From Metro News: http://metronews.ca/news/calgary/6388/group-hopes-to-connect-for-community-change/

March 23, 2012

Group hopes to connect for community change

By Katie Turner

Metro Calgary

Putting the right people in the right place at the right time has the potential to create social change with economic benefits.

That is the concept behind Social Innovation Calgary’s Community Innovation Hub, which city council recently endowed $75,000 to get the project moving.

One of the co-ordinators of the project, Gena Rotstein, said they are hoping to create a space that would facilitate for-profit and non-profit groups, coming together to share ideas.

“It’s anything that’s going to drive social change in Calgary and have an economic benefit,” she said.

With the seed money from city council, the group is working to build a model and test it to see if a Community Innovation Hub is viable for Calgary.

Ald. Gael MacLeod, who presented the idea to council, said the potential benefits are endless.

“I’m very interested in the whole notion of social enterprise, in the sense that it creates social outcomes; doing well by doing good,” she said.