BOB is thrilled to welcome Emily Smith to the team as our new Supported Employment Program Assistant. She will be taking over the helm from  Lauren McGuire-Wood who is now Community Relations Coordinator at Quest Food Exchange. Congrats Lauren in your new role!

Emily was born and raised in East Vancouver and has a love for all things local. Her diverse career path has taken her from organic farming through to urban planning. She has served as the Programs Coordinator for the AMS Bicycle Co-op and as a Planning Technician for the BC Ministry of Agriculture and Lands. Before coming to BOB she enjoyed volunteering with EMBERS as an administrative assistant. When not at the BOB front desk you might find her gardening, cooking delicious vegetarian food, or making lino prints. Emily takes great satisfaction in seeing the positive outcomes that result from providing effective support to meet staff and client needs, and she looks forward to demonstrating this enthusiasm in her new position as Assistant to BOB’s Supported Employment Program.

Welcome Emily!

SOLEfood Open House Information Session
418 East Hastings Street
(Mah Benevolent Society of Vancouver, at Dunlevy Avenue)
Saturday, August 14, 2010
2:00pm – 4:00pm

This Saturday, August 14th, 2010, there will be a SOLEfood Open House Information Session regarding a possible second farm site at Union Street and Gore Avenue (the grass area adjacent to the via duct). The good folks at SOLEfood have requested feedback and input from neighbours on the project before they submit an application for the development permit

See the SOLEfood open house invitation for more details.

About SOLEfood: The SOLEfood Urban Farm Project is a non-profit social enterprise that trains and employs DTES residents in urban agriculture. The food grown is sold to restaurants and at Farmers Markets in order to achieve economic self sufficiency.

If you’re unable to attend but would still like to submit comments, questions or suggestions you can do so via email, phone or mail. Please send it to:

E-mail:   SOLEfood@unitedwecan.ca

Or via regular mail to:

Seann Dory & Doris Chow
39 East Hastings Street
Vancouver, BC V6A 1M9
Phone: 604-837-1601

Businesses and property owners in the Downtown Eastside are invited to attend a public meeting with the Hastings Corridor BIA Formation Committee, this Thursday August 12th 2010. The proposed BIA will serve businesses along the Hastings Corridor from Richards Street all the way to Gore Avenue, and will potentially serve a portion of Crosstown along Pender, from Richards to Beatty as well.  The consultation meeting will be held back to back at 3:00pm and then again at 6:00pm at the Building Opportunity with Business office (163 E Pender Street, in the BOB Gallery and Co-Working space)

What is a BIA? A Business Improvement Association is a specially funded and district managed non-profit association of businesses and commercial property owners who work to improve the economic vitality of their business district. In Vancouver there are currently 20 BIAs serving a variety of corridors and areas. In total 60,0000 businesses in BC are served by approximately 60 BIAs (35 of which are located in the Greater Vancouver area) as they have proved to be a highly effective and worthwhile venture for the business communities in these areas.  Working closely with municipalities, BIAs have become important partners in area planning and revitalization initiatives and have provided a vehicle for the business community to champion constructive improvements in the interest of neighbourhood beautification, events and entertainment, functionality and safety. The proposed Hastings Corridor BIA would fill the gaps between the Chinatown BIA (zone 2 in the BIA Map below) the Gastown BIA (zone 8 ) the Downtown BIA (zone 5) and the Strathcona BIA ( zone17). Click on the map to see an enlarged version of the image.

Why a BIA for Hastings? Well to find out I interviewed Lynn Kitchen, a member of the committee and  Custom Training Manager for Continuing Studies at Langara College. According to Lynn the value of BIAs are not to be underestimated.

” The return on investment for businesses who have a BIA is triple and quadruple fold. One of the areas in this city that could benefit the most from having a BIA, the Hastings Corridor, is currently one of the few business areas without.”

Lynn has worked closely with BOB’s Brian Smith, Business and Social Enterprise Developer, representatives from the Board of Trade Small Business Council (of which she is Vice-Chair and Chair of the Council’s Inner City Development Subcommittee), members of the business community such as Heather O’Hara of Potluck Cafe and Brian Dodd of United We Can and several others on the BIA Formation Committee.

“The Board of Trade Inner-City Development Subcommittee has been so devoted, I don’t think I’ve ever seen such devotion and commitment to start a BIA before and I really hope the rich and diverse voices in this community come out to these consultations. I really have to credit Brian though for championing this process and getting the ball rolling!”

As much work as the committee has done so far, having the community involved is a crucial factor, as ultimately the decision rests with the commercial property owners and businesses themselves who vote on whether or not to support the initiative. If 1/3rd of property owners and businesses vote against the BIA it does not go to Council, where it is then provisioned. Lynn emphasized how important these consultations are in the BIA process.

“We’ve been very busy canvassing businesses to get them involved in this consultation process. We want to build support but we also welcome critical voices, especially at this phase. We want to hear everyone’s concerns and ideas and we would like to see this be a real community driven BIA. We want change makers”

If you own commercial property in the Downtown Eastside or are an inner-city business looking to improve the economic vitality of your neighbourhood please come and share your thoughts, and see the work that the Hastings Corridor BIA Formation Committee has put into this proposal.

Draft copies of the work the committee has done on this BIA proposal will be presented at the  Thursday August 12th consultation 3:00 and 6:00pm.

For more information contact Brian Smith at brian.smith@bobics.org or have a look at the BIA budget FAQ by clicking on the link below.

Budget Related FAQ Draft_MTG01_Aug2010

Over the course of one day in May of 2010, BOB held a community consultation in which residents, various representatives from government, governance bodies, community agencies and business leaders offered their input concerning the future role of BOB. Through a series of workshops discerning both the value of BOB and the potential areas in which BOB was perceived as being most useful the following was decided:

BOB was delighted with the community’s input, enthusiasm and encouragement at the May 12^th community consultation.  After further review with staff and the Board, BOB has determined its most valued role within the community is to remain a connector/convener for business opportunities within the inner city.

To this end, and complementing the activities of other inner city organizations, this means the following:

1. BOB will continue to support the connection of businesses to the inner city.
2. BOB will continue to support the connection of all levels of government to the inner city.
3. BOB will continue to maintain employment support programs.

We also heard from the consultation that it is not in the community’s best interest for BOB to initiate a social enterprise.  The rationale being that such a social enterprise would compete with existing services within the community and potentially undermine the role of BOB as a connector in the community.   It is not BOB’s intention to compete with other inner city organizations, but instead to complement and connect.

As mentioned in the consultation session, BOB faces many of the same funding challenges of other inner city organizations.   We have decided to pursue our activities on a transaction basis – fee for service, consulting and/or retainer.

In fulfilling BOB’s role in the community, we will increase community membership on the BOB Board by 3 members.  In addition, to further improve BOB’s role as a business connector, we will increase board membership with business representation by another 2 additional members.  We will make the additions gradually to facilitate adjustment and proper orientation with the organization.

Finally and most importantly, BOB will continue to support and encourage businesses that have shown a history of positive environmental, social or cultural sustainability.   BOB believes that positive economic development in the inner city is best developed by organizations that support principles of sustainability.

We think it is important to conduct additional community consultations to further refine this strategic direction.   These additional consultations will be conducted on a regular basis throughout the year.

We welcome your continued input.

-This response to the findings of the community consultation held in May 2010 is available as a PDF on the BOB Website.

Hastings Racecourse has offered BOB and our sister charitable organization Fast Track to Employment, the opportunity to put on a great FUNdraiser on June 6th!

Get ready to win ridiculously amazing prizes in our raffle.  Enjoy a 3 course meal.  And all in a lovely Marquee Tent beside the track with crazy racing horses speeding by.

We have celebrity judges who will eye up your beautiful hats  (think Audrey Hepburn and Rex Harrison is ‘My Fair Lady’) with a delicious prize going to the winner.   Not a hat person?  No problem!  The event is perfectly enjoyable without one.  We will have a few hat making supplies available.  Remember..  Bring extra moola or cheques for buying raffle tickets.  You’ll have multiple opportunities to to win door and raffle prizes from great places such as:

• Fairmont Pacific Rim
• 4 Seasons Hotel Vancouver
• John Fluevog
• Blue Olive Photography
• Silks Restaurant
• SFU Woodwards Theatre
• London Drugs
• Nester’s Food Floor at Woodwards
• JJ Bean
• Calabash Bistro
• Out To Lunch Catering
• and more!

You can help the team at BOB and FTE continue doing what we are passionate about- working with local residents and businesses to see positive change happen in Vancouver’s inner city and Downtown Eastside- by joining us on this fun day.

Tickets are selling for $60 and can be purchased by dropping by the BOB office at 163 East Pender on weekdays between 10am and 4pm or purchase them online at https://tickets.firehallartscentre.ca/TheatreManager/1/online

We look forward to seeing you there!