Holistic Approach to Economic Capacity Building ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Holistic Approach to Economic Capacity Building Wholistic or holistic-the struggle! We are often asked what the development approach to our inclusion and engagement network we embraced. Often, we used the words wholistic and holistic interchangeably! But we were wrong! The correct term to describe our approach to economic capacity building is in fact “holistic”. When did the preverbal light go off? Like many of you I suspect, when challenged to use a word in its proper context, go to the dictionary! The word holistic is connected to holism, which focuses on the total entity and the interdependence of the diverse parts of this totality. Such is the case when we speak about the economy. Its interdependence of the diverse sum of all its parts! This is truer in an Indigenous community than any other I have seen. The economic platform must start with jobs, job creation and the impact sustainable employment has on a family and community. Income is, as we have stated many times, in our opinion is the single most important social determinant of health. Healthy families create healthy communities. So, there are some facts worthy of repeating: Indigenous youth is the fastest growing demographic in Canada. In fact, a recent study shows that by 2027 we will have close to 1 million indigenous youth! This is an incredible opportunity! Here’s another interesting fact. In Ontario alone there is a labor shortage of 250,000 people! So, here’s the deal- ITFC has made it possible for companies, especially construction companies, associations, the resource industry or anyone else for that matter to post a job and we will push it out to communities and become your HR specialist! Beyond your membership fee, we wont charge you a dime! Job opportunities do not have to be “on reserve” believe it or not we have heard that from companies before! Procurement- so very important and on so many levels! There are companies that are very familiar with Indigenous procurement practices and they don’t want to tell anyone! Seriously there are those who have benefited from restrictive policies and practices that have been forced upon Indigenous communities for decades! Things like – rapid response time on funding envelopes that force communities to get the “three mandatory” quotes in order to proceed with a project within a specific time frame. Policies whereby an independent “authority” gets to decide whether or not a community has the capacity to fulfill the scope of work expected on a procurement opportunity within their community or traditional territory! The ITFC economic inclusion network recognizes all types of Indigenous procurement and connects buyers and sellers in a hassle-free environment. If the federal government lies up to their commitment to ensure that 5% of government spending includes Indigenous communities, their people and businesses, procurement platforms like ITFC will be a critical part of the strategic economic growth plan of all Canadian companies. These are two critically important features of the ITFC inclusion network, to learn more book a spot here and select your topic of interest and discover the real holistic capacity building efforts of the ITFC economic inclusion network.
