nicole [at] sustainabilitysolutions [dot] ca

Nicole is the BC/Yukon Coordinator for Canadian Community Economic Development Network and Program Director for Simon Fraser University Certificate Program for Community Economic Development (CED) Professionals. Nicole also teaches CED Approaches to Affordable Housing for this certificate program. She is a co-op activist and educator who worked in the Philippines learning co-operative development and community building from her peers in the social economy in the Philippines. Upon returning to Canada, she continued to work in the co-operative sector as a researcher at the BC Institute for Co-operative Studies. She is a founding member of Roofs and Roots Housing Co-op which converts private rental buildings to co-operative ownership and green buildings over time. For the last five years Nicole has worked with the Canadian Community Economic Development Network (CCEDNet), initially as the research coordinator who coordinated the first national survey of CED organisations across Canada. She regularly gives workshops on a wide range of CED and housing related topics, and also taught a CED course in Brazil in 2002. Nicole coauthored CED in Canada: Review of Definitions and Profile of Practice in Community Economic Development: Building for Social Change. She has a deep commitment to supporting solutions that come from communities themselves.