Sarah Croft

When our team stepped inside the dome greenhouse at Western Environment Centre (WEC) in mid-September, it was immediately clear that something special was taking root.

Nestled in Downtown Corner Brook, the year-round geodesic greenhouse is much more than a growing space. It is becoming a hub for community engagement, environmental education, local food production, and social innovation. Most recently, it is also helping WEC explore a new social enterprise opportunity that will strengthen the organization's long-term sustainability while continuing to serve the community.

The thriving greenhouse represents the continuation of a meaningful partnership between WEC and CSE, spanning several years and demonstrates how Memorial student talent can help turn ideas into reality.

From Concept to Community Asset

For over 20 years WEC has worked to promote environmental sustainability and community well-being in Western Newfoundland. Through environmental education, community gardening initiatives, workshops, advocacy, and hands-on programs, the organization helps people build stronger connections to local food systems, sustainable living practices and the natural environment.

The dome greenhouse is a natural extension of that mission.

In Winter 2023, WEC welcomed WESE student Natasha Pennell (Ph.D. in Transdisciplinary Sustainability) as a Community Greenhouse Planning Intern. At the time, the organization had recently secured funding to build the greenhouse and was in the early stages of planning how it could best serve the community.

Natasha supported several key planning activities, including community consultation, communications, educational resource development, project planning, and project management. Her work helped lay important groundwork as WEC moved from vision to implementation.

“As a small organization, we found it immensely helpful to have the support provided by the Centre for Social Enterprise’s WESE program, especially as we were just beginning to envision our new community space” says Katie Temple, WEC Executive Director. “Together we connected with community partners, did important research, and created a beautiful vision for our brand-new growing dome.”

Since then, the project has grown into a community resource that supports food production, learning, and engagement, connecting with hundreds of community members through dozens of workshops, tours and other events over the past three years.

Exploring a New Social Enterprise Opportunity

As the greenhouse became operational, WEC began looking at how the space could generate revenue to support its broader environmental and community programming.

This summer, the organization partnered with the WESE program once again, welcoming student Mya Snarr (M.A in Environmental Policy) as a Community Agriculture & Greenhouse Engagement Coordinator. Building on the foundation established during the planning phase, Mya's role focused on helping WEC explore the greenhouse's potential as a social enterprise.

Working directly in the dome, Mya supported crop production and greenhouse operations while contributing to a social enterprise plan centered around growing and selling produce. Her work included helping develop marketing strategies, supporting buyer and community partner outreach, evaluating potential sales opportunities, and creating tools to measure the initiative's social and economic impact.

Today, many of those ideas are beginning to take shape. Fresh produce grown inside the dome is helping WEC test new approaches to community-focused food sales while exploring ways to create a more financially sustainable future for the organization.

Student Talent Driving Community Innovation

The greenhouse story highlights one of the core goals of the WESE program: helping social purpose organizations access the talent, skills, and fresh perspectives of post-secondary students while providing meaningful, hands-on student learning through paid employment.

Through two separate student placements over the course of three years, WESE support helped WEC advance a project from early-stage planning to the development of a functioning social enterprise model.

This progression shows how student employment and experiential learning can support not only day-to-day operations, but also longer-term organizational growth and development.

“Being supported by multiple placements has been hugely beneficial to us, as it’s increased our capacity at just the right moments in the life of this project, which is the biggest one that we’ve undertaken so far”, continues Katie.

Looking Ahead

As WEC continues to expand its work through the dome greenhouse, the organization is also exploring how environmental sustainability and social enterprise can support one another.

For the WESE program, it is a strong example of the impact that can result when students and community organizations work together.

From helping plan the greenhouse in 2023 to supporting its emerging social enterprise initiative in 2026, students have played an important role in the project's development. As the greenhouse continues to evolve, that partnership will remain an important part of its success.

 

Interested in learning more about WEC and/or the dome? Please visit wecnl.ca or email info@wecnl.ca