Just a note that even though the Social Innovation Hub is on a one year strategic planning hiatus we worked with our long term in house and external partners – StartGBC and Edge to put on a Social Innovation Design Jam for second year students in the SSW program and CYC program. Here are pictures of the day with Keynote speaker, Professor Colin Phillips from Ryerson U’s School of social Work and a variety of pictures showcasing our mentors, judges, the students and the winners. Congratulations!
The Social Innovation Hub Poster Presentation at the TCBN Creating Opportunities Summit 23 – 24 March 2018. The poster was well received and was especially seen as a successful model. The Summit’s main organizer was a former hubster – HUBSTAR, Symone Walters.
The Social Innovation Hub’s first Clothing Swap n’ Sale of 2018 was a fantastic success! Through generous donations from students, staff, and faculty at George Brown College as well as members of the community, we were able to raise funds for Hubsters to build and sustain their innovative projects, initiatives, and programs. The Swap also worked to generate interest in and awareness of the Hub by providing an opportunity to engage with folks and promote our mission and values throughout the college. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, and be sure check back for information about our next Swap coming up in March!
SOCIAL INNOVATION HUB
Placement Opportunity for Second & Third Year CYC, SSW, CW & AWCCA Students
The Social Innovation Hub (SIHub) at GBC is an innovative second and third year alternative placement, connector and an early stage incubator for students in the School of Community Services, that provides training in social innovation and social entrepreneurship so that students could generate their own social enterprises, projects and initiatives within a supportive environment.
Hubsters are trained in socially innovative business concepts that include: social justice business canvas model, design thinking, creative confidence, social innovation, financial literacy & project management. They then choose one of two paths that lead them to making change that impact communities and the world. 1. They choose to work with non-profit organizations developing social or hybrid enterprises 2. They develop their own innovative or hybrid enterprises often in collaboration with a related organization that may fill in as a second placement. In this scenario hubsters would choose how many days in the week that they would spend in these secondary collaborative placements and how many in the week would be spent in the hub working on their projects/ initiatives/ enterprises.
The SIHUb has graduated 57 hubsters and has supported the development of 33 innovative projects 12 social enterprises, since its first year of operation. The SIhub has been nominated for an innovation award at GBC (2015), was instrumental in supporting the development of BSSN, which was originally a Hubster idea and project. Plus 2 of its hubsters have won awards at the Social Innovation Challenge for their initiatives in 2016, 2017. ___________________________________________________________________________________
The SIHub is looking for up to 20 SSW students who are engaged with the world and are interested in learning skills that they can then put into practice to help non-profit organizations achieve their social missions; and/ or to develop their own enterprises to bring about change within the College or outside of the College.
ARE YOU:
EXTRA QUALIFICATIONS include:
Due to the timing of their placement all SSW students would be required to take the Social Enterprise course elective before applying for placement in the SIHub.
APPLICATION PROCESS:
All interested students are required to submit a resume and a 1-page letter to Natalie Wood via: nwood@georgebrown.ca
The letter will need to outline the following:
The SIHub Management team along with the faculty team will review the applications and select acceptable candidates. All applicants will be notified of their acceptance status via email.
For more info please go to http://socialinnovationhub@wordpress.com
About Social Innovation and the Hub:
Rationale: Community Colleges in Canada have an important role to play in combatting the root causes of inequality in Canada. The manifestations of social inequality and social injustice in Canada find expression in poverty, unemployment, underemployment and youth unemployment to name a few. The graduates from the Community Services Programs at GBC work with, support, and often come from these most marginalized groups. The Social Innovation Hub (SIHub) believes our graduates are most suited to taking leadership to direct change in the Social Services sector. The SIHub wants our graduates to be better equipped in competing in the market place, and possessing tools to address the lack of access to resources, the digital divide between and among communities, and to create collaborations between students, faculty and communities for real world solutions.
The Social Innovation Hub (SIH) at GBC is an alternative placement, early stage incubator and connector for the generation of innovative ideas and social enterprises. We are focused on graduating the next wave of leaders, social entrepreneurs and social innovators focused on bringing economic and social justice to the world.
Our Vision: A world where social entrepreneurship and innovation contribute to economic and social justice.
Our mission: To create a sustainable ecosystem that develops graduates that are the next wave of leaders, who have the skills and confidence to pursue socially innovative and entrepreneurial activities.
Students placed in the Hub (known as hubsters) will, once accepted go through a blended training for 7 weeks in the Group Facilitation course from October – December in concepts that include, creative design, social justice business canvas model, creative confidence, problem identification, social innovation, financial literacy, project management. By December the Hubsters will then know which initiatives they are designing or projects they will be taking the lead on.
All Hubsters will participate in managing one aspect of the Hub operations and can choose one or both placement streams- Social Entrepreneur Experience and/or Social Intrapreneur Experience.
For more information or to forward your application you may contact: Natalie Wood in the SSW Program at nwood@georgebrown.ca/ Thanks!
You can find us on: https://socialinnovationhub.wordpress.com/ Facebook: Social Innovation Hub – George Brown College/ Instagram: SIH_GBC / Twitter: SIH_GBC
We had a fantastic Showcase where GBC President Anne Sado and Cory Ross Dean for Centre for Health Sciences made opening remarks. This was followed with a presentation of the Province’s strategy on Social Enterprises by Stephen Cohen, Policy Advisor to the Social Enterprise Unit at the Ministry of Economic Development and Growth. The Hubsters then presented on their social ventures.
Social Connect’s project lead Paula Johnson (left), alongside Sasha Fink and Nishima Yashpal during a visit to Jessie’s Centre’s Swap Shop. Photo: Philip Iver / The Dialog
Through its organized tours and group volunteer events, Social Connect allows folks to experience agencies first-hand alongside fellow SSW students.
Read more about this initiative in the Dialog
http://dialognews.ca/2017/03/23/social-connect-fills-experiential-gap/
Level up Fitness Academy is taking fitness to new levels with A Beautiful Mashup by providing specialized programs to teach people with developmental disabilities the benefits of healthy living and exercise using ABA principles. Corey is also working with Cawthra Secondary School ( PEEL District School Board) on reenacting their social enterprise students to provide them with real world experience that can be used to develop resumes for students to use following the Secondary school
Freak Ppl Co. is a feminist queer social enterprise that produces handmade, fair wage and environmentally sustainable clothing. It is designed is for anyone who has been labelled or labels themselves as a freak, misfit, or outlier. Freak Ppl Co. embraces difference, finds empowerment in diversity, celebrates sex and body positivity, and values LGBTQ rights.
With every purchase of a Freak Ppl Co. product, one helps fund what we call our Power Packs. PP’s are feminine hygiene kits for homeless identified women, which consist of eco-friendly pads and tampons, along with several additional items that are intended to make one’s menstrual cycle less of a hassle when on the streets.
