Make housing the priority for 'shovel-ready' federal dollars
For the first time in a generation, the federal government is poised to become a major partner in social housing development in Canada. This creates real opportunities for housing advocates and providers who, after decades as lone voices in the political wilderness, have ready-made solutions for ending homelessness.

Shelter on wheels: A UVic-community partnership leads to “shelter in a cart” for homeless “binners”
You may think it’s the end of the line when you put a beverage container into your recycling bin, but as Jutta Gutberlet knows, it’s really just the beginning. The University of Victoria geographer is finding ways to help make life better for informal recyclers or “binners”—people who make their living collecting the beverage containers we put in our recycling bins and dumpsters.

Low Income in Canada: 2000-2006 Using the Market Basket Measure - October 2008
Human Resources and Social Development Canada (HRSDC) has just released a new report, Low Income in Canada: 2000-2006 Using the Market Basket Measure. The Market Basket Measure (MBM) is a more robust proxy indicator of poverty in Canada compared to other principal low income measures.

A light in the economic darkness: Community economic development links social well-being with economic opportunity
The current global economic crisis presents an opportunity to start talking about alternatives to unfettered, free-market capitalism. That's exactly what more than 450 people were doing at Manitoba's sixth annual Community Development and Community Economic Development Gathering, held recently in Winnipeg at St. John's High School.

Why BC's Credit Unions Aren't Melting Down
In all the uproar this autumn about the global financial crisis, one local group of institutions hasn't been in the news. B.C. credit unions. Are they in any trouble? To find out, I talked to Chris Catliff, CEO of North Shore Credit Union, and Ian Smith of Central 1 Credit Union, as well as Charles Priester, a financial consultant based in Metchosin. In general, what they had to say was reassuring.

Good news for Harrop Proctor Co-op
The Harrop Proctor Community Co-operative will be celebrating on Friday, when they hold the formal signing of a 25 year replaceable Community Forest Agreement. Chair of HPCC Dave Johnson says people in the area have been waiting for this news since the mid nineties, and now they have reached their goal they're hoping for local support.

The trials and tribulations of home grown vegetables
Inside Iqaluit's Piruqsiavut greenhouse, the zucchini, beets and lettuce sprung up nearly as fast this summer as the new RCMP building under construction next door. Tomato plants, loaded with ripening red fruit, hang from the 17-foot-high ceiling of the greenhouse, while scarlet runner beans snake along the translucent plastic walls on strings. Successfully growing vegetables in a greenhouse can be hard.

Churches tackle climate
Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus and author Peter Matthiessen are among those who have said they will attend an interfaith climate summit being organized by the (Lutheran) Church of Sweden here in November. The gathering is to take place immediately before a United Nations climate change conference in Poland and aims to deliver a strong ethical and religious message to the political leaders at the UN meeting.

Fondaction invests $1.5 million in Ranaz - Vote of confidence from a prime strategic financial partner
Ranaz Corporation ("Ranaz") (TSX-V: RNZ), a company specialized in the manufacturing and marketing of protein and dietary supplements, reports that it has issued today a $1.5 million unsecured convertible debenture to Fondaction, le Fonds de développement de la Confédération des syndicats nationaux pour la coopération et l'emploi ("Fondaction").

Giving people SEED of hope
Pam Rubachuk planted a seed this year she hopes will sprout into a post-secondary graduate in a couple of decades. The single mom running a day care out of her home happened upon a pamphlet for SEED Winnipeg, a non-profit community economic development agency. Not only has it changed her life, it has also helped her lay some financial groundwork for her 21-month-old son, Lucas.