Recycle your old electronic waste for Earth Day!

Sunday, April 20, 2008
11:00AM – 4:00PM
Free Admission

Downsview Park, Earth Day Canada and Toronto and Region Conservation invite you to celebrate Earth Day at Downsview Park. Leave your legacy and help create a sustainable community for future generations by planting 2000 trees in Downsview Park’s Canada Forest. 

Earth Day at Downsview Park features environmentally-friendly exhibits, activities and entertainment – rain or shine – for the whole family!

• The Green Pavilion offers food, crafts and products by eco-friendly vendors and exhibitors.
• The Recycle Yard welcomes your donated used clothes, books, computer equipment and household items for charity.
• Interactive exhibits by Creepy Crawlers, Earth Rangers and Citizen’s. Environment Watch – showcase new ways to reduce, reuse and recycle, and fun ways to learn about nature and the environment.
• The Kids Area features arts and crafts, origami, buskers, face painting and more!
• Our Main Stage salutes the best in up-and-coming enviro-focused entertainment by Delta Folk and the Funky Mamas.

Team Green Challenge

Help promote positive environmental action by organizing a group of friends, family members or coworkers to participate in our Team Green Challenge. Tree planting teams can compete to be the “largest group of planters” or the “most spirited group of planters”.

• Download Team Green registration form

For more information about Earth Day at Downsview Park or to register a team for the Team Green Challenge, contact Downsview Park at 416-952-2222 or info@pdp.ca.

New podcast available …

Hey everyone,

Just wanted to let you know there’s a new Go Live Toronto podcast available direct to you from me. You can find it at Go Live Toronto or on iTunes.

Calling all transit enthusiasts …

I am a self-proclaimed transit enthusiast. I am fascinated by urban transit; how it works, the vehicles used, how engaged the public is with their transit system. While I can’t speak for other cities, I know for certain that the Toronto Transit Commission has a huge cult following in the city. There are tons of great blogs and magazines about our system including Steve Munro’s tranist blog, Spacing Magazine, and Transit Toronto to name a few …

And then, a group of people got together and created something called Transit Camp. One of those people, Mark Kuzniki is a colleague of mine at the Centre for Social Innovation and just announced a project which arose out of the momentum of Transit Camp: Metronauts.

Metronauts.ca is an open community of people from across the sprawling greater Toronto region who care about the future of their cities. Metronauts are explorers of the future form of our cities and the role transportation has in our lives.

The first event for Metronauts is another, you guessed it, Transit Camp! It will take place on Saturday April 5, 2008 at the MaRS complex. Here’s a little description of the event:

What is a Transit Camp? It is a style of unconference, where participants create the content of the sessions throughout the day. The event structure is open and fueled by participation. Propose a session on a topic you’re passionate about and engage your fellow participants in conversation. Participation can also mean active listening, and recording of sessions, but there are no observers.
Participants are asked to sign the Metronauts Pledge as a commitment to help create a positive environment for everyone.

If you’re interested in registering for this Transit Camp, you can do so through their registration page.

Congratulations to Mark and all those involved. I think this will be the start of something very interesting in Toronto … and will probably spread to other cities very shortly!

Photo of Yorkville!

I just got an e.mail from Schmap!! Canada saying they had decided to use a photo I had taken of the ROM and posted on Flickr for their website to describe Yorkville. Fun! You can see the site here.

Have a great idea? Maybe you can get some money for it!

Some information that I just received at work … thought it would be interesting to post this. Sounds like a great opportunity!

Do you have a great idea for a Social Purpose Enterprise that would employ people who are homeless or low income?

The Toronto Enterprise Fund provides grants to social purpose enterprises -  revenue generating ventures founded by non-profit organizations or community groups to create jobs or training opportunities for very low-income individuals.

To apply for a grant, your organization or group must have a comprehensive business plan and enter our 2008 Business Plan Competition! This year, the deadline for the Competition is September 15th 2008. If you are a finalist, you will receive seed funding between $5000 and $50 000 to start up your social purpose enterprise. For more details on eligibility and how to apply, visit our website.

Need help developing your idea and writing a comprehensive business plan? The Toronto Enterprise Fund provides a range of supports as well links to other seminars and workshops that will help you research and write a business plan.  You can also check the “Upcoming Seminars and Events” on the Enterprise Toronto’s website regularly for business plan workshops.

Announcing our first workshop of the year

Workshop – An Introduction to Social Purpose Enterprise

Please join us on Thursday, March 27th from 9:30am until 12:00pm for an interactive workshop focusing on social purpose enterprise.

For organizations and community groups who are interested in social purpose enterprise, this workshop will help you to understand the difference between different types of social enterprises and explore the organizational characteristics that lead to successful implementation. We will also do an exercise to brainstorm business ideas that might be a good fit for your organization. You will come away from this workshop with information about Toronto-based resources and funding opportunities such as the Toronto Enterprise Fund’s Business Plan Competition. Come find out if social purpose enterprise is right for your organization!

The workshop will be held in Suite 120 at the Centre for Social Innovation located at 215 Spadina Ave. in downtown Toronto.

Please RSVP by March 24th to
Susannah Cameron
Coordinator, Toronto Enterprise Fund
scameron@uwgt.org

Where does stuff come from … and go?

So this isn’t so Toronto specific, but more of a global post. Have you ever wondered where all that stuff we collect – you know, the kind that really has no use in our every day life and eventually gets packed away and forgotten about – ever wonder where it comes from, and where it goes?

If your answer is yes (even if it’s not, you should check this out), may I suggest this website: the Story of Stuff.

Remember, you can start your spring cleaning now!

Hot desks! Get your hot desks here …

I rent a desk at the Centre for Social Innovation at Queen and Spadina. It’s an amazing space chock a block full of interesting organizations and people working here such as Spacing Magazine, Remarkk!, VoCA and the Creative Trust.

The space is incredibly community oriented (anyone can come on up to the 4th floor and grab a cup of organic coffee with organic milk and sugar), relax on the couches or book one of the many board rooms for free. They’ve even created a health plan for us tenants here so those of us who work alone have the chance to be healthy without paying an arm and a leg. I especially enjoy being surrounded by so many eco-friendly, design oriented, like-minded people whom I can turn to at any given moment and ask for assistance with a question, grab a bite to eat with, or share an interesting tidbit of information.

But one of the most interesting concepts that is relatively new to Toronto, is The Workspace Commons. Recently launched here at an event with Mayor David Miller, City Councilor Adam Vaughn, NDP MP Olivia Chow, and former Prime Minister Paul Martin in attendance, The Workspace Commons is described as such:

“The Centre for Social Innovation provides part-time workspace and shared services in a beautifully restored warehouse space @ Queen & Spadina. Whether you are a small volunteer group that just needs a place to meet, a social entrepreneur in early start-up or a seasoned professional looking for a place to greet clients and check email between meetings, CSI is a place to make connections, find synergies and work together to change the world.

All members access a full suite of office services and amenities including high speed internet, photocopying, faxing, mail boxes, meeting rooms, shared kitchen and reception. But the magic is in the synergies and connections that are sparking social change everyday!”

This space is ideal for anyone who doesn’t need a permanent full time desk space but needs access to amenities such as board rooms, kitchen facilities, e.mail access (free wifi and ethernet access!), phone lines, photocopier, printer etc.

CSI is pushing forward to try and make more people aware about this amazing opportunity. It’s pretty groundbreaking for Toronto. So if you’re looking for a space like this, or know someone who is, check it out! Or just drop by for a coffee …

Tags: News, Toronto, Social Innovation, Work space