Toronto Enterprise Fund
26 Wellington Street East M5E 1S2 Toronto, ON, Canada

TEF Catalyzing Grantee Greenest City is developing a youth employment social enterprise growing fresh produce year round in a hydroponic container farm grown in downtown Toronto! Help this aspiring ESE by filling out their market research survey (link in post) and encourage your networks to fill out the survey too!

Check out this great piece on Interpreter Services Toronto, a TEF-supported employment social enterprise that provides interpretation and translation services!

Affordable housing non-profit Raising the Roof has turned a vacant Toronto house into a welcoming home for a refugee family of 6 with the help of skilled trades... apprentices from Building Up, a United Way-supported Employment Social Enterprise. Read more: https://www.cbc.ca//charity-preventing-homelessness-raisin

The TEF team is stunned by the news and mourns the senseless murder of Sam Boakye, a friend and associate of both TEF and employment social enterprise in the GTA. Words cannot begin to express our sorrow for this loss. We remember Sam as a passionate ESE staff member committed to improving the lives of his community. Our deepest condolences to Sam's family, friends, and the team at OTB. https://www.cbc.ca///toronto/sam-boakye-shooting-1.6170055

TEF has launched the application for our Black focused ESE Idea Accelerator! http://torontoenterprisefund.ca/accelerator The Accelerator is a series of eight online workshops where organizations and entrepreneurs have the opportunity to develop strong ESEs ideas. Graduates of the Accelerator program may apply for a Catalyzing Grant - up to $10,000 in funding for a feasibility study and business plan. The deadline to apply for the Accelerator program is 5:00 p.m. on September ...17. Why is this needed? Unemployment rates for Black people in the GTA are almost 5% higher than the average and these unemployment numbers indicate a need for more ESEs to provide relevant training and employment for this community. Based on feedback from previous Accelerator participants and interviews with Black stakeholders, TEF has developed an action plan that includes this Black-focused ESE Idea Accelerator. Learn more and apply now: http://torontoenterprisefund.ca/accelerator

We are THRILLED to see the The Redwood's HVAC employment social enterprise being launched this year. This TEF-supported ESE will train and employ women survivors of violence to be HVAC technicians in Toronto.

Do you have 3 minutes to support an up and coming employment social enterprise? SMASH PINATAS is a custom piñatas business that will train and employ people with developmental and intellectual disabilities. Do you want a piñata of yourself or your cat? How about your favourite food? Share your feedback with this new ESE by filling out their market research survey ASAP! As a bonus, you could win a minions piñata!

Support a TEF Catalyzing Grantee, Addus start a custom piñatas employment social enterprise that will train and employ people with developmental disabilities in Toronto! Addus is seeking customer information as they develop this new ESE. Fill out this short market research survey, and you could win a piñata!

? ! The Accelerator pushes the development of ESE ideas through a series of workshops, one on one coaching, peer learning, and self reflection.... Learn more about the on our website and ! http://torontoenterprisefund.ca/ACCELERATOR

Canada’s unemployment rate last month was a record high, and we know that people facing barriers to employment (including people with disabilities, refugees and immigrants, people who are Indigenous, racialized, or LGBTQ+, and people who have been in conflict with the law) are disproportionately impacted by COVID-19-related lay-offs. With this in mind, the Toronto Enterprise Fund (TEF) team is determined to continue our work to support the development of new employment social... enterprises in Toronto, Peel, and York Region. Are you interested in employment social enterprises (ESEs)? We invite you to join us for Employment Social Enterprise 101: A 45 minute webinar that introduces the ESE model, including: key features, outcomes, best practices and more. ESE 101 is well-suited to entrepreneurs, organizations, educators, policy makers, funders and others interested in social enterprises. ESE 101 will be hosted on July 14 at 12PM (noon) and you can register here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/ese-101-july-webinar-tickets-1

The TEF team hopes our entire employment social enterprise community is keeping safe and healthy in these challenging and uncertain times. With our collective health and wellbeing in mind, the entire TEF team is working remotely as the United Way’s physical offices are closed and the ESE Conference has been postponed. On Friday, March 20 we assembled two sets of information to support your employment social enterprise and staff during COVID-19: 1. Resources for ESEs / Small Businesses [https://drive.google.com//1SF-tkoyV20UL6LwRBg_iR_9oSE/view] 2. Resources for ESE staff/participants that may be facing unemployment [https://drive.google.com//1-WbifGvpXTr0NAKf7GwDPcVgBY/view]

TEF's 2nd annual Conference on Employment Social Enterprise is coming up soon! The goal of the TEF ESE Conference is to strengthen emerging and existing ESEs through building strong relationships, developing management/leadership skills, and providing opportunities to learn best practices. See up to date program and register now: https://eseconference2.eventbrite.com

Do you have an idea for an Employment Social Enterprise that you want to pursue? Join the our fifth ESE Idea Accelerator! This cohort will focus on creating ESEs that will train and employ people who have a disability. The ESE Idea Accelerator is a series of four workshops in March and April. Participants of this cohort will develop the employment model, operations, finances, and market research for their ESE idea that will create opportunities for people who have a disability. The Accelerator culminates in a Pitch Night where participants can pitch for up to $10,000 in funding for a feasibility study and business plan. You’re invited to attend an Information Webinar on February 11 from 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. to learn more about this 5th cohort of the ESE Idea Accelerator. Register here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/88927541671

Save the date! TEF’s 2nd Annual ESE Conference will be Friday, April 3, 2020 at the 519 (519 Church Street). Early Bird Registration has opened and is available here - https://eseconference2.eventbrite.com!

TEF is a program of the United Way of Greater Toronto that supports employment social enterprises in Peel, Toronto and York Region. Employment social enterprises (ESEs) are businesses that create training and employment opportunities for people facing barriers to the labour market. TEF supports the start-up, sustainability, and scaling of employment social enterprises. Learn more about our work and ESEs here: http://torontoenterprisefund.ca//what-is-an-employment-soc

New Funding Opportunity: The #IRProgram is open to charities, non-profits, co-operatives and for-profit social enterprises wanting to grow a social-purpose bus...iness. Eligible organizations can receive $10K-$100K in non-repayable capital to develop, design, measure and scale their social enterprises. Applications are open from Jan 8-Feb 10. Learn more @ https://cfc-fcc.smapply.ca//the_investment_readiness_prog/ #SocialFin #SocialImpact

Thinking about starting or scaling up social enterprise work in Toronto, Peel, or York Region? New federal funding is available for local social purpose organizations (e.g. employment social enterprises) to grow their positive impact in the community through social enterprise. Community Foundations of Canada is running an info webinar on Monday, Jan 13 to share information on the #IRProgram and the steps to apply. Sign up now for the IRP 101 webinar!

Are you currently running or hoping to one day run an employment social enterprise? TEF is a program of United Way Greater Toronto that supports employment social enterprises in Peel, Toronto and York Region! A sub-category of social enterprise, ESEs are businesses that create training and employment opportunities for people facing systemic barriers to entry into the mainstream labour market.... Learn more about ESEs on our December ESE 101 webinar, 12:00-1:00PM on December 4. Register now: https://ese101december.eventbrite.com See more

TEF's next Pitch Competition is coming up on December 5! Register now to secure your ticket! https://tefpitch.eventbrite.com This Dragon’s Den-style event is open to the public and will feature social entrepreneurs pitching their ESE ideas to a panel of expert judges with the hope of receiving funding to continue developing their enterprise idea. The event will also feature a healthy and delicious dinner catered by Out of This World Cafe - a local ESE that employs people who... have a mental illness. Pitch Night is the culmination of TEF’s three-month Accelerator program, which has supported over 20 entrepreneurs from Peel, Toronto, and York Region with early stage ESE ideas that create employment opportunities for people facing systemic barriers to employment. This Accelerator cohort focused on youth employment; examples of youth-focused ESEs are Eva's Initiatives, a printer that employs youth facing homelessness, and RainscapeTO (rainscapeto.ca), an eco-landscaping service that employs Indigenous youth.

Are you currently running or hoping to one day run an employment social enterprise? TEF is a program of United Way Greater Toronto that supports employment social enterprises in Peel, Toronto and York Region! A sub-category of social enterprise, ESEs are businesses that create training and employment opportunities for people facing systemic barriers to entry into the mainstream labour market. Learn more about ESEs on our December ESE 101 webinar, 12:00-1:00PM on December 4. Register now: https://ese101december.eventbrite.com

Interested in starting an employment social enterprise? Passionate about creating jobs for youth facing barriers to employment? Join TEF's Fall ESE Idea Accelerator! The accelerator program provides four experiential workshops, which support participants to strengthen both business and social aspects of their ESE idea. For Fall 2019, TEF's Accelerator will focus on supporting early-stage ESE ideas that create employment opportunities for youth facing barriers to employment ...- for example: RainscapeTO is an ESE that employs Indigenous youth to offer eco-landscaping services with a focus on the installation of rain gardens and other beautiful Earth-friendly landscapes. Learn more here: http://torontoenterprisefund.ca/accelerator

We are always happy to see TEF-supported employment social enterprises succeeding - and DANI - Toronto is a great example! They were one of the recipients of Mixed Capital Opportunities Funding, which went towards this greenhouse investment. Many thanks to Alterna Savings for being the loan partner on the Mixed Cap Fund! https://www.cjnews.com//greenhouse-helps-special-needs-adu