Bike Week at CSI

Bike Week, a salute to bicycle culture, celebrated it's 17th birthday this year. Organized by the City of Toronto and the Toronto Cycling Committee, the event features actions and activities created by organizations and community groups throughout the city. This year on May 30 the Centre for Social Innovation (CSI, Suite 120) joined the festivities by hosting a lunch and learn that covered commuting tips, how to protect your bike, and how to create a bike-friendly workplace.

Cycling Ambassadors came to lead the discussion and provide information on how to join an increasing number of people who commute to work on a bike, and also brush up on rules of the road with seasoned cyclists. The lunch and learn session ended with a visit to the basement of the Robertson Building to have a look at the bike racks that are used by tenants and visitors to the building, and do a demo for folks who weren't sure how to lock up.

Want to join the Robertson Building/401 Richmond Bicycle User Group? Just send an email to Maria Pazo at CSI (maria [at] socialinnovation [dot] ca) and she will put you on the list. A Bicycle User Group, or BUG, connects you with a community of cyclists and provides opportunities for cycling seminars and special events.
For more info visit: www.toronto.ca/bug

Creative Trust Awareness Campaign

Creative Trust (Suite 129) launched a new awareness campaign this June to send a message that Toronto's wealth of talented performing artists "belong in the theatre," and deserve our financial support. With a collection of witty ads showing folks who should really be on the stage Creative Trust hopes to achieve the last leg of it's $6.1 million fundraising initiative in support of 22 mid-size creative music, theatre and dance companies in Toronto.

The goal of Creative Trust is to ensure the health and stability of companies essential to Toronto and Canada's cultural well being - allowing them to devote more of their energies to producing fine art and bringing it to the community. Have a look at the ad campaign, including a comical "office opera" commercial, by visiting: www.creativetrust.ca

Equita at 215

Their slogan is "So Fair, So Good!" and this new addition to the Robertson Building community is likely to become a very popular neighbour. Founded in 1996, Oxfam Fair Trade brings a range of Fair Trade certified products to consumers under the EQUITA banner. Recently, Suresh Tumkur carved out his own space in the Oxfam Canada (Suite 200) offices where he will work to promote these tasty fair trade treats (previously only available in Quebec) through various outlets in Toronto, including the Roastery Coffee House at 401 Richmond! Suresh will be looking to work with the Toronto School Boards to create a partnership that would make Equita products available for fundraising activities in schools. Oxfam's fair trade initiatives strive to "educate Canadian consumers on the effect of globalization and on how ethical consumption can be a powerful tool to change the world."

It is about sustainable development - ensuring that local farmers in developing countries are compensated fairly for their products thereby creating thriving local communities and economies. Suresh generously let us sample some of Equita's delicious chocolate flecked with candied orange peel and earl grey tea. This is just one product in a line that includes coffee and tea, spices, rice, and sugar. Although Equita currently doesn't sell their products directly, Suresh will be setting up a table on the ground floor outside CSI (Suite 120) on Wednesday July 26 from 12:00 - 2:00 pm so that tenants can sample his wares and maybe take a sweet bar or two back to the office. For more information on Oxfam Fair Trade and the Equita Network visit: www.oxfamfairtrade.ca
You can also contact Suresh directly at: tumkurs@oxfamfairtrade.ca

Green Corner: Natural City Conference

From May 31 to June 2, the University of Toronto hosted The Natural City conference that helped participants "rethink how urban and natural environments can be integrated to promote sustainability." Several of our tenants were invited to speak including, Chris Winter, Executive Director of the Conservation Council of Ontario (CCO, Suite 132) who reminded participants that any time is a good time for conservation.

Launched in 2005, CCO's Doors Closed program gained significant media attention, community support, and business participation from across the country. With summer upon us, the time has come again to ask retailers to keep their shop doors closed while the air conditioning is turned on. The CCO has some other bright ideas up their sleeves and you can check them out at: www.weconserve.ca

I did a talk that featured heritage buildings as an ecological alternative reviewing some of the natural and sustainable practices occurring at Urbanspace. From heritage protection and conservation to green roofs, green walls, recycling, and energy retrofits: existing projects at 215 Spadina and 401 Richmond were profiled. Chris Wolnick, Executive Director of the Canadian Centre for Pollution Prevention (C2P2, suite 134) introduced the work of the Centre and their mandate to help municipalities and organizations minimize the creation of pollution and waste, and promote actions that foster a healthier, sustainable society. Chris outlined an evolving program at C2P2 called Community Environmental Certification. As human health issues become increasingly attributed to environmental contaminants, it is becoming more important for organizations and municipalities to demonstrate, through certified independent third-party audits, that they are safeguarding the environment.
www.c2p2online.com

The Natural City conference was book-ended by two powerful and passionate environmental advocates: a keynote address by Stephen Lewis, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan's Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa. And closing remarks by Elizabeth May, Sierra Club of Canada past Executive Director, and now a candidate for the leadership of the federal Green party of Canada.

Profile: Community Bandwidth

With the coming of a new year, we decided it was time that the Robertson Building designed it's very own website to help tell the story of all the social innovations percolating in these four walls. We of course already knew Phillip Smith aka Community Bandwidth (Suite 130) and after seeing some of his work on the interim Centre for Social Innovation (Suite 120) website, felt like his brand of web design would be a good fit. It also meant a lot that he knew the community we were interested in both assisting and promoting intimately. So, as Phillip works on serving up a tasty new website for the building, we thought it would be nice to talk to him about what he does.

Community Bandwidth is a one-man operation - a "not-for-much profit" company founded in 2002. After spending a year and a half in his house, Phillip became a member of the co-location initiative that is the Centre for Social Innovation taking up just one desk in the space. In many ways, Phillip is resistant to the incubator model believing that bigger is not necessarily better and therefore Community Bandwidth remains "aggressively small." There are other socially minded reasons why the company has stayed small, despite a large and persistent pool of charities that could certainly use his services. As Phillip explains, "I feel it's wrong to think 'Hey, there are all these organizations to serve that therefore I should grow, hire people, capitalize on their labour, and make profit.' Then I'm just turning into the problem that a lot of these organizations are trying to work against and not working in solidarity with them. It's about being small, attentive, and helping other people like me recognize the opportunity to work in an integrated way and have a very fulfilling and sustainable life."

On the flip side, the fact that there are more calls than Phillip could possibly support is also the greatest challenge of doing this kind of work. There are so few companies that are dedicated to working with charitable groups that the need is not even close to being met and this clearly disappoints Phillip. "Working with these organizations can provide a deeply fulfilling experience if you're socially minded. The ways we work together is more honest than working in a corporate environment - more integrated, transparent, and fun!" Phillip serves his clients by "keeping technology simple." He feels many organizations achieve a feeling of empowerment by becoming self- sufficient around canvassing and campaigns, but they don't feel this when it comes to technology. What could potentially be a highly effective tool for socially minded organizations to get the word out and create community, is instead the big unknown they find difficult to harness. "What I do is to help translate; not only the opportunities around technology, but the language to help make it accessible and friendly, not obtuse, geeky, and fearful. The importance lies in bringing socially minded organizations and technology together. There are huge implications as we move towards more technical interventions in every aspect of our life and these organizations should be leveraging those opportunities."

Phillip also reaches out to a broader community through a variety of "camps" or training days that bring together more technologically savvy folks, like himself, with people who want to learn more about new tools. The most recent was Drupal Camp, which introduced attendees to Drupal, an open source content management system that allows people with relatively little skill to update and manage a website easily. "It is a day to introduce people to the basic concepts, to help people who know quite a bit learn more, and just to build a little bit of that sense of community in Toronto around something that we're all using." On the horizon, Phillip is helping launch CopyCamp (www.copycamp.ca), which is being organized by the Creators Rights Alliance and will bring together about two hundred artists and creators for a discussion about the role of copyright, the internet, and evolving business models. As well, he is working on Web of Change (www.webofchange.com) in BC that will gather seventy network leaders in the field of social technology and advocacy. Phillip is also keeping busy putting the final touches on New Internationalist Magazine's (Studio 393, 401 Richmond) website, slated for relaunch this summer and continues to work with long-time client This Magazine (Studio 396, 410 Richmond). He is also crafting a new look for the Centre for Social Innovation, and last, but certainly not least, working on a site for the Robertson Building scheduled to surf through your bandwidth this fall.

www.communitybandwidth.ca

Welcome: IMPACS

The Institute for Media, Policy and Civil Society (Suite 360) is committed to the protection and expansion of democracy and to strengthening civil society. Their Communications Centre provides a variety of courses and training opportunities to help members of the non-profit sector develop the necessary communication skills to effectively tell their stories. IMPACS' Liz Scanlon will be leading the next training session on Tuesday September 26 in the Centre for Social Innovation. So if you, or someone in your organization could use some media relations training specially designed for non-profit and charitable organizations visit: www.impacs.org for registration information.