Category: Community Matters

City Council seeks social value from government spending

On Monday, December 17th, Calgary’s City Council took another important step towards supporting a more diverse and resilient local economy by approving recommendations to develop a social procurement policy for The City of Calgary. Governments make purchases every day in order to provide the public goods and services we all rely on. From basic office supplies to garbage trucks, from daily cleaning to major infrastructure… Read more

Community Matters

Keen to help Alberta businesses succeed? It’s now easier than ever 

On October 18th, in a joint announcement with Momentum and Local Investing YYC, the Government of Alberta officially launched the Community Economic Development Corporation (CEDC) tax credit program. Going forward, Albertans who invest in a registered CEDC will receive a 30% tax credit. What is a CEDC? CEDCs are investment funds that make it easier for everyday Albertans to invest their money in local businesses…. Read more

Community Matters

Five things you should know about Canada’s First Poverty Reduction Strategy

The federal Minister of Families, Children and Social Development, Jean-Yves Duclos, unveiled Canada’s First Poverty Reduction Strategy, Opportunity for All, on Tuesday, August 21. Informed by over a year of public and stakeholder engagement opportunities, consultations with experts, and guidance from an advisory committee, the Strategy is in many ways a collection of current programs and initiatives that support poverty reduction­, such as the Canada… Read more

Community Matters

Yummi Yogis on fostering connections in Thrive Accelerator

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  Thrive is a community leadership initiative of Momentum. Thrive has a strong network of partnerships to reach real people,  create real opportunities and champion real change. Nikki Brule is an alum from the Spring 2018 Accelerator cohort. In her time with this free 16-week program, she’s been able to foster deeper connections within her community and fellow social entrepreneurs, find ways to increase the social… Read more

Community Matters

Three things worth celebrating in the 2018 Alberta Budget

The Government of Alberta announced its 2018 Budget yesterday. From our perspective, here are three things worth celebrating: Provincial funding for preventative social services was protected In 2016, the Government of Alberta boosted funding for preventative social services in communities across the province by $25 million. This was the first significant increase to the Family and Community Support Services (FCSS) budget since 2009, and a… Read more

Community Matters

Our New Strategic Direction

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In the Spring of 2017, you joined Momentum to help us envision the future. Together we shared dreams and hopes for Momentum through stories, drawings and action plans. From this process, we’ve created a new strategic vision for our work. We’re excited to present our new strategic vision that you helped us to craft. Thank you for being an engaged part of the Momentum community!… Read more

Community Matters, Our Results

A Study on the Impact of the Changes in Payday Loan Regulation in Alberta on Borrowers

Dear Potential Participant: Have you taken a payday loan in the last three years?  If yes, We would like to invite you to participate in a research being conducted by a team from Mount Royal University in collaboration with Momentum. We are interested in talking to you about your experiences with payday loans to understand whether and how you have been impacted by the changes… Read more

Community Matters, Money Management

Alberta’s high-cost credit rules are changing for the better

Recently, the Government of Alberta introduced legislation that will change the rules for high-cost lenders operating in our province. You can read the press release here. If you’ve followed any of Momentum’s work on this issue, you’ll know that high-cost credit has been at the top of our list of public policy priorities for the past several years. This is because many high-cost credit services—like… Read more

Community Matters

EconoUs Conference ‘Success’ Was Place-Based

It’s a wrap! After more than 12 months in the making we are thrilled to say EconoUs2017, the 8th annual community economic development conference, and our first-go at co-organizing an event of this scale was a success. Quantifying ‘success’ in this instance is more than being on budget and exceeding our attendance targets (don’t get us wrong, we’re celebrating that too). But the conference, very… Read more

Community Matters

High-Cost Credit: Ideas for Change

Drive down one of Calgary’s main thoroughfares—such as International Avenue or Macleod Trail—and you’ll likely observe, among the many storefronts and restaurants, a handful of businesses advertising high-cost credit products. Most Canadians are familiar with one type of high-cost credit—payday lending—and understand that such loans can easily trap a vulnerable borrower in a cycle of debt. Other forms of high-cost credit, however, are less well-known… Read more

Community Matters