Doris from SOLEfood

Sitting on the street, sipping my iced americano at Columbia and Pender, I saw a beautiful sight.  Gorgeous Dalias being delivered by bicycle!  Doris from our local urban farm called SOLEfood, is taking flowers to Olla Urban Flower Project by my favorite sustainable mode of transportation.

SOLEfood Urban Farm is located at Hawks and Hastings in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.  They produce local food and employ local residents, bringing fresh food to a colorful neighborhood.  You can buy their produce at the Main Street Station Farmers Market on Wednesdays at 3-7pm.

Olla Urban Flower Project is a socially responsible business selling beautiful flowers in Gastown at 235 Cambie Street.  She sources all her flowers locally,  intends to hire residents from the neighborhood and is working towards zero waste.  Megan Branson, who started the business, is graduate from the Embers Build a Business Program.

Dalias enroute to Olla

That’s right, the much anticipated W2 Media Cafe is open for business! They’re serving yummy Saltspring coffee and a variety of other delicious offerings. Come for the food & drink, stay for the community, politics, media and art!

The media cafe is collectively run social enterprise with a mandate to provide accessible technology for media and communications to all those to all those who need it. And that need is a pressing one: according to W2′s statistics, at least 6,000 DTES residents are without telephone, internet, or computer access. We see this in BOB’s Supported Employment Program, where many of our clients describe having no phone or computer at home, and get only limited access to communications technology through inner-city community resources that are often very busy and only open during standard business hours; many see this lack of access to technology as an obstacle to achieving their goals in life and on the job. It can also make it hard to find a job, secure permanent housing, and assert one’s voice to advocate for political change.

Fojan, an acting student, is making delicious coffee and helping with W2 programming

In terms of community, W2 hired all local DTES and East Van residents to staff the cafe. BOB’s BusinessLinks program assisted the W2 team with with hiring outreach and candidate selection, and sponsored barista training for 12 folks to get FoodSafe certification, customer service training, a programming overview of the media cafe, and more. Cafe staff are getting great opportunities to build skills and pursue activities beyond the cafe counter; several of our BusinessLinks graduates enthusiastically report getting involved with event coordination and program development for projects like the W2 Letterpress Studio and kids & youth media camp.

Debbie is a mother of 3 made temporarily homeless by unwanted apartment renovations in East Vancouver. She plays goalie for the DTES Women’s Street Soccer team and is going to Paris to play in the 2011 Homeless World Cup. She and her family are now well housed. She cites her employment at the cafe, as well as the community she connected with there, as a key part of her return to housing stability. Congratulations Debbie!

Tech geeks, artists, and anyone interested in DIY electronics will appreciate the interactive light display largely DIY’d by W2′s Tech Director WillStacey. You control the interface from within the cafe. Adjust the display pattern and the RGB scale, and look up to see the results! More exciting interactive art and technology installations to come through their Media Artist in Residence Program. Sensitive to the needs of the neighborhood, the cafe also provides free community meeting space, publicly accessible washrooms and lounge, a community media lab, and much more.

BOB is pleased to be part of supporting the start-up of W2 Media Cafe through our Loans Program. We congratulate all the founders and staff on the cafe opening, and look forward to seeing more great things come out of this ambitious project founded on grassroots principles of social inclusion. Well done!

Pathways was full of enthusiastic jobseekers

Congrats to Pathways for putting together another excellent Job Fair and Expo! This year’s expo did a great job showcasing socially responsible employers, promoting local hiring, and providing job opportunities for inner-city residents.

The theme of this year’s expo was the 100 Hired Challenge, where a number of local agencies partnered to challenge employers to put forward job opportunities with the goal of hiring 100 inner city residents.

Louise from Recycling Alternative

A variety of employers large and small took the challenge and presented job opportunities at the Expo:

• Spirit Builders
• Scent of a Sandwich
• Fortis BC
• TD Canada Trust
• EMBERS Staffing Solutions
• Recycling Alternative
• STEP BC

Debbie in her mobile salon

BOB’s Job Developer Andrew Bryson was at the Expo and reported that there was a great turn out, with most people bringing targeted resumes for the employers that were in attendance.

Thank you to Working Gear, who were open special hours during the expo to outfit people with interview clothes. Thanks also to Debbie from Colourbox, who donated her time and expertise to give professional haircuts to interview candidates. Thanks their help, jobseekers were able to look and feel their best for the interview!

Thomas from Scent of a Sandwich

The initial feedback from employers and jobseekers is very positive. It sounds like several people were invited to attend second interviews back at company offices, and some jobseekers were hired on the spot and start trial shifts in the near future. BOB is pleased to report that clients of ours were hired at Recycling Alternative, Scent of a Sandwich, and Impark!

TD Bank and Fortis BC

The Expo was also a great opportunity to bring attention to the idea of local hiring. We hope that the positive outcomes from this event will encourage all employers to look to the vibrant community of skilled, dedicated, and enthusiastic workers that we have here in the inner-city the next time they need to hire.

Thanks to all the organizers, volunteers, agencies, employers, and job seekers who made this event a community effort and a great success!

All photos courtesy of Carol Madsen at Pathways.

Welcome to Pathways! Photo courtesy Pathways Information Centre

Looking for work? Interested in local hiring? The Pathways Expo and Job Fair is coming up this Thursday June 16th!

Pathways is partnering with a number of local agencies to present the theme of this years’ expo: the 100 Hired Challenge. Partners include ACCESS, YouthSpot, NewStart, BOB, and BladeRunners. Together we are challenging employers to put forward job opportunities and hire 100 inner city residents.

Are you a job seeker? Bring your resume and meet with employers interested in hiring local people. This is a great networking opportunity, and you may be asked to return for an interview in the afternoon!

Are you an employer? Contact Ray or Chelsea at Pathways to sign up your business and offer employment opportunities (604-682-7353). You are also welcome to attend as a visitor to network with other businesses and find out more about how to support your community by hiring locally.

Thank you to the following businesses and social enterprises who are taking the challenge and are offering employment opportunities to inner city residents at the Job Fair:

• Impark
• EMBERS Staffing Solutions
• Spirit Builders
• FORTIS BC
• Scent of a Sandwich
• Recycling Alternative

Event Details:

Thursday June 16th, 2011

10am-12pm: meet with employers hiring local people

1pm-3pm: Your chance to return for onsite interviews with employers

Pathways Information Centre

390 Main St (at Hastings St.)

Pathways

Jobseekers: bring your resume, dress to impress, and be ready for a potential interview onsite!

It’s no secret, there’s some big changes taking place here at BOB! Our Board of Directors has kindly put together a detailed statement about BOB’s new directions to keep our community informed.

Highlights include:

• Office relocation of the Supported Employment Program to the same location as Tradeworks: 87 East Pender Street (effective May 2nd, 2011)
• Inner-city business development services being provided in a more flexible CED model now called the Kiosk
• Urban Farm Network is in the process of becoming an independent society; stay tuned for future UFN updates
• Fond farewell to Shirley Chan, Maureen Collier, Fred Leonard, and Linda Coady
• Welcoming Heather Tremain and Chris Gora as new Co-Chairs of the BOB Board of Directors

Read on for more details:

BOB Board Announces New Directions

The Board of the non-profit organization Building Opportunities with Business in the Inner City (BOB) announces that it is pursuing new directions for its business development services and supported employment program.

Effective May 1/11, the BOB office at 163 East Pender will relocate to 87 East Pender Street, where BOB’s successful Supportive Employment Program (SEP) will share space with Tradeworks Training Society. This will strengthen an already solid working relationship enjoyed by the two community agencies as well as provide an opportunity for future collaborations on delivery of employment services to inner city residents.

In addition to operating an employment program, since 2005 BOB has been supporting business development that is inclusive of inner city residents and businesses. Due to funding constraints BOB is re-envisioning its business development program with a view to developing a new and more flexible model for delivery of Community Economic Development (CED) services in the Downtown Eastside (DTES) and inner city. The BOB Board has been consulting with community and business partners on this restructuring for the past couple of months and will continue to do so throughout the summer to ensure community engagement in the reformulation of the organization’s business development services. The working title for the new model is “The Kiosk”. With lower overhead and operating costs, the Kiosk is looking to evolve into a sustainable, self-financing organization for CED in the DTES and inner city that will help build the capacity of local businesses and residents.

As part of this transition, Shirley Chan is stepping down as BOB’s CEO, Maureen Collier is stepping down as BOB’s Finance Manager and Linda Coady is stepping down as Chair of the BOB Board. Chris Gora and Heather Tremain are the new BOB Co-Chairs who will lead the organization with the support of new and continuing Board members Hendrik Hoekema, Carol Madsen, Heather O’Hara, Mark Shieh and Steve Williams. Liz Charyna, Manager of Partnerships and the Supportive Employment Program will assume responsibility as Managing Director of BOB.

BOB reassures all partners that outstanding contracts will be performed to the satisfaction of all parties. This includes BOB’s work on the City’s Façade Grant Program, which will be completed through the summer of 2011 as formerly vacant storefronts in Chinatown are upgraded. As well, the Urban Farm Network will become an independent society that supports local food initiatives.
Since its establishment in 2005 by the Vancouver Agreement Partnership, BOB has helped more than 450 residents and nearly 250 small and medium sized businesses in its role as a community economic development agency working for inclusive revitalization in Vancouver’s inner-city. As a connector, facilitator and resource, BOB has:

• delivered 12 programs and supported numerous projects that have created jobs and training opportunities for residents;
• generated $50 million in procurement from inner-city suppliers; helped business to help themselves through 5 industry clusters and consulting grants;
• leveraged $1.3 million from private sources through the Western Economic Diversification (WD) loans programs; and
• connected innovative ideas to the right supports to help launch new social enterprises such as EMBERS Staffing Solutions and Weatherization Project, SOLEfood Urban Farm and the new Hastings Crossing Business Improvement Association.

Incoming Co-Chairs Heather Tremain and Chris Gora thank Shirley, Maureen and departing Board members for their leadership during the formative years and for the stellar results of the past 3 years – earning BOB the respect of community, governments and business partners. “You have positioned BOB for its evolution into a low overhead, high impact organization that will continue to help transform this community through inclusive community economic development,” they said.

For more information contact:
Liz Charyna, Managing Director , 778 328-7669 Liz.charyna@bobics.org
Chris Gora, Co-Chair, 604 684-9151 cgora@farris.com
Heather Tremain, Co-Chair, (604) 551-9755 heather@urbanfabric.ca

And be sure to come say your farewells and celebrate our organizational transition at the New Directions party! Tickets are $20 and include one drink and an appetizer. May 5th, 5-7pm at the W2 Media Cafe (#205-111 West Hastings). Reserve your tickets now by emailing emily.smith@bobics.org, or come pick them up in person at the BOB office (163 East Pender, upstairs, until April 29th).