After another year of engaging and inspiring projects in 2025, Urban Matters has contributed $150,000 back into the community with a select few organizations.

Urban Matters’ work is based on co-creating communities to make them more inclusive, sustainable, and in a position to thrive over many years. However, we do not stop there. Past our consulting work with municipalities and organizations, we use our dollars to help fund a select few community groups each year to develop and implement solutions that align with our values and outlook.

This year’s contributions came from our parent company, Urban Systems Ltd., and were focused on continuing Urban Matters’ existing partnerships with organizations we’ve supported in the past, enabling us to lean into collaborative relationships to strengthen long-term sustainable impacts.

This year’s community partners are:

• New Power Labs
• Employ to Empower
• AKSIS

New Power Labs

$50,000

New Power Labs (NPL) is a national social finance organization based in Toronto with a mission to redirect capital to underfunded and overlooked communities. Over the past year, we have been working with the NPL team to design a fund and finance model, update funding approaches, assess legal structure options, recruit fund management team members, and update their publicly accessible list of Canadian funds and programs that support women entrepreneurs.

Moving forward, the NPL team will utilize the renewed contribution to operationalize and launch the Mothers with Lived Experience Fund, including key activities such as securing funding for a fund management team, field testing product offerings, development of financial products, and securing strategic partnerships.

Employ to Empower

$50,000

Employ to Empower is a non-profit organization that operates in the Downtown Eastside to help individuals who face employment and social barriers to cultivate community connections through entrepreneurship and self-advocacy opportunities. 

With our renewed contribution, ETE will support 15 entrepreneurs facing systemic barriers through one 8-week business skills cohort, 6–9 months of mentorship, 6–12 workshops, and 25–30 community activities.ㅤ

AKSIS

$50,000

AKSIS, Edmonton’s Indigenous Business & Professional Association, is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to supporting Indigenous businesses and professionals for the benefit of all Indigenous peoples. Its overarching purpose is to enhance the socio-economic standing of Indigenous communities in the greater Edmonton region, with a vision of establishing Edmonton as the Indigenous Business Capital of Canada.

Through our contributions, AKSIS intends to assist and mentor emerging Indigenous leaders, provide entrepreneurs and professionals with business development resources, and integrate traditional ecological knowledge into modern business practices. By doing so, the initiative will amplify Indigenous voices in governance, expand economic independence through entrepreneurship, and embed environmental stewardship as a cornerstone of Indigenous business growth.

We’re inspired every day by our community partners and their dedication to the work they do. Our commitment to being a fully collaborative and dedicated partner remains strong as we move forward.

To learn more about our approach to selecting community partners and our history of partnerships, visit: www.urbanmatters.ca/ourimpact