A new online supportive employment report and toolkit is now available for social enterprises and other employers to help them successfully employ people with multiple barriers to employment.

The report and toolkit are the result of a $181,500 labour market partnership agreement with Enterprising Non-Profits, funded through the Canada-British Columbia Labour Market Development Agreement.

Enterprising Non-Profits’ report, Success Themes in Supportive Employment: How Social Enterprise Connects People with Jobs & Jobs with People, identifies best practices of social enterprises successful at employing people facing multiple barriers to employment, such as low literacy, gaps in work skills and work history, addictions, mental illness and poverty.

The report is also the basis of an online employment toolkit with information and resources to help employers better support individuals who face these barriers to find and keep jobs.

Social enterprises - a form of social innovation - are businesses that invest their profits in a social purpose. Some social enterprises focus on providing training and work experience for people who experience complex and multiple barriers to employment.

Enterprising Non-Profits has been supporting the development and growth of the social enterprise sector for 16 years as a way to build healthy, prosperous communities. The organization supports non-profits to learn about social enterprise and strong business planning in order to launch and grow financially sustainable social enterprises.

B.C. has declared September Disability Employment Month to celebrate people with disabilities in the workforce and the employers and communities throughout the province who pave the way to support them.

Disability Employment Month follows the recent release of Accessibility 2024, a 10-year action plan to make B.C. the most progressive place for people with disabilities in Canada by 2024, and aims to have the highest labour participation rate for people with disabilities in Canada by 2024.

As an active member of the BC Partners for Social Impact, government works with leaders in the social innovation field to promote and support social innovation and enterprise throughout the province.

Quotes:

Minister of Social Development and Social Innovation Don McRae -

“September is Disability Employment Month and Enterprising Non-Profits’ supportive employment report and toolkit is a great example of the value social innovation and enterprise can bring to addressing complex social challenges like removing barriers to employment, and the partnership needed across sectors to achieve our goal of the highest labour participation for people with disabilities in Canada by 2024.”

Minister of Jobs, Tourism and Skills Training Shirley Bond -

“Job creation means a better future for all British Columbians. With one million jobs expected in B.C. by 2022, the Enterprising Non-Profits’ report will be essential to helping traditionally disadvantaged people achieve lasting employment and have the resources to excel in their positions.”

Enterprising Non-Profits program manager Kimberly Buksa -

“We are very excited to share the outputs of this project - the first of its kind - because it not only considers the value and success of employment social enterprise, but also captures best practices useful to social enterprises, other non-profits and traditional businesses. Supportive employment has a transformative impact on the lives of people who face barriers and this research sets the stage for a better understanding of how to reduce and overcome barriers - resulting in better supported individuals and healthier, more inclusive communities. We’re fortunate to have a government that recognizes and invests in social innovation, and we’re thankful for the participation of the many researchers, social enterprises, employees and others who contributed to this understanding.”

Quick Facts:

• Social enterprises provide valuable services, offer employment opportunities, involve volunteers, and train thousands of people each year in B.C.
• Based on a 2011 survey, B.C. social enterprises provided services to nearly 700,000 people and generated at least $60 million in revenues.
• In British Columbia, funding under the Labour Market Development Agreement is used to support labour market programs and services for residents who are collecting Employment Insurance (EI) benefits or have received them in the last three years, or for parents re-entering the labour force who have collected EI parental benefits in the last five years. It is also used to support employers in addressing human resources challenges.
• In 2014-15, the $280.5-million Labour Market Development Agreement budget is being used to provide employment assistance services, job-creation partnerships, labour market partnerships, self-employment, skills development and targeted wage subsidies programs.

Learn More:

Enterprising Non-Profits’ Success Themes in Supportive Employment report and toolkit is available here: www.socialenterprisecanada.ca/en/learn/nav/SET_Report.html

Learn more about social innovation in B.C.: www.sdsi.gov.bc.ca/social-innovation/index.htm

For more information about Accessibility 2024, visit: http://ow.ly/ASEha

Labour Market Partnerships Program: http://www.jtst.gov.bc.ca/sector-partnerships/labour-market-partnerships-program.htm

Media Contacts:

Communications
Ministry of Social Development and Social Innovation
250 356-1670