Strengthening Ontario’s Social Economy
The resilience of the social economy in Ontario is dependent on a strong foundation. Building a movement, a supportive and enabling policy environment and increasing the capacity of sector actors are essential elements to strengthening the social economy in Ontario.
To meet the demands of this rapidly developing field of practice, organizations and individuals from across Ontario have begun working together on issues of province-wide importance. This work is grounded in the belief that the social economy has the potential to have a considerable, lasting and positive impact on intractable social issues. In order for the sector to fully realize this potential, collaboration is vital.
What is OSER?
Organically, collaboration has occurred on an ad-hoc basis, with organizations or individuals coming together around issues of mutual interest. Growing out of this loose collaboration, some networks and organizations have organized more cohesively under the banner of the Ontario Social Economy Roundtable (OSER) to work on provincial landscape-spanning issues in a more coordinated fashion.
OSER aims to be a focal point for social economy stakeholders, who intend to put resources together in order to improve the general quality of life and the well-being of our society as a whole. Based upon the principles of democratic governance, equity, equality, solidarity, inclusion, sustainability and cross-collaboration, OSER is a space for dialogue, exchanges and collaboration to promote the growth of social economy.
OSER, through its actions, aims at achieving the following goals:
Be a unified voice for the social economy sector within the Province of Ontario.
Facilitate connections among organizations working in the social economy sector.
Share common resources to actively heighten the social well-being of communities.
Improve understanding of the social economy sector, its needs and its opportunities among Ontarians and among decision makers.
Promote the utilization of alternative solutions.
Increase financial and other resources available to the social economy sector.
Encourage an enabling regulatory environment to facilitate the work of the social economy sector
Members
Ontario Social Economy Charter
On May 15, 2017, at OCE Discovery held at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, the Ontario Social Economy Roundtable (OSER) launched its official charter.
How the group works
Individual organizations and networks are able to strengthen initiatives by presenting them to OSER for support.
Members are able to contribute resources or expertise to the work, thus creating a stronger collective initiative and maximizing impact.
OSER is not representative, nor does it claim a single voice for the sector. Instead, OSER is a way to coordinate multiple voices when interests are shared. For practical purposes, the coordination is facilitated through the Secretariat which includes.
Get involved
coming soon