Work at CSI for the day with our new Lounge Pass!

CSI Supports: How CSI is helping you build your skills from home

We hope you are able to stay put during this quarantine, but we still want to help you put people and planet first. So we are offering advisory hours, an educational webinar and online morning chat to help you make that happen.

Virtual Advisor Office Hours at CSI’s Climate Ventures — March 20
Are you a Climate Entrepreneur looking to accelerate your impact? Jonathan Carley and Bryan Duarte are experts in business development as well as also business modelling and validation. On March 20 from 3-5pm, they are offering virtual advisor office hours. Please note that this is reserved for CSI member working on climate or environmental issues. Register for a slot here.

Tax Season for SelfEmployed Entrepreneurs — March 24
Are you an entrepreneur looking to demystify the tax preparation process? CSI is hosting an upcoming event to help you out! This workshop will review:

  • Tax basics: what you’re obligated to, including when and why you need to file your taxes.
  • DIY (or not!): How to decide whether you can prepare your tax return yourself, or if it makes sense to hire a professional.
  • Tax brackets: What are they and what do they mean for your business?
  • Business expenses: What can be deducted from your taxable income, and what tax benefits you may be eligible for.
  • Expenses: How to track them, and what online programs and tools can help.

Climate Ventures (Virtual) Mornings: A Conversation with Nick Parker — April 2
We’re sitting down (virtually, of course!) with Nicholas Parker, a cleantech pioneer. Join us for a conversation on cleantech with the person who coined the term “cleantech”! We’ll discuss its history, current trends, and investment landscape.Please note that we’ll use Zoom to connect. Details will be sent to confirmed registrants the week before the event.


To learn how CSI is showing leadership during COVID-19, please read these words from our CEO Tonya Surman.

 

 

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CSI Spadina in the ground floor kitchen, looking out towards the lounge and meeting rooms. In the foreground is a kitchen counter, with waffles, toppings, and glasses of coffees and teas. In the background, CSI CEO Tonya Surman is speaking into a microphone on the left. In the middle and on the right, a variety of people stand and sit, listening to her speak.
One of the keys to CSI's magic is our Community Animator Program (CAP) and, specifically, the Community Animators themselves! Through this program, we've worked with more than 1,000 exceptional individuals who have each brought a little something different, and a little sparkle, to our spaces. And we're so glad to have had them in our community, because we've learned that each and every one of them has some exceptional talents, skills, and experiences to offer the world!  
Third floor lounge of CSI Spadina. In the foreground is a light blue loveseat sofa. In the background, we see two people working separately at coworking desks and tables. On the ceiling is a chandelier; to the right, a progress Pride flag.
The CSI staff team includes Pride veterans, newcomers, and everywhere in between! This year, as we celebrated Pride in our spaces and with our member community, we turned to our staff team to learn what Pride means to them. Some experienced it for the first time this year and were awash in the joy; others delighted in the fact that Pride remains such a fun celebration decades later. Others noted the increasing corporatization, which draws our attention away from the central premise of Pride - a protest.
whai header
CSI is many things - a coworking space, a non-profit organization, and a launchpad - but, first and foremost, we are a community. A community of innovators, of changemakers, of neighbours, of people putting people and planet first. And the awesome work that our members do, each and every day, never ceases to amaze us! So of course, we do our best to highlight our members whenever possible. Recently, we had the pleasure of sitting down with Molly Bannerman, Director of Women HIV/Aids Initiative (WHAI), a community-based response to HIV and AIDS among cis and trans women in Ontario. Below is an edited summary of our chat, where we discussed the work of WHAI and their latest Collective Action Community Change report.
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