Social enterprise within the Prince George Native Friendship Centre (PGNFC) refers to a model that aims to achieve social, cultural and economic goals while operating in a manner that respects and incorporates Indigenous values, practices, perspectives and people. The key characteristics of social enterprise with the PGNFC includes:

• Cultural relevance that aligns with and promotes Indigenous culture, traditions and knowledge sharing through a lens of knowledge sharing, friendship and kinship. The PGNFC does this by implementing traditional practices and knowledge sharing by Elders and other knowledge keepers.

• Community benefits: revenue generated by our social enterprises allows us to increase the sustainability of our organization in becoming more self-sufficient, improving our effectiveness and overall program quality, and reinvesting back into community or used to fund initiatives and supports that address social issues such as poverty and food security to name a few.

• Economic Empowerment: The PGNFC continues to work toward achieving self-sufficiency and sustainability as we continue to work within an ever changing funding and political landscape. This principle of self-determination through the creation of our own source revenue, along with our ability to make our own funding decisions and determine our economic future, is critical to the ongoing operation of the Centre.

• Collaboration: Our social enterprise model promotes partnerships between sister Indigenous organizations, community members and other stakeholders. 

Social enterprise within the PGNFC serves as a means for economic development that fosters organizational and community well-being and cultural preservation while addressing social needs relevant to the community of Prince George. This is critical during a time where we have escalating costs of consumables due to inflation, increasing numbers of Indigenous people who are un-housed, increasing levels of mental health and addictions, decreasing availability of safe and affordable housing, increasing incidents of violence, and decreasing food security options for those that are most in need in our community.  

At the PGNFC we have HOPE, and our evolving and ever-changing social enterprise projects allow us to support the many initiatives that we would not otherwise having the funding to support! And it is from this place of hope that we continue to be responsive to the voices of our community and to all the people that we are of service to through by extending our ‘hand of friendship.