Join Jesse Hajer for the launch of Social Service Private Gain: The Political Economy of Social Impact Bonds (University of Toronto Press), co-written with John Loxley. The contributions of Dr. Loxley will be celebrated this evening.
The launch will be hosted by Shauna MacKinnon live in the Atrium of McNally Robinson Booksellers, Grant Park and also available as a simultaneous YouTube stream. The video will be available for viewing thereafter. Before arriving, please review details of how to attend physical events here at the store.
Community-based organizations, non-profits and charities are struggling to meet the high demands and pressing needs arising out of poverty and social disadvantage. Social Impact Bonds are claimed by proponents to permit more and better services to be offered, by leveraging private investment in social services that is only repaid when programs succeed. But at what cost? Can SIBs to constructively contribute to solving the multi-faceted social challenges emerging from a context of entrenched and growing inequality? Join us to discuss these questions and how Social Impact Bonds help provide insight on the significant social and economic gains that can be realized by investing in people, but also raise serious concerns regarding the appropriate role of the private sector and the social costs of government austerity.
Jesse Hajer (PhD) is an assistant professor in Economics and Labour studies at the University of Manitoba and a research associate with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives — Manitoba. Prior to joining the University of Manitoba as faculty in 2018, he worked as a consultant supporting government and community policy initiatives aimed at reducing poverty, helping people with barriers to employment into the labour market, and promoting access to education. He previously worked as an educational assistant in inner-city schools, as a family support worker with Winnipeg Child and Family Services, and from 2009-2016 as a policy advisor and manager with the Government of Manitoba.
John Loxley (PhD) was Professor of Economics at the University of Manitoba, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. John was a leading scholar in International Finance, Development Economics and Community Economic Development (CED), with a focus on alternatives to orthodox economic theory and policy. Also a committed activist, John initiated the Alternative Budget movement in Canada, participated in local CED initiatives, and worked for public policy change aimed at making the world a better place for systematically disadvantaged communities.
Host Shauna MacKinnon (PhD) is Associate Professor and Chair in the Department of Urban and Inner-City Studies at the University of Winnipeg, and Principal Investigator of the Manitoba Research Alliance (MRA). The MRA is a community-led research consortium first established in 2003 under the leadership of Dr. John Loxley as Principal Investigator. The MRA was awarded a 7-year Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Partnership Grant in 2020, its 4th multi-year SSHRC grant, and financially supported the publication of Social Service, Private Gain.