That’s what members of the Strathcona Business Improvement Association (BIA) are hoping as they put forth an application for funding for a number of micro-gardens throughout the Strathcona neighbourhood. Aviva Insurance is holding a competition for the best ideas that support positive change within communities, and the BIA needs your votes to keep it in the running.

The proposed 20-30 gardens would be situated adjacent to public spaces in the area. This would contribute to the beauty of the neighbourhood, allow for the local growth of edible plants, and engage the community in the gardens’ collective upkeep. Barbed wire fences and other deterrents currently found in Strathcona can create an exclusion of people from their neighbourhood.

Building nice green spaces in urban areas is in line with the principles of Crime Prevention through Environmental Design.  The principles suggest that the use of openly visible space in a positive manner can strengthen a person’s bond with their physical environment. The more connected individuals feel with the space in which they live, the less likely they are to do harm to that space and to others. This interplay can create the ideal mutually beneficial relationship between a city and its residents, where each is influenced by the other.

The gardens would be constructed by landscapers from Mission Possible Enterprises, a non-profit organization in the Downtown Eastside which helps people with job readiness barriers find employment opportunities. Mission Possible hopes working with local youth in this endeavour will engage the youth with the neighbourhood and allow them to make a meaningful contribution to a large project.

Strathcona has always housed a progressive group of citizens with very strong views on what happens to their neighbourhood.  In the 1960s when urban activism was just beginning to take form, protests were held in Strathcona to fight the plan to build a highway through the neighbourhood. This helped spur a number of similar campaigns in later years in Canada and the US.  The pride and passion residents have with regards to their area is inspiring. It is very appropriate that Strathcona may once again have the chance to be a trailblazer in terms of community building.

You can read more about the project and vote for it here: http://www.avivacommunityfund.org/ideas/acf5454

Every vote counts!

I’m sitting at Sustainability 3.0 right now listening to Bob Willard speak to a packed room at the Japanese Language Centre. It’s warm, with lots of great snacks, thirst quenching juices (I’ve been eying up the free trade coffee for the past 20 mins) but the most refreshing thing in the room is his presentation itself, refreshingly positive. Too often we are banged over the head with impending doom and gloom, peak oil, climate refugees, resource wars, a whole host of images some of them dystopian some of them downright apocalyptic all thrown into the discourse around climate change, the environment and sustainability. Instead of a charge that we have to do this sustainability thing or the myriad nightmarish consequences will weigh on our conscience, Bob suggests that we can do this as it’s a win win on all accounts. The sustainability discourse continues to change and adapt because of refreshing ideas like this and other things as new technologies, new ideas, new metrics, and new values are introduced into the mix. One point he makes that I find particularly inspiring is that sustainability and greening business practices can be and are seen increasingly as an enabler. Not as one more thing to do or be bothered by, but something that you can accomplish numerous important goals through. In fact, according to Willard it can increase profitability for SMEs (Small and Medium Enterprises)by as much as 66% by focusing on 6 benefit areas. Some of these have to do with people, some with waste and efficiencies, some are to do with rebates and energy savings others with tax breaks etc. Saving money on water, energy heating etc. premiums and insurance .Willard demonstrates that going green is no longer being seen as a chore or an 11th hour response to impending doom, it is becoming the pathway to success. Now where’s that coffee, ah right next to the Saul Good table…

If you own or operate a business in downtown Vancouver or EastVan (Strathcona, Gastown, Hastings-Sunrise, Chinatown) or know anyone who does, please pass word on about the upcoming business sustainability expo being held by the Strathcona Business Improvement Association. AND if you know of any green companies interested in sponsoring this great event let them know too!

The Strathcona BIA will be hosting the small business sustainability expo on September 28, 2010 | 3-7pm | at the Japanese Language Hall (475 Alexander St.) and it is an excellent opportunity for you to promote your business and showcase the steps you are taking to be green- maybe learn a trick or two along the way!

Enhance the competitive advantage of your business and be part of the progressive sustainable business community in the Strathcona Green Zone.

For more information download this  form : Sustainability 3 0 Sponsorship Opportunities Updated

or contact

Sponsorship Inquiries: Purdy Jones
greenstrathcona@gmail.com
778-737-0229
Green Zone Inquiries: Sophie Agbonkhese
sustainabilitysbia@telus.net
604-258-2727

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 by Western Economic Diversification. 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)