The Harmony Centre will be hosting an informal community meeting that will help local investors learn new ideas on how to help benefit the community.
On Friday, November 13, it will be the host to the ChangeMaker Coffee House, which carries the title “Nobody’s Coming to Save Us… So Let’s Invest in Ourselves.”
Jeff Elie, the Chair of the Board for Harmony Centre Owen Sound, said that the focus of the event will be the idea of social investing.
“The concept of social investing has been around for a while, and it’s starting to creep into smaller regions like ours. We’re very well suited to social investing because there is money in the area, and it’s all going elsewhere. It’s going to investors and banks, and large companies and corporations outside of our region, and it’s time that we started to bring that money home and keep it here,” he explained.
He said that while social or community investing does not include donating to charity or investing in green endeavours, he still hopes that those with the means will still participate in those activities.
“This is more of where to invest your money, your savings, in projects that will benefit local endeavours such as housing, and shelter, and community benefits, and those kinds of things,” he said.
The evening will include live music and snacks, and feature speakers and organizations working on different approaches to community investment.
Speakers include community wealth and well-being expert Elly Green will introduce the concept of social investing and guide the evening’s discussion.
There will also be recorded presentations from Stephanie Pinnington of Tapestry Community Capital will explore community bonds and Theleepan Marcandu of Prestar will talk about his organization’s experience in microlending.
“The concept itself is rather complicated, and this is just one way that we’re going to be introducing it to the community,” said Elie. “It’s going to be backed up by a program which will actually begin sometime in the New Year, and local businesses [and] citizens are welcome to find out more about it by attending the session.”
He added, “By introducing this concept, we’re providing a means for people to understand the idea of social investing, much like a few years ago. A few years ago, the idea of social enterprise was new to the community, and nobody really understood what it was. And today, social enterprise is part of the fabric of our community through organizations that run businesses to help fund their social aspects.”
There will also be an announcement from Community Foundation Grey Bruce regarding community investing that will be unveiled.
Elie explained what social investing includes.
“For instance, Harmony Centre rents out space so it can fund its community endeavours, and that was a concept that was fairly new a few years ago, and now this new concept of social investing is also new. So we’re just trying to get the idea out there and let the experts explain it to people who are interested in the idea of social investing.”
The ChangeMaker Coffee House takes place in the Greaves Auditorium at Harmony Centre, 890 4th Avenue East, Owen Sound, on Friday, November 13, from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m.