Abstract: 

The Women of Ontario Social Enterprise Network (WOSEN) is a province-wide collaborative composed of five social innovation and system change organizations. It is led by Pillar Nonprofit Network in partnership with Social Innovation Canada1 (SI Canada), Social Venture Connexion (SVX),
and NORDIK Institute (NORDIK) with support from Lean4Flourishing(L4F). WOSEN acknowledges the debilitating consequences of structural
racism, and most recently, the disparate impact COVID-19 is having on marginalized women in particular. In response, the collaborative aims tocatalyze social innovation by redesigning the entrepreneurial ecosystem to meet the needs of women2 founders from diverse equity-seeking groups. WOSEN’s focus is women who have business solutions that put people and the planet first (i.e., social enterprises). Their approach shifts the focus from current entrepreneurial supports and financing structures that are readily available and easy to deliver to models that holistically support the entrepreneur’s learning journey and aspirations. This approach has helped hundreds of entrepreneurs across Ontario to start and grow their businesses and has unlocked millions of dollars in capital for these initiatives.

WOSEN’s targeted goals collectively aim to:

i. reveal the mental models, power dynamics, relationships and connections, resource flows, practices and policies that keep thesesocial problems in place, hindering founders in achieving theirentrepreneurial aspirations (Kania, Kramer & Senge, 2018, p.4); and,

ii. redesign the entrepreneurial ecosystem by intentionally engaging founders and ecosystem supporters in emergent collaborativeand co-creative practices to understand women’s contexts, and align actions to create the critical infrastructure (i.e., knowledge,attitudes, behaviours, relational networks and resource flows) that supportthe development of women-owned and women-led ventures.

Researchers:

Dr. Jude Ortiz

Dates:

 November 23, 2022

Publication: 

Centring Equity: Catalyzing system change through a collaborative, cogenerating knowledge network The Story of the Women of Onatrio Social Enterprise Network (WOSEN) Part 2 

Abstract: 

This thesis investigates the contribution of the arts to resilience within the context of Northern Ontario, a vast, sparsely populated geographical region dotted with isolated, rural, and smaller urban communities whose economies are based primarily on resource extraction. Industry restructuring and other pressing issues related to globalization are forcing communities to rapidly adapt to survive.

While the arts have been hailed as economic drivers in the creative economy and many, primarily urban centres, are attempting to harness the arts in this regard, less is understood about how engaging in the arts strengthens community identity and fosters the emergence of local culture-based economies, generally, and the critical role artists in rural communities play in achieving such.

The study utilizes action research to reveal ways individual creative practice and art sector collaboration develop creative skills and provide the social and commercial infrastructure necessary for successful transitioning and continual adaptation at the individual, organizational and community level.

Furthermore, the research highlights similarities between artistic and community development practices suggesting that capacities gained through engaging in the arts parallel those necessary for developers to work effectively within emergent, inclusive, and holistic approaches that underpin continual adaptation in addressing change.

Researchers: 

Dr. Jude Ortiz

Dates:

May 17, 2021

Publication: