Minnedosa Co-operative Preschool – Minnedosa, MB
In the fall of 2002, Minnedosa was one of the only communities of its size in Manitoba yet to have a licensed child care center. A co-operative child care center would meet the needs of families who make a living on the land and those who have left the farms for city jobs. With strong community cohesion and co-operative spirit, the Board was able to purchase an existing building without having to assume a mortgage. Our grant will support their renovation project.     

The Agency for Co-operative Housing – Ottawa, ON (national)
The Agency is a co-operative corporation with a mission to administer co-operative housing programs, deploy risk-based strategies, superior information management and client-centred services.  With growing interest in energy conservation and new green initiatives from housing co-operatives, The Agency is planning to develop a new program to assist in conducting energy audits. Our grant will support 10 housing co-ops with energy audits as part of a Demonstration Project. It will also support the development of a guide for other housing co-operatives across Canada, in preparing a tender for an energy audit and in planning the recommended actions contained in an energy audit report.

La Siembra – Ottawa, ON
La Siembra Co-operative is a worker owned co-operative that began in 1999 with a vision of offering consumers high-quality, Fair Trade certified organic products that improve the livelihoods of family farmers and the well being of communities at home and abroad. Our grant will help with a website redesign in conjunction to their development of a brand identity and a strategic marketing plan for the next five years.

Toronto Renewable Energy Co-operative – Toronto, ON
The Toronto Renewable Energy Co-operative (TREC) is a not-for-profit co-operative in its twelve year of continuing their mission to develop co-operatively owned renewable energy projects and to educate Ontarians and visitors about renewable energy, energy efficiency/conservation and the community power model. Amongst its accomplishments, TREC built North America’s first urban wind turbine at Exhibition Place in partnership with Toronto Hydro. Our grant will help support a scalable redesign of their website which allows for the easy addition of projects and content. 

West End Food Co-operative – Toronto, ON
West End Co-op. is a multi-stakeholder co-op with goals to promote co-operative values and ownership; act as a catalyst for local food security by co-ordinating community driven food initiatives; and provide the local community with a full service grocery store that focuses on selling products that are ecologically sustainable, local and healthy. West End Co-op. is channeling its efforts to securing a co-operatively owned retail store. The Development Project includes the development and marketing of a bond model for co-op. capitalization and equity; and also includes development of a feasibility study for a direct charge co-operative model in Ontario. Our grant will be directed to their Development Project to support the planning, promotion and outreach of their community bonds to include media outreach, targeted advertising, social network development, community outreach and education in co-op equity.

Co-operative Enterprise Council – Salisbury, NB
Co-operative Enterprise Council exists to cultivate healthy co-operative economic development within New Brunswick by offering a wide variety of services to help facilitate the continued success, growth, and competitiveness of co-operatives and credit unions. Our grant will assist in hiring a co-op developer to research best practices in microcredit and develop a strategy to access the necessary resources to establish a microcredit fund for low income and marginalized women. 

Collège Saint-Alphonse - St. Tite-des-Caps, QC
The college, administered by a worker co-operative, welcomes all students who do not fit into the regular school system and others who have no access to a special school because of their geographic situation. Several students are referred by psychologists, social and health system workers, and youth centers.  Since 2003, staff committed personally and financially to ensure the sustainability of the institution. Our grant will support the hiring of a part time psycho-educator, and provide training to support the challenges faced by staff and peers.