New Micro-Loan Program sows seeds of opportunity
Structured approach builds skills, income, confidence and community
OUR LIVABLE SOLLUTIONS, a community group that works in partnership with people with lived and living experience to find community solutions to homelessness, is launching a Micro-Loans Program to help individuals seeking paths away from homelessness.
The pilot program, targeted at residents of OLS’s Community House in midtown Kingston, is designed to build life skills, financial responsibility, work experience, confidence, and compassion through small, supported entrepreneurship projects, says Chrystal Wilson, Acting Executive Director of Our Livable Solutions and a local writer on housing and homelessness.
“We’re very excited. It’s something our group has been working on since our first days at Belle Park,” she says. It began simply, with a fund-raising T-shirt. Krissy Bedard, one of Wilson’s clients in the encampment, came up with the idea of designing and selling a T-shirt in support of the group’s work. $400 was raised, and encampment residents voted to direct those funds towards launching a sleeping cabin pilot project.
For Bedard, now a Director at OLS, that modest but successful venture was life-changing, says Wilson. Today, the structured Micro-Loan Program re-imagines that approach on a broader scale.
Skills, learning and compassion
What makes the program unique is that each stage includes three parts: a business project, a learning activity (such as budgeting, customer service, or planning), and a compassion activity (helping others, volunteering, mentoring, or contributing to the community). “The goal is not just to help people earn money, but to help people build confidence, responsibility, skills, and a sense of purpose and belonging,” Wilson says.
For participants receiving Ontario Works and ODSP, the program is especially meaningful because they are able to earn extra monthly income without penalty. “It helps them safely and responsibly explore those earning opportunities while learning valuable life and work skills.”
The “test pilots” of this unique program are seven residents. “We’ll be learning and growing as the program develops,” says Wilson. It’s the most recent addition to OLS’s portfolio of practical, community-based solutions that help people move forward step by step.
Community members welcome
Kingstonians can help, too, Wilson says. “This initiative is strengthened by community support, so we invite you to take part.” OLS offers opportunities for involvement in a variety of ways:
· Mentors, people with experience and skills, from trades and small business to budgeting, crafts, or just life experience, can provide encouragement and help. V
· Volunteers can assist in a number of ways, including project evaluation, workshops, project ideas, and general support, among others.
· Donors can give to the OLS Micro Loans Revolving Fund, which provides the loans for small projects. This loan structure is unique: Because it’s a revolving fund, when loans are repaid the money is reused to help the next participant, meaning one donation can help many people over time.
If you are interested in mentoring, volunteering, donating, or simply learning more, you can contact OLS at info@ourlivable.solutions.
You can make a donation via OLS’s Canada Helps page.
You can learn more about the OLS Micro Loan Pilot Project and ask questions at the upcoming “Ask OLS Anything” event:
Wednesday April 1st, 2026
7:00 p.m. (ET)
Online via Zoom
Please RSVP to receive the link