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!

At the end of April BOB moved to a new office at 87 East Pender.

BOB Staff in our New Digs

As you might expect, it was a big job involving the whole team as well as other members of our community. First we hired a project manager through PM Volunteers to help with the logistics.

Dan Suratos, Project Management Volunteer Extraordinaire

Once we got organized, we rented re-usable Frogboxes and packed everything up.

Frogboxes hold a LOT of stuff!

And then we had to get it all up the stairs at the new place!

Up, up, and away!

As you can see, we worked as a team and tried to maintain a good sense of humor. But the best part of all is that we decided to take advantage of the great services  available in our neighborhood and used inner-city businesses from start to finish.

Want to know how we did it? Check out the following business listings and consider their services next time you’re moving. You too can get the job done while supporting the inner-city community!

My Black Sista’s Painting Company

Corinthian Clark is the proud proprietress of this inner-city based painting company. Corinthian did a beautiful job of painting our new office, with great attention to detail, prompt service, and accurate quoting. And her painting company is a social enterprise devoted to empowering women in trades! 604-724-0287 or corinthianclark@yahoo.ca

Take the Green Challenge

During our move we needed to lighten our load and get rid of some junk, so we called Take the Green Challenge! Their business is an inner-city focused social enterprise, employing people with disabilities and providing eco-friendly waste disposal. They provide undeniably friendly service and give free quotes, too. 604-992-5316

Frogbox

We rented these convenient, eco-friendly, re-useble, heavy duty, hard plastic stacking moving boxes for the duration of our move. Frogbox also kindly donated a storage box as a door prize for our New Directions Party. Wondering what puts the frog in Frogbox? 1% of their profits go to saving or restoring frog habitat! 1-877-FROGBOX

AJK Moving

These enthusiastic guys worked tirelessly to tote our desks, filing cabinets, and Frogboxes up and down stairs. They were an indispensable part of our move. 604-875-9072

Recycling Alternative

They had no trouble making an extra pickup on short notice for ALL the extra paper we had to recycle. Recycling Alternative actively cultivates an inclusive workplace, employing folks with and without barriers to work together and learn from one another. 604-874-SAVE

These are all shining examples of the variety of socially and environmentally responsible businesses that are actively involved in the inner-city. The diversity and quality of services they offer is remarkable. The next time you need to move, you know who to call.

And be sure to drop by and check out BOB’s new digs, upstairs at 87 East Pender!

As the city, and the entire country, reflect on the incredible outpouring of patriotism, talent and emotion witnessed by all during the 2010 Winter Olympics, some have been busy examining the impact the Games had on Canada’s poorest postal code and questioning how the city can better prepare to capitalize on future mega-events. Next Wednesday February the 23rd Dr. Jim Frankish, Director of the UBC School of Population and Public Health will be sharing the findings from research undertaken during the Games on VANOC’s Inner City Inclusivity commitments and the impacts they had onVancouver’s inner-city. The event will take place at the Japanese Language School, 487 Alexander Street from 2:30 to 4:30 pm. Frankish will be appearing on a  panel with Shirley Chan, CEO of Building Opportunities with Business (Delivery agent for the 2010 Olympics Community Benefits Agreement for Athletes Village) Ross Gentleman, Executive Director of Tradeworks Training Society (who also oversaw the RONA Fabshop), and Louise Schwarz, co-founder of the Recycling Alternative, all of whom were partners in assisting VANOC in its inclusivity goals and all of whom will be offering different perspectives into the Games and the impact they had in the DTES. The panel will examine what ingredients were necessary for businesses to be successful in being partners in inclusivity, and identify the challenges to it witnessed during the 2010 Olympics.

As Vancouver and cities around the world vie for future mega events (Vancouver World Cup bid?) Dr. Frankish believes that it’s prudent to engage in discussion on how cities (and Vancouver in particular) can better prepare themselves to capitalize on the potential social benefits of mega events, particularly for low income and marginalized populations. The 2010 Games made Vancouver the ideal laboratory for that research last year with lessons learned on how businesses can play a more proactive role as socially responsible partners in their communities and the necessary resources and support environment that the City can look to provide and improve upon in preparation for future events.

Following the presentation by Jim Frankish and the panel discussion,   attendees are encouraged to participate in group discussions on how businesses can contribute to positive social change and help create healthier communities, what they think are the conditions needed for business to get on side and involved and resources they would find most useful to do so.

The feedback so far is mixed in regards to the Inner-City inclusivity commitments. Some believe that it was a missed opportunity for the Games to be a catalyst for radical transformation in the inner-city but others celebrate what was able to be accomplished through them. There are many social enterprises, businesses, non-profit organizations and residents that saw direct benefits and the Games raised awareness of many issues, but being such a massive undertaking Frankish believes that there are some valuable lessons learned about how the City, event organizers, and businesses can do it even better next time.

This is an important discussion and we hope to see you there.

To register for this event go here.

Last week, we held our annual holiday party at the BOB office. It was a fun night full of tasty food and lively conversation. Since we had everyone gathered together in a space that can only be described as ‘cozy’, we took the opportunity to acknowledge and thank a number of people who have helped make 2010 such a successful year for BOB.

The Supported Employment team honoured three employer partners: Impark, FROGBOX, and Recycling Alternative.  We also featured client Chris Foster, who spoke about his positive experience working with Recycling Alternative.

The Business Development team honoured some of the people they work closely with, representing the City of Vancouver and BC Housing.

Thank you to everyone who attended and gave donations. The warm clothing will be distributed to our clients at our next SHINE dinner.

We here at BOB wish everyone a joyous holiday season and all the best in 2011!

L to R: BOB Board Chair Linda Coady, Barbara Mount and Van Loudfoot from Impark, Andrew Bryson, Liz Charyna from BOB

L to R: BOB CEO Shirley Chan, Linda, Doug Burgoyne from FROGBOX, Andrew, Liz

L to R: Shirley, Linda, Kina Kenyon and Louise Schwarz from Recycling Alternative, Andrew, Liz

BOB Client Chris Foster (left) answers questions from Ada Mo-Williams of BOB (right)

L to R: Kira Gerwing from City of Vancouver, Linda, Helen Ma from the City of Vancouver, Shirley, Randy Clyne from BOB

L to R: Linda, Shirley, Rory Munro from BC Housing, Randy