Social Enterprise

Winnipeg is home to many different social enterprises and the WestEnd Commons Neighbourhood Resource Centre (NRC) is excited to be one of these! What is a social enterprise?

Social Enterprises are revenue-generating businesses that operate to make a social difference. Whether operated by a non-profit organization or by a for-profit company, a social enterprise has two major goals:

(1) to achieve social, cultural, and community economic or environmental outcomes; and,

(2) to earn revenue.

Our Commitment

In order to keep the NRC operating and accessible for the neighbourhood it needs to become self-sustaining. Creating a social enterprise is seen by the St. Matthews Non Profit Housing (SMNPH) Board as the best way to balance the goal of providing well maintained rental space for the community residents and organizations while ensuring financial viability.

For the WestEnd Commons this means that the product we have to sell, or in our case rent, is the space in the NRC: the commercial kitchen, a large assembly hall, meeting rooms, and office space.  The monies generated from the rentals will be used to sustain the NRC in areas such as costs related to staffing, utilities and maintenance.

The goal of the WestEnd Commons Social Enterprise is to operate a welcoming and inclusive Neighbourhood Resource Centre (NRC) that is a well-used and provides safe and affordable programming as well as meeting and office space for neighbourhood families and organizations in West Central Winnipeg.

The 5 agencies and community groups housed in the NRC are:

St. Matthews Maryland Community Ministry

Spence Neighbourhood Association

West Central Community Program

Thelma Wynne Project

MLA Rob Altemeyer constituency office

Altogether these agencies provide a variety of programs offering:

[1] Basic necessities (a supplementary food program, emergency food, free telephone, baby layettes)

[2] Mutual support and community building (through daily drop-ins and planned activities)

[3] Capacity building (through 
volunteer experiences)

[4] After school and summer programming (for 3 neighbourhood primary schools)