The September cohort for our new Social Procurement Professional Certificate has sold out! We're thrilled to see the interest and engagement from private sector, government, and anchor institutions this professional development education program for social procurement is getting.

It's our pleasure to introduce you to Sarah Aspinall, who we are working in partnership with to develop the Social Procurement Professional Certificate. Sarah is the founder of BGSD Consulting Corporation whose focus is on elevating community benefit through Social & Sustainable Procurement Advisory Services. She brings a wealth of expertise from both public and private sector procurement. Formerly the Director, Supply Management at The City of Calgary, Sarah was the program lead and driving force behind the Benefit Driven Procurement project. 

Throughout Ontario, social procurement is contributing towards the creation of inclusive, vibrant and healthy communities.

This report recaps a five-part knowledge series that examined the Ontario social procurement ecosystem – social enterprises as suppliers, social value purchasers and the construction sector generating demand, and how community is redefining wealth and driving social value outcomes.

This series was created by Buy Social Canada in partnership with the Ontario Non-profit Network, Canadian CED Network, Ontario Trillium Foundation and AnchorTO. 

The City of Powell River, a member government with the British Columbia Social Procurement Initiative (BCSPI), has been supported by BCSPI training and resources as councillors consider changing the procurement policy to emphasize social procurement. A report has been provided to City Council, and they plan to vote on adopting a new social procurement policy this month.

Buy Social Canada is proud to be a partner organization in the project delivery team for BCSPI, and support small and midsize local governments to increase their social procurement activities as they work to create healthy, vibrant communities.

Read the full update on the City's proposed policy and the role of BCSPI.

Read the report to learn more.

Buy Social Canada applauds the Government of Canada for recognizing the power of social procurement as a tool for creating healthy, vibrant communities.

In the latest Directive on the Management of Procurement, the government has added language that will make it easier for federal organizations to move forward with social procurement, emphasizing that procurements will take social value into consideration.

As a result of this directive, it is expected that procurements will be "managed in a manner that enables operational outcomes and demonstrates sound stewardship and best value consistent with the Government of Canada’s socio-economic and environmental objectives."

Vancouver-based organization Mission Possible, which operates the Buy Social Canada Certified Social Enterprise MP Maintenance, is seeking support to continue its mission to empower people challenged by homelessness and poverty through access to training and opportunities for meaningful work.

As demand for entry into their program and for their services has increased, they've realized that they need another vehicle to help transport employees to up to 40 job sites each day. They've started a fundraiser to try to meet their financial goal, and open their program to more people.

Learn more in this CBC article profiling Mission Possible and their call for aid.