here - Tamarack CCI

Businesses can also assist in identifying the qualifications required for people to be job ready.
They may be able to assist in training or provide work experience opportunities. Some
businesses have voluntarily implemented living wage policies to ensure that none of their
employees are living in poverty.
Purchasing – The social enterprise movement is growing. Many community based organizations
have started social enterprises to provide employment to community members. Businesses
purchase a lot of goods and services. In some cases they may be prepared to purchase services
such as a cleaning service directly from a social enterprise. T D Bank in Toronto often purchases
print services from Eva’s Phoenix Print Shop.
Businesses can also adjust their purchasing practices to include more environmentally friendly
supplies.
Market or product development – Low-income individuals and communities are often poorly
served by the mainstream marketplace. Businesses may be in a position to respond to that.
Low-income people, for example, disproportionately use fringe financial services such as payday
loans, cheque cashing, rent to own, and pawn shops. These are extremely high cost, often
exploitative services. A financial institution might be able to develop a product or service that
fulfills low-income people’s need for more appropriate financial services.
The large retail chains have tended to move away from low-income communities to more
affluent suburban areas. This often forces low-income people who have limited access to
transportation to shop at local establishments that provide lower assortment and higher prices.
Reversing this trend by successfully encouraging a business such as a grocery store to locate in or
near a low-income community can provide an important benefit to that community.
Businesses can choose to retail products that have been sourced through fair trade channels.
A ffordable housing is a major challenge for many low-income people. With appropriate supports
and inducements, private landlords may be prepared to build or modify properties to make them
suitable and affordable for particular groups of tenants. The members of the Greater Toronto
Apartment Association were prepared to accept lower rents in exchange for improving their vacancy
rates.
One significant advantage of having the private sector satisfy community or individual needs
through market or product development is the potential to provide a solution that is sustainable
over a long period of time without needing to constantly secure additional grant funding to
support it.
Collaborating with Business for Social Transformation
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