Community Projects

In the featured picture: (l to r) Jeff Keshen, Dean, Faculty of Arts, Mount Royal University; Jasmine Retzer, Student, Mount Royal University; Wanda Palmer, Vice President, Marketing, Trico Homes (representing Wayne Chiu)

Trico Foundation Charitable Foundation has made a three-year commitment totaling $15,000, to help Calgary's social enterprises while spotlighting the talents and resources of Mount Royal University.

Each year for the next three years the foundation will hire one Mount Royal student to provide services to a variety of social enterprises in Calgary. The student will be selected in consultation with Mount Royal and will have skills identified as needed by a number of social enterprises in Calgary.

The partnership comes as the Trico Foundation and Calgary play host to the Social Enterprise World Forum (SEWF) October 2-4, 2013. The first student hired will focus on writing profiles of 15 social enterprises that will be the subject of off-site tours during the conference. Click here to learn more about the tours.

Keshen said there are many ways Arts students can use their talents to help all kinds of organizations, from social enterprises to traditional for-profits and traditional not-for-profits. For instance, interior design and art history students can help with design, history students can help with research, anthropology and sociology students can help with statistical analysis and culture, psychology students can help with understanding markets and interpersonal relationships, languages students can help with translation of French or Spanish, English students can help with writing, and students in policy studies can help with analysis of economics and politic issues.

The Mount Royal student selected for 2013 is Jasmine Retzer, who is taking a Bachelor of Arts in English and Film Studies.

For links to stories by Jasmine Retzer see the link below:
The Social Network - Collaboration is key to creating social impact

Trico Charitable Foundation:
Trico Charitable Foundation, established in 2008, seeks to provoke innovation and build capacity in social entrepreneurship. Its programs, initiatives and partnerships are dedicated to growing a community of sustainable, entrepreneurial organizations. For more information please visit www.tricofoundation.ca.

About Mount Royal University:
Mount Royal University is Canada's premier undergraduate university, with more than 13,500 credit students taking a variety of programs and courses including bachelor's degrees, applied degrees, university transfer courses, diplomas and certificates. For more than 100 years, Mount Royal has been providing students with quality teaching and small class size, preparing students for life long after graduation.

About SEWF:
The Social Enterprise World Forum is a global gathering to hear inspiring speakers, connect, share ideas, and advance a movement dedicated to a powerful idea - that working together we can use markets and innovations to solve the world's most complex and confounding social, economic, and environmental challenges.

Each year SEWF gives a different host country an incredible opportunity to celebrate and nurture its own social enterprise movement. 2013 is Canada's chance to shine. Event host, TRICO Charitable Foundation, is partnering with the Social Enterprise Council of Canada, the MaRS Centre for Impact Investing, Social Innovation Generation, and the Canadian Community Economic Development Network to make this a watershed moment for social enterprise, for Canada and for the world.

SEWF 2013 by the numbers:

• Attendees: 1,200 from 30 countries
• 6 Program Tracks: Social Finance/Impact Investing, Indigenous Social Enterprise, Social Enterprise Skills Building, Research and Public Policy, Cross-Boundary Collaboration, Social Innovation
• Breakout Sessions: 36, featuring 120 speakers from 20 countries
• Main Stage Speakers: 17
• 1st time in Canada
• October 2-4, 2013, Calgary, Canada

Click here to register.