Labour & skills

The story of the Rate Drop Rebate pilot, including key milestones, successes, dilemmas, insights and lessons learned. The Rate Drop Rebate was a unique partnership that brought SCP together with financial institutions, publicly funded employment service providers and the Government to reduce unfair barriers to employment and help grow the province’s small and mid-sized businesses.

Ontario is launching an innovative partnership with financial institutions to help businesses in London grow and increase employment opportunities for people with disabilities and facing other barriers. Through the new Rate Drop Rebate program, small- and medium-sized businesses that hire eligible people can receive discounted rates on financial products, such as loans. The rebate is made possible through funding from Ontario's two-year, $4-million Community Loans Fund.

Rate Drop Rebate™ pilot is expected to significantly impact those facing barriers to employment include students with limited work experience, long-term unemployed, older unemployed, people with disabilities, newcomers to Canada and unemployed Indigenous persons. The program aims to generate up to 1,100 new employment opportunities.

Ontario is partnering with leading financial institutions to build on Social Capital Partners existing loan program and create a fund aimed at increasing employment opportunities for people facing employment barriers.

The Partnership Council champions the hiring of people with disabilities and provides strategic advice to the Ontario Minister of Economic Development, Employment and Infrastructure to enhance employment opportunities for Ontarians with disabilities.

Social Capital Partners announces innovative collaboration with the Government of Ontario designed to explore a novel social finance approach that provides employment opportunities for people with disabilities and other vulnerable populations.

Social Capital Partners collaborates with Ontario government’s Office of Social Enterprise to explore a pay-for-performance model that will increase access to employment opportunities for persons with disabilities, new Canadians and other traditionally disadvantaged groups.

What are boards, investors and management teams to do when there is tension between the financial and social bottom lines of social enterprises? Social Capital Partners shares learnings gleaned from seven years of investing in employment-based social enterprises. We identify the five most important factors that determine whether a social enterprise will be profitable or require some form of subsidy.

Canada’s approach to training and development needs reform. Billions of dollars are spent annually on job training and skills development, with limited evidence of lasting benefits. Most problematic, employers’ talent needs (i.e., actual skills demand) are not formally embedded in the process of determining how or where money is spent, leaving a fundamental disconnect between demand for skills and the investments being made by governments.

What are reasonable profitability targets for a social enterprise start-up with a mission to create employment for disadvantaged populations? How does external financing play a role in the execution of the social mission and how does a social mission as a key part of the business model impact the ability to reach profitability targets? SCP showcases one of our early investments and highlights key learnings about the inherent mission tensions in these business models.