Social Economy in BC Roundtable (pt ii)

Just received the follow up report to the The Social Economy in BC roundtable facilitated by IMPACS (Institute for Media, Policy and Civil Society). The VSEF wrote about the session here.

A six page summary of the morning discussion is accompanied by copies of the presentations made by Tim Beachy, Elisabeth Geller, and Rupert Downing.

The report does offer these "key themes for follow up":

a. BC has enormous talent and capacity in this area;
b. we need to map our existing resources accurately;
c. case studies of successes would be valuable;
d. it is worthwhile to develop a "Made in BC" position and strategy on the social economy, and to take the lead in western Canada;
e. attention must be paid to existing collaborations and leadership, including the credit union movement, the voluntary sector (VOCBC, VSF), the CED community (CEDNet) and the cooperative movement (BCCA);
f. there is no single answer, but hundreds of opportunities and potential approaches;
g. the group participating in the Roundtable can serve as a reference group in shaping a position and strategy;
h. there are others not present who could add value to this effort, so the circle needs to be broadened, and to include the rest of BC;
i. dialogues in other parts of the province are key;
j. there is a history and expertise in community grant allocation processes that could inform how social economy funds are spent in B.C.; there needs to further exploration of this;
k. participation from the corporate world may be helpful;
l. while dialogue is important, we should focus on local action-oriented activities;
m. we should each canvass the thoughts of our neighbours and networks and stimulate debate on the social economy

The group that convened the roundtable met on September 2nd to consider how best to follow-up the dialogue. They'll meet again on September 8th to clarify an action plan. I hope to keep you posted.