Community Knowledge Centre - Toronto Community Foundation

About this organization

Mission

Social and Enterprise Development Innovations - SEDI's mission is to reduce poverty by expanding social and economic opportunity for low-income Canadians.

History of Organization

SEDI’s work to combat poverty currently focuses on three areas:

• financial literacy
• saving and asset building
• and entrepreneurship

Since its founding in 1986, SEDI has worked with numerous businesses, governments and more than 800 nonprofit community organizations across Canada to transform good ideas into large-scale opportunities for people to make their way out of poverty. 

What we do:

• Generate ideas to reduce poverty: We identify and develop ideas that expand social and economic opportunity for all Canadians and contribute to a more inclusive, prosperous society. Currently, we focus on ideas in three areas: financial literacy, saving and asset building, and entrepreneurship. 

• Test ideas: We shape promising ideas into pilot programs and test them in partnership with community groups, businesses and governments across Canada. We collect evidence to verify the need for and viability of these ideas. 

• Bring ideas to scale:We work with key actors in the public, private and nonprofit sectors to develop policies and programs that take good ideas to scale and impact more people. In doing so, we help low-income Canadians plan and save for the future and invest in long-term.

Accolades and Accomplishments

• In 2010 SEDI teamed up with TD Bank Financial Group to create the TD Financial Literacy Grant Fund. The Fund distributes grants to community groups’ financial literacy initiatives nationwide.
• In 2008 SEDI successfully recommended to the federal government the creation of a task force that would help shape a national strategy on financial education for Canada. The Task Force on Financial Literacy was announced by the federal Minister of Finance in June 2009. SEDI is a strategic advisor to the group.
• In 2008 SEDI launched the Canadian Centre for Financial Literacy. The first of its kind in Canada, the CCFL’s main objective is to train staff members of nonprofits to deliver financial literacy courses to low-income groups, including youth, newcomers to Canada, Aboriginal Peoples, families with children, and women.  Over 230, 000 low-income people across Canada will benefit from the CCFL programs in its first five years of operation.
• The impacts of SEDI’s innovative work earned its founder, Peter Nares, an Ashoka Senior Fellowship in 2008. The award recognizes outstanding social entrepreneurs around the world who have tackled major social issues with new ideas for wide-scale change.
• SEDI’s Independent Living Account (ILA), a matched savings program for people living in shelters, received the 2008 Vital Ideas Award from the Toronto Community Foundation.
• SEDI’s early work in the 1980s in the area of self-employment was incorporated into new Employment Insurance legislation in 1992, making the Self-Employment Benefit available to unemployed people across Canada. 

Programs

>Canadian Centre for Financial Literacy
>Independent Living Account (ILA) Program

• We focus on three areas: financial literacy, asset-building and entrepreneurship.
• Conduct market and policy research. 
• Act as a knowledge broker between communities and policy-makers. 
• Help shape public policies that affect low-income earners. 
• Develop socio-economic programs and manage their implementation. 
• Partner with community groups across Canada to deliver programs in the areas of financial literacy, saving and asset building, and entrepreneurship.
• Provide training and capacity building to staff members of nonprofits.
• Work strategically with the public and private sectors to develop innovative responses to poverty in Canada.

Canadian Centre for Financial Literacy

The Canadian Centre for Financial Literacy (CCFL) is a division of SEDI created by the organization in November 2008 to help build and develop financial literacy among low-income Canadians. It is the only Canadian centre created to deliver easy-to-use money management training for low-income groups through nonprofit community organizations. The goal is to educate people to make more informed decisions about their money and the financial resources available to them. To achieve this goal, the CCFL aims to combine efforts with governments, businesses and community organizations across Canada. The CCFL is supported by a multi-sector volunteer Advisory Committee on Financial Literacy.

Funding and Program Partners

TD Bank Financial Group is a founding sponsor of the CCFL. Programs have been generously supported by the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada, Citizenship and Immigration Canada, the Ontario Trillium Foundation, the Ontario Ministry of Economic Development and Trade, RBC, and Genworth Financial Canada.

Program Impact

In its first five years of operation, the CCFL expects to reach out to over 230,000 low-income people nationwide, in an attempt to help them enhance their skills and knowledge related to financial matters, and consequently reduce personal bankruptcies, debt loads and the use of fringe financial services. The CCFL also aims to increase the number of low-income people who have a financial plan and savings and who invest in long-term assets such as retirement, home ownership and post-secondary education. The CCFL targets five vulnerable groups: youth, newcomers to Canada, Aboriginal Peoples, families with children, and women.

Toronto's Vital Signs® indicator(s) addressed by Program

“The number of personal bankruptcies in the Toronto Region climbed by 15% through 2008 to total 12,208 by year-end.”

“The recession took its toll as the employment rate in Toronto fell 2 percentage points and employment rose by 37% between July 2008 and 2009.”

“Half of Toronto’s workers make less than $20 per hour.”

“The income ratio between the poorest and richest 10% of the population is the highest in the country.” (Toronto’s Vital Signs®, 2009)

Participant Vignette

Arifur Rahman Shohel is an electrical engineer who moved with his parents from Bangladesh to Toronto in 2002. Even though he had solid work experience, he could not find a job in his field in his new home country. To provide for himself and his elderly parents, Arifur got a job as a busboy at a Toronto restaurant where he earned less than $13,000 per year. After speaking to other immigrants who had been trapped in the same situation for years, Arifur lost hope in working as an engineer in Canada. That changed the day he saw an advertisement on the subway about a SEDI program that offered matched savings accounts and training in money management for people on low incomes. The program helped Arifur find ways to save money to go back to school as a full-time student at Ryerson University’s Master of Engineering program. “The program gave me that one opportunity many immigrants only dream of,” said Arifur. “It helped me not only save to go to school but also helped me understand Canada’s financial system and things that are different from back home such as the importance of building a good credit history and the mortgage system.” Arifur completed his studies in 2007 and currently works as a hotel maintenance manager. His income has increased considerably and he gives back to the community by mentoring other internationally-trained engineers. He also volunteers with Habitat for Humanity.

Independent Living Account (ILA) Program

The ILA program was designed by SEDI to help shelter residents save to rent their own place, as a first step towards economic self-sufficiency. The program offers a money management course, support in opening a bank account and a matched incentive for every dollar the participants put aside. This pioneering program has proven to be a cost-effective intervention for shelter residents and has a positive return on investment. A recent analysis calculated a $2.19 return for each $1 of program investment within the first year after the ILA program completion. A recipient of the 2008 Toronto Community Foundation’s Vital Ideas Award, the ILA program is currently running in a number of Toronto shelters.

Funding and Program Partners

The ILA program is currently available in a number of Toronto shelters and is delivered in partnership with Eva’s Phoenix, Fort York Residence, John Howard Society of Toronto, Society of St. Vincent de Paul (Amélie House and St.Clare’s Residence), Salvation Army (Gateway shelter),YMCA of Greater Toronto (Sprott House), Na-Me-Res Native Men’s Residence, and Youth Without Shelter.

The program has been generously supported by TD Bank Financial Group, the City of Toronto, and the National Club. The Toronto Community Foundation has funded research for the ILA.

Program Impact

• 100 shelter residents who participated in this SEDI program, saved over $33,000 in 16 months and used their savings to move into their own accommodation. 
• 95% of the participants who moved out of shelters were still living independently and renting their own place 8 to 15 months after completing the program.

Toronto's Vital Signs® indicator(s) addressed by Program

“The emergency shelter occupancy rate rose almost 30% in Toronto in 2008. Tough economic times mean more Toronto residents are facing eviction.” (Toronto’s Vital Signs®, 2009)

The ILA program can offer the tools and supports for people to leave the shelter system for good and become economically self-sufficient.

Participant Vignette

"The program was the first bit of the rainbow I saw. I became homeless after I lost my job in a manufacturing factory in 2007. With nowhere else to go, I turned to the shelter system for the first time in my life. I will never forget my first night in a shelter. I thought, ‘I can’t do this.’ I just curled up in the corner like a spider. I have always had clean, painted homes, nice furniture, and new cars. And here I was with nothing. I lost a lot of my treasured belongings, things I would have given to my daughter. It’s very devastating. “I later moved to the Fort York Residence, a Toronto transitional housing for men. There I was introduced to SEDI’s ILA program, which was the first bit of the rainbow I saw. I was in a place I didn’t want to be; I knew I had to start saving but didn’t know where to start. The program seemed like a really good opportunity to build a fair amount of savings – a great springboard back into society. “I enjoyed the workshops and hearing from financial advisors. The workshops worked for me because I was actually going through the process of budgeting and saving. With a program like this it is so simple: budget your money, put some away – even if it’s only a small amount – just put it away for a rainy day. Believe me, it rains. “After I completed the program on Christmas 2008, saving became second nature to me. Two months later, I moved into a cozy, affordable apartment. I have also found a full-time job I am proud of and am up for a promotion to an assistant operator position.” Kevin Johnson, former shelter resident and ILA program graduate.