Who Are We?About Common Ground Co-operative
Since 2000, Common Ground Co-operative (CGC) has been creating social enterprise and skill-building opportunities for adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder, Down syndrome and other intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDDs) in Toronto. As an award winning, non-profit service organization, we work to promote the social inclusion of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities in the community.
Our Vision, Mission & Values
Our Vision: Belong, Achieve, Grow
A community where each of us has the opportunity to belong, to achieve our goals and to grow.
Our Mission: Build, Learn, Earn
Adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities build businesses together supported by Common Ground Cooperative. As partners, they have the opportunity to learn new skills and earn their fair share.
Our Values
We offer partners respect, choice and voice in setting direction.
Our Initiatives
Social Enterprises
Our Partners are supported by job coaches in social enterprises where they work, grow, and share revenue. These social enterprises are businesses operating in the hospitality and food services sectors, enabling training, skill building, experience and inclusion. Each person, no matter what their abilities, is encouraged to be independent in both decision making and work. Our social enterprise model of supported employment has been recognized as an innovative alternative to the historical sheltered workshop model of employment and uses an income sharing structure that fits within the co-operative framework.
Training Programs
Access to these social enterprises may be available to individuals who have completed our Foundations Job Skills Training Program; a pre-employment program that combines in-class learning paired with work placement in the social enterprises. Graduates receive a resume with 10 skills transferable to the customer service, hospitality, and food services sectors.
These programs are available to individuals who are 18 years of age or older and are deemed eligible by Developmental Services Ontario (DSO).
CGC also offers fee-for-service workshops for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities who are looking to build new skills and prepare for employment.
We encourage every individual that we support to seek employment in the competitive marketplace either on their own or through a referral process. The choice is theirs.
Our Story
In 1997, Cathy Lemon and her friends sold donuts and coffee at a Community Living building in Toronto. Cathy started baking cookies at home to sell alongside them. They sold out every time. That was the spark.
Cathy dreamed of a real bakery, and her parents, Jim and Carolyn, wanted to help her get there. In late 1997, their family was accepted into a new Ontario program funding individualized work support for adults with disabilities. After months of planning — and encouragement from people who refused to let them give up — the pieces came together. In May 1998, Cathy and her mother signed the papers, and Lemon & Allspice Cookery was born, using a borrowed kitchen at Community Living.
Cathy and, eventually, dozens of others weren’t just workers doing simple tasks — they were registered business partners, baking, handling cash, taking orders, and earning real paychecks with the help of job coaches.
Word spread, and in 2000 the effort grew into the Common Ground Co-operative, supporting new partnerships — Coffee Sheds at JVS, New College, and Surrey Place — each still run by its own partners.
Over the next decade, the story unfolded year by year: new partners, new locations, and growing confidence, as partners spoke at conferences and took real pride in work that belonged to them. By its fifth anniversary, the co-op had even earned praise in the Ontario Legislature as a model worth copying.
By 2009, fifty people with intellectual and developmental disabilities were running four social enterprises across Toronto — not as charity cases, but as entrepreneurs.
Job Coaches
Common Ground Co-operative (CGC) provides Job Coaches for each of our social enterprises. CGC’s Job Coaches work alongside our partners to support their individual growth, confidence and success in the workplace.
Like everyone else, people with intellectual and developmental disabilities can improve their skills and productivity when they are given the appropriate accommodations, an inclusive learning environment, and additional support when required. Job Coaches create an inclusive and non-oppressive workplace that promotes individuality, autonomy and self-confidence, supporting partners to be actively engaged in work and the community.
French Language Services – Les services en français
Common Ground Co-operative is committed to ensuring Francophone individuals and families can access services in French. As a referral partner, we connect French-speaking clients to French-language services through our Memorandum of Understanding with Surrey Place, and through this partnership we are represented in the Community Network of Specialized Care for Central Ontario, which supports the broader coordination of French language services in our region.
To receive French language support, you can contact Surrey Place at:
Main Phone: (416) 925-5141
Toll-Free: Child & Youth / Autism Services at 1-833-575-5437 (1-833-575-KIDS)
Si vous cherchez des services en français, veuillez contacter Surrey Place :
Le numéro de téléphone principal : appelez le (416) 925-5141
Services pour l’autisme : appelez le 1-833-575-5437
Contact Us
Email: info@commongroundco-op.ca
Phone: Call Andrea at (416) 421-7117 ext. 703
Address:
310 Danforth Ave
Toronto, Ontario
M4K 1N6