BOB Business and Social Enterprise Developer, Brian Smith,  has been asked to participate in the City of Vancouver’s Greenest City Working Group on the Green Economy.   The Group is being convened by the Vancouver Economic Development Commission (VEDC).

At the first meeting of the group, there were six identified priority areas for which the group agreed to establish sub-committees.  Each sub-committee’s first objective was to prepare a short document on the priority area for the next meeting on July 14th. This draft document is to outline the main opportunity in the specific area, along with 3-5 actions that could lead to green job growth. The Working Group will then research these recommendations and incorporate them into a draft implementation plan for the Greenest City initiative, which will be open for further comment by the entire External Advisory Committee.

The sub-committee that Brian has proposed and is interested in helping to steer concerns Community Economic Development.  This applies directly to the inner-city and people who have barriers to employment, but has positive implications in other neighbourhoods too.

In Brian’s words:

…CED is applicable across the City and, in turn, could benefit a variety of neighbourhoods, small businesses, social enterprises, co-ops and people. Given the City’s apparent commitment to the Greenest City initiative, I feel there is a good opportunity to advance some CED in Vancouver.  BUT, I need your help! So, please reply to BOB with your respective interest and time availability in helping to shape a CED strategy that can be included in the Greenest City Implementation Plan.

Cheers,

Brian

Please read Brian’s overview of the CED Sub-committee below:

Community Economic Development (CED) for the Greenest City

CED is a holistic approach to economic development involving the mobilization of resources from various economic and non-economic sectors in the community with the intention of building local capacity and local solutions.  It is particularly relevant to the world’s greenest city as it uses local resources, which generally are lower in carbon intensity, to find local and more sustainable solutions to local problems.  Integrating CED into the green economy strategies for Vancouver’s Greenest City ambitions compliments the more traditional macro-economic development strategies by integrating localized approaches with broader global outreach strategies. The benefits of a CED approach include:  local employment, local investment, increased local capacity and commitment, local spending in the local economy, and appropriate sustainable solutions to local challenges.

Goal: Foster green business development and associated job creation for Vancouver’s marginalized inner-city residents

Action 1: Apply a CED Lens to all programs and policies of the City, where each department, program, grant, expenditure from parks and social development to legal services and planning would eventually be able to articulate the social, economic and environmental impact of their work/business/purchasing.

Action 1a: Establish a City of Vancouver funded Community Economic Development Commission that would:

• work internally applying the CED Lens and externally facilitating CED on the ground;
• develop and implement procurement policy that directly benefits co-operatives, social enterprises and small businesses that are committed to hiring people with barriers to employment; and,
• educate community (NGOs, workers, and businesses) about realistic opportunities for green job and green business development

Action 1b: Institutionalize – as part of any development permit process, require  a Community Benefits Agreements (CBAs) as a necessary component of all new developments (for local jobs, procurement, and/or training).

Action 2: Establish a green zone (may need an incentive attached) in the DTES for piloting green enterprise development projects.

Action 2a: Develop employment agreements with incentives for medium to large size green businesses to hire people with barriers to employment.

Action 2b: Establish and administer a green CED fund to facilitate green employment or business development projects in the inner-city;

Action 2c: By way of an immediate pilot project, establish, through the allocation of City-owned land, an Urban Farm Network that trains and hires people with barriers to employment

Action 3: Develop and direct education and training in green collar vocations to people with barriers to employment.

Please comment below or contact Brian directly at brian.smith@bobics.org to share your thoughts and ideas.

Early last month BOB released a request for letters of interest for companies, social enterprises or other groups who were in need of consulting. In order to qualify the proposals were required to have a social benefit to residents or businesses in the inner-city, with particular emphasis on proposals that were green. After a few weeks of collecting these letters of interest BOB’s Consulting Program Committee chose several recipients who will receive a portion of the $36,000 allocated to this program. According to Brian Smith, Business and Social Enterprise Developer at BOB, the committee thought all submissions were very good in principle, with some fantastic ideas being presented, but in the end the ones that were chosen were at a stage where returns or benefits would be most immediate. They are as follows:

Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden $5000

Concept: Green Audit for traditional Chinese garden including office, visitors service area giftshop and business operations. Improving sustainability best practices.

EMBERS Staffing Solutions $5000

Concept: A business plan to analyze the viability and employment potential of of starting and operating a weatherization business focused in the Greater Vancouver Area. Full service green retrofits, air sealing and blower door testing, insulation, water conservation etc.

Saul Good Gift Co.$7500

Concept: Brand development (including brand discovery workshop, development of brand pyramid and 3 COR brand drivers) website development, redesign of logo and packaging and marketing collateral, to aid in the growth of company and increased procurement from inner-city suppliers and social enterprises (such as Tradeworks Training Society)

Recycling Alternative. $4200

Concept: Assess the success to date with the organics waste pickup service; evaluate the opportunity to target and partner with local community organizations providing food services in the DTES; Develop an initial business plan for pursuing these target clients.

Strathcona Business Improvement Association. $5,500

Concept: Materials exchange network, development of online infrastructure to run the exchange via a web platform.

Potluck Cafe and Catering. $8000

Concept: Creation of a business plan for reusable dishware/container service social enterprise in the DTES, reducing waste from to go food containers and creating healthier storage options for housing challenged residents.

Megaphone $1300

Concept: Fundraising consultant to help raise the profile of the publication and assist in a fundraising campaign over the summer, ending Sept 5th.

Vancouver Aquaponics Initiative (Limited funding for consultation with David Lee)

Concept: Creation of a feasibility study and business plan for a sustainable urban aquaponics project in Vancouver’s inner-city (Tilapia, Salmon and organic vegetables/fruits)

This image is from the Waterloo SPP

Social enterprise along with social purchasing directories, portals, green directories and other platforms represents  a new consumer psychology and a new way of socially responsible economic thinking. Products and services in these directories cost no more than their average competitor, in fact they are most often a more competitively and attractively priced option! But they have a distinct advantage in that they directly contribute to the economic, environmental and social health of our communities. New research has shown that consumers will even sacrifice luxury or performance in favor of the perceived social status of green products. While some might think this is somewhat shallow, it truly shows that the pendulum has swung in our time. Buying responsible, sustainable products is COOL! And pretty soon it will likely be beyond cool, as it becomes the status quo. To help us fully make this transition we have a growing number of  directories or portals offering us environmentally and socially minded options  Here are some examples:

Australian organization Social Traders is working with numerous partners for a directory of Australian social enterprise while in China a social purchasing directory created by the group Collective Responsibility, provides socially and environmentally responsible choices for citizens and companies there.  Some major cities with large urban economies to themselves have their own directories and portals like London, England’s SEL (Social Enterprise London). Several Canadian cities including Ottawa, Winnipeg and Kitchener-Waterloo also have active portals that they are building and improving upon as well.

In Vancouver, the Social Purchasing Directory hosted by Building Opportunities with Business is the most comprehensive and accessible directory of its kind in our city and possibly Canada. Other guides like Vancouver’s Green Zebra Guide and the Greater Vancouver Green Guide offer comprehensive lists of businesses, buildings, parks and even projects that are environmentally sustainable.

Vancouver inner-city business Eclipse Awards International and social enterprise Tradeworks Training Society, have strong sustainability and social objectives and make top quality products with reclaimed or FSC certified wood

As our urban economy continues to grow, BOB’s directory will be updated and managed to meet the needs of businesses and individual consumers looking for competitively and attractively priced goods and services from innovative,  socially and environmentally responsible companies or social enterprises.

More than ever people have realized that what we purchase has a powerful impact on the environment, on cultures, regions and on ourselves. The new research shows it now has a powerful effect on our identities now as well. I believe the rise of social purchasing directories social purchasing portals and of green directories and guides for those looking f or  sustainable products that benefit our communities demonstrates a real shift in consumer psychology. “We vote with our dollars” is a quote that sums it up nicely as the world we live in is shaped by the leadership we democratically choose and the producers of goods and services we support with our purchases.

Vancouver's Olympic Village is the world's most sustainable community and was built largely with goods procured from businesses on the Social Purchasing Directory hosted by Building Opportunities with Business

We also say what kind of people we are through these actions, and I would wager to say that most people enjoy being seen as good people who support good businesses and want a better world for themselves and for future generations. It took us a while to see the damage that our old products and systems created and some time for producers of better options to reach economies of scale, but now we have a huge selection of quality products and services- healthy and responsible options-at our fingertips.

So next time you’re looking for a socially responsible gift, a sustainably made product, or an environmentally friendly cleaner, look first to social purchasing and green directories available to you in your city.

-Wes-

Social enterprise is a business or organization driven by a social mission and applying market-based strategies to achieve changes that are beneficial to communities and causes. The process of achieving these social or environmental aims while profiting financially is often referred to as the triple bottom line. Not only is profit, the original bottom line, considered, but the social and environmental impacts of business are also added to the books. People, Profits, and Planet comprise this new triple bottom line. Though many corporations and other organizations can have social or environmental causes they support as part of their company culture or in response to consumer standards, social enterprises are different in that their social or environmental purpose is central to their operation.

In increasing numbers, consumers are turning to social enterprises for products and services and because of this, social purchasing directories and online portals are becoming increasingly popular. These social enterprises and social purchasing directories, portals, and other platforms represent not only a new consumer standard but a new way of economic thinking. Products and services in these directories cost no more than their average competitor, in fact they are most often a more competitively and attractively priced option! But they have a distinct advantage in that they directly contribute to the long term economic, environmental and social health of communities, the environment and individuals.

In an urban economy the value of transactions from socially responsible companies operating locally benefit their communities by being more equitably distributed and by being more thoroughly circulated in the urban economy. In short, the money and its potential remains better integrated in these communities than had it gone to a vendor with fewer local ties, hiring fewer local people, with bank accounts held elsewhere, contributing less to the betterment of the community at large.

And if everyone was trying to improve their community, even if only through their purchasing choices,  logic dictates we would live in a constantly improving world. I think it’s safe to assume that this is what most people would prefer.

Because demand for these kinds of directories has been steadily increasing, many countries have similar directories in place or are currently working on them. Australian organization Social Traders is working with numerous partners for a directory of Australian social enterprise, while in China a social purchasing directory created by the group Collective Responsibility provides socially and environmentally responsible choices for citizens and companies there. Some major cities with large urban economies to themselves  have their own directories and portals, like London, England, while several Canadian cities including Ottawa, Winnipeg and Kitchener-Waterloo also have active portals that they are building and improving upon. In Vancouver, the Social Purchasing Directory hosted here on the Building Opportunities with Business site is one of the most comprehensive and accessible directories of its kind in any Canadian city.

While the Social Purchasing Directory hosted by BOB focuses on Vancouver’s DTES and inner-city it fully supports other regional purchasing directories like Access Works,  The Green Zebra Guide and Buy Smart. As our urban economy continues to grow, this directory will be updated and managed to meet the needs of business and private consumers looking for competitively and attractively priced goods and services from socially responsible and innovative companies.

Next time you go shopping, check the social purchasing business directory hosted by BOB. You have the power to change this world for the better. Purchasing power.

During the Olympic Games Vancouver is under the microscope as no Canadian city has ever been before.  Those glancing through the lens will see an inner-city challenged by drugs, poverty and homelessness but those who look closer will also see an inner-city filled with innovative social enterprise, where the pulse of Vancouver’s artistic heart is found, and where bold individuals and organizations are doing new things in new ways.

How many times will the headline “Vancouver, a tale of two cities” appear in some national or international paper? Nobody knows, but I can assure you it will be more than once…it already has been. And while some would love to write or read another beauty and the beast story about Vancouver, there must be somebody out there who will take the time to sit back and really look at the DTES in a more complete way. How about an article with the title “Vancouver, a tale of two inner-cities”? That sounds good.

It sounded so good I made it the title of this post. (see above…)

In fact, I’ve talked to a few visiting media about the DTES and they’ve been honest about their reluctance to dive into a more critical and thorough assessment of our historic and infamous inner-city. Apparently the public can’t handle anything more than a 2 dimensional story. Three dimensions is too much, minds will explode. So when you look at it that way it’s more about public safety than about selling a sensational story about Vancouver, the cosmopolitan vixen with a dirty secret. Like millionaires who slum it for fun, or a banker with a gambling problem, it’s easier to write about this Vancouver; the most livable city in the world with its dark, drug riddled skid row. So if that’s the kind of story you prefer, read no further for fear of having a mental overload. There is far more going on in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside than drugs, poverty and crime. (I hope no heads accidentally exploded)

In fact, no part of Vancouver offers as complete a tale of this dynamic and fascinating city as its famous Downtown Eastside. The challenges this young city deals with today carry with them a legacy of transformation, tension and renewal that has been condensed into decades not centuries, and that story begins here. This wasn’t always Canada’s poorest postal code and it won’t always remain that.

Within its first few years our historic part of the city burned to the ground in a matter of minutes, only to be rebuilt immediately. This neighbourhood is no stranger to challenges and changes. Challenges and changes are perhaps what define it more than any other part of Vancouver. On the front lines of this change today are the numerous non-profit societies, businesses, community groups, and individuals that have refused to allow this treasured and storied corner of Vancouver to be relegated to the sidelines of this city’s future. The DTES leads, it innovates and it rises to new challenges in new ways. Now the world has an opportunity to see this firsthand, but my concern is that they won’t.

While negative stories about Vancouver and our DTES roll off the press, innovative social enterprise like W2 Culture and Media House, SOLEfood Inner City Farm, Potluck Catering and Tradeworks Training society are empowering residents in the DTES with opportunities for personal and professional development while socially and environmentally responsible companies like The Cleaning Solution, Eclips Awards, Saul Good Gift Co and many others provide opportunities and support to the individuals and other businesses in our community every day. Our Social Purchasing Directory has hundreds of these companies and is steadily adding more as our urban economy grows- sustainably, responsibly, and innovatively.

This is where the pulse of Vancouver’s artistic community is found, where the DTES Artwalk and Eastside Culture Crawl happen. This is where bold individuals and organizations are doing new things in new ways. From the city’s first major community benefits agreement to the first all women’s pharmacy in North America, Vancouver’s inner-city  innovates and creates.

From cutting-edge award winning companies like Biro Creative, Nitobi and Invoke Media to the greenest residential development in North America the edgy neighbourhoods just east of Cambie continue to help make Vancouver an international leader. This is a place where others look for inspiration and ideas, but too often is portrayed as anything but.

The Downtown Eastside isn’t just some dirty secret that a pretty city is trying to hide. That would be a kid’s story, a two dimensional fable relying on a tragic and obvious  irony. The challenges and changes in our historic inner-city make it the most intense and dynamic part of Vancouver and an engine for innovation of every kind. Innovation in economic thinking, social theory, innovation in planning, in the arts, in food and dining, architecture and entrepreneurialism. Look a little closer and anyone would be amazed at what you see here.

If the international community misses out on the opportunity to see this inner-city then they miss out on an opportunity to really know and experience Vancouver. What a shame that would be after coming all this way.