Many Calgarians have no other choice when it comes to borrowing a small amount of money for a short period of time. Many people must turn to expensive payday lenders. Until now. First Calgary Financial is launching a micro loans program in collaboration with Momentum in April, 2015. This is the first affordable, short-term loan to compete with payday loans in Alberta. Only Momentum participants… Read more
Community Matters, Money Management“Without an income people can’t get by, but without assets they can’t get ahead” – Ray Boshara Momentum, The City of Calgary and the Financial Futures Collaborative invite eligible agencies to apply for training, support, and funding to design a Matched Savings Program for participants living on a low income. Promoting both savings and the accumulation of assets among low-income families is an effective way… Read more
Community Matters, Get Involved, Money ManagementGrowing up in Lagos, Nigeria, Michael Odetola—Momentum volunteer and Trades Training Alumnus—dreamed about one day working with trains. Little did he know, his move to Canada would give him the opportunity to experience his dream. Read Michael Odetola’s story online or download the PDF.
Employment Skills, Get InvolvedCome celebrate the world-wide movement to localize food, energy, transportation, businesses, communities, the economy and culture in Calgary. As part of the 2015 Down to Earth Week, Calgary Dollars, REAP, and the Arusha Centre will be hosting the Fair to celebrate this movement. There will be a Market atmosphere and Workshop sessions on how to be local, resilient and sustainable in our communities and businesses…. Read more
Business Development, Get Involved“Spring Cleaning” is a term you might be familiar with when it comes to thoroughly cleaning your home. But why is it that you do spring cleaning? Is it because you feel more relaxed in a clean home? If you are looking for a way to cut down on stress, add “tidying budget” to your Spring Cleaning check list. Below are examples of a few… Read more
Money Management2014 marked the 20th anniversary of the Business Development Department of Momentum. To celebrate, we collected 20 stories about past participants who have thriving businesses. Written by Marnie Schaetti of RaiDo Dynamics, these stories reflect the diversity, innovation and hard work of the inspiring participants who come through our doors every year to take one of our many programs. This is one of those stories…. Read more
Business Development
Pure Food Fresh made history by being the first Momentum participant-owned business to utilize Indiegogo. Karthick Babu is a current Self Employment participant and CEO of the new startup, which just recently used the wildly popular crowdfunding platform to launch a “Zero Preservative” Campaign. “We decided to use crowdfunding, because as individuals make decisions, we can get an idea of what they want before a product is developed,” said Babu…. Read more
Business Development, Community Matters, Get Involved, VideosSince March is fraud prevention month, it may be a good time to have a look over your past financial protection techniques to see if you should switch things up a little bit. There are steps you can take to stay one step ahead of the curb and avoid financial fraud. Properly dispose of financial documents—if you have outdated financial documents that you want to… Read more
Money ManagementMany of us balk at the interest rate of our credit cards when we open our monthly statement. If 18% or 20% a year seems excessive, imagine getting a loan at a 600% interest rate. Now imagine that the lender doesn’t even have to tell you that’s the rate. In Alberta, 600% and even higher is what a payday lender can charge when you annualize… Read more
Community Matters, Our ResultsWe are all about partnerships at Momentum. We know that we cannot do everything and that many of the people in our community have knowledge and expertise that we can learn from. It is in the spirit of learning from our community members that we present the following blog post from guest blogger Douglas Hoyes, Founder & Trustee of Hoyes, Michalos & Associates. If you… Read more
Money Management