New premises and many projects for the VHSL social economy cluster

For the past few months, the City of Vaudreuil-Dorion has been home to the head office of the Pôle d'économie sociale de la Vallée-du-Haut-Saint-Laurent. The organization has set up shop at 168 avenue Saint-Charles, occupying part of the 2nd floor, which houses a small conference and workshop room, as well as the offices of all team members. 

The organization now employs two full-time and as many part-time staff. “Officially, since its founding in 2015, the Pôle d'économie sociale Vallée-du-Haut-Saint-Laurent had no offices, due to its status as a small organization with only one employee until March 2019. We had previously used the address of the now-defunct Surbois inc, which graciously offered us its address as a post office box. They were located in Salaberry-de-Valleyfield. The pandemic years forced us to postpone our move to new offices,” summarizes General Manager Olivier Doyle. 

Despite the “move” of the head office to Vaudreuil-Dorion, Mr. Doyle and his team continue to pursue the Pôle's mission of supporting the social economy and its vitality throughout the territory of the 5 MRCs of western Montérégie, including those of Vaudreuil-Soulanges and Beauharnois-Salaberry. 

Why was Vaudreuil-Dorion chosen as the location for the Pôle's new premises? “We chose this location because it meets our need for a meeting and work base for the whole team, and to enable us to meet our customers. What's more, we have been recognized by the City of Vaudreuil-Dorion as an official partner organization for several months now, and we are collaborating with them on a number of citizen projects, with the aim of generating new solutions in the social economy mode”, he adds. 

Sales of $9 billion in Montérégie 

In Montérégie-Ouest, the social economy represents close to 300 organizations and businesses in all sectors of economic activity, including food, agriculture, housing, tourism, culture, human services, sports associations, second-hand retailing and more.

According to official data from the Institut de la statistique du Québec, for the Montérégie region as a whole, there are 1,370 social economy enterprises, with combined sales of $9 billion and more than 20,000 jobs.

The Pôle d'économie sociale Vallée-du-Haut-Saint-Laurent, like its counterparts across the province, is currently negotiating with the Quebec government to renew the government's social economy action plan, which expires on March 31, 2025.

Some of the organization's major ongoing projects include the following: 

- The Montérégie-Ouest social economy and community action training coalition, which offers 26 training courses to entrepreneurs in the region; 

- courses offered by ÉLABOR to support promoters of social economy projects and personalized coaching for local businesses; 

In addition, the team is currently rolling out a number of projects, including :

- A new broadcast project developed in collaboration with TVSO, featuring 12 social economy enterprises from the territory;

- Support for the used textile ecosystem via a dozen companies throughout the Montérégie-Ouest region;

- Support for projects aimed at countering food insecurity, representing 5 local businesses;

- Development of a mutualization strategy and support for inter-company resource sharing

- Support for an industrial eco-design project with Dév and Comité 21 Québec

- The development of a new marketing support program for social economy enterprises, for which a regional event will be announced shortly. 

To find out more about the VHSL Social Economy Cluster, visit its website.