite Canadian social enterprise to share with us, we’d love to hear from you in the comments section!

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Historians believe that humans have been adorning themselves with jewellery for at least the last 75,000 years. I’m willing to bet you are taking part in this long history by wearing at least one piece of jewellery right now. But are you wearing a piece of jewellery that helps prevent homeless youth from becoming homeless adults? If you can’t answer yes to that question, you need to check out the designs produced by Beadworks in Ottawa.

Established in 2008, Beadworks is a social enterprise employment program created by Operation Come Home. Youth (aged 16-30) who are clients of Operation Come Home can participate in the program by crafting beaded and assembled jewellery in the Beadworks Studio. Participants are able to sell their products at a Beadworks event, and the revenue is split evenly between the artist and Beadworks. Learning opportunities in the areas of designing, costing, marketing, crafting, display and sales are also available. Youth who take part in these educational opportunities are able to keep all of the profits gained by selling their products. To date over 100 male and female youth have participated in Beadworks, and all of their work has been photographed so a portfolio can be produced if they wish to continue working in this area.

To find out more about Beadworks, check out their website and follow their parent organization’s updates on Twitter via @ochottawa.

Ps. If you have a favourite Canadian social enterprise to share with us, we’d love to hear from you in the comments section!

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