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.
