Solon – Lab Transition

Background of the organization:

Solon is a non-profit that provokes action and accompanies citizens in creating local projects that aim for more social, ecologically respectful and resilient communities.

Grant Description:

Solon’s Transition Lab in Montreal’s Rosemont-La Petite Patrie community is leading human, social, economic and ecological transition in a holistic way. Through the Transition Lab, residents can develop projects together (like collective cooking and gardening) and create collaborative businesses (like beekeeping and bike repair). Projects developed so far include:

• pairing people with space for gardening with those who want to grow food but have no outdoor space
• workshops to learn sewing, woodworking, and repair of household items.

Solon is now embarking on a full-scale neighbourhood transition that communities elsewhere can adapt and adopt. The City of Montreal aims to spread the model from Rosemont-La-Petite-Patrie to other parts of the island, especially neighbourhoods with highest financial poverty, integrating social and economic considerations with environmental goals. Transition Lab projects have the power to bring immediate and tangible benefits for local residents who lead the projects.

A grant from the Foundation supports the Transition Lab to build a sustainable financial model; to introduce community wealth sharing through a local currency; to stimulate public awareness and imagination about transition by working with local artists; and to scale the model across Montreal and elsewhere.