Funding Opportunity: Inclusive Local Economies Opportunity Fund
Posted: July 27, 2012
Categories: Food in the News / Funding Opportunities / GoodFoodBites / News from Sustain Ontario
We are currently accepting letters of interest to the Metcalf Foundation’s Inclusive Local Economies Opportunities Fund, an open call for original ideas and compelling approaches that lead to meaningful economic inclusion for low-income people and communities in Toronto. The deadline is Monday, September 17th, 2012.
Applicants to the fund can be engaged in a wide range of activities. They might be building problem-solving networks for local micro-entrepreneurs, advancing policies and practices that support people to improve their economic standing, engaging employers to strengthen on-the-job training practices, nurturing the organizing capacity of low-wage workers, or figuring out new ways to “plug the leaks” so local money circulates in a local community more effectively.We are particularly interested in efforts that aim to work across sectors and disciplines to advance economic opportunities and wealth generation for people and communities with low-incomes. We will consider fully-developed projects ready for implementation or a promising idea that needs strategic consulting to be fleshed out. For a full description of the program, including the process for making an application, please view the program guidelines here.
The Inclusive Local Economies Program is a new initiative of the Metcalf Foundation. We made our first Opportunities Fund grants in 2012. These grants included: examining how to effectively support small-scale entrepreneurs launch and grow their businesses; creating a recognizable labeling system for private sector companies, and public and non-profit organizations’ goods and services that will help consumers to distinguish among the wage practices of different organizations; to strengthening live-in caregivers’ rights and security in the workplace.