Colin Pierce is Army & Navy Vancouver’s Personnel Manager, one of 11 managers at the Vancouver location. Over the years we have developed a great relationship with Colin and many of the Army & Navy staff, and we would like to celebrate their great work by designating them our Socially Responsible Employer of the Week!

When we interact with Colin, the first thing that always shines through is how cheerful he is. His warm personality carries over into his management style, where his laid back but caring attitude lets him connect with his employees and give them a high degree of support. In Colin’s words “I’m there for them on and off the job, and they know that”.

To Colin, being a socially responsible employer means having an individual committment to all employees, where he will help them “in any way, shape, and form” that he can. Colin has gone above and beyond for his staff, even helping them secure housing and fill out rental agreements. Colin enjoys the everyday challenge of managing employees with a variety of barriers. He really tries to foster each employee’s professional development, saying “I try to promote independence in my staff”. In working to support his employees he always looks to the bigger picture, saying “How is working at Army and Navy helping them get what they want in life? How can we help them with their careers?”.

We are always happy when Army & Navy chooses to hire through BOB’s HR Services, because we know that once our clients finish their three months in our Supported Employment Program they will continue to receive positive support in the workplace.

Colin currently uses BOB’s HR services exclusively because of the good relationship and rapport we’ve developed with him over the years. He doesn’t deal with other companies in the recruiting and staffing industry because they don’t value that relationship and have not followed up with him. Colin says he knows he can count on BOB Job Developer Andrew Bryson to send quality candidates, and that we will always let him know whenever anything or anyone of interest to him comes across our desks. In the past we have worked with Colin to recruit and train candidates for the annual Legendary Shoe Sale, and have helped him find quality cashiers, warehouse, and customer service staff; he even hired through us as recently as last week!

Army & Navy is a long standing member of the Downtown Eastside community, having served this neighborhood since 1919. By choosing to hire locally and do business here they exemplify BOB’s purpose: to support economic development in Vancouver’s inner-city that is inclusive of existing residents and businesses. We celebrate Colin and all the staff at Army & Navy for being part of what makes this community great!

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!

Hastings Racecourse is giving Building Opportunities with Business (BOB) a Day at the Races from noon to 4:00 on Sunday, June 6th!

Join us for a delicious buffet, a Fancy Hat Contest, thousands of dollars in prizes (from Fluevog, Four Seasons Hotel, Fairmont Pacific Rim, Blue Olive Photography and other great sponsors) and old fashioned FUN in the Marquee Tent. All right beside the exciting race track! Your participation will help the team at BOB and our sister charitable organization, Fast Track to Employment, to continue living our passion – working with local residents and businesses for positive change in Vancouver’s inner city and Downtown Eastside!

Tickets are $60 (with a tax deductible receipt for $30 that will be given to all ticket purchasers) and can be purchased in person at the BOB office:  163 East Pender on weekdays between 10am and 4pm or purchased online at

https://tickets.firehallartscentre.ca/TheatreManager/1/online

For more info please check out the e-vite below or go to Day at the Races on the BOB Blog.

Hope to see you there!