Course:LFS350/Projects/Fall2017/dtes-neighbourhod-house/

From UBC Wiki

Project Summary

Title

You Too, Can Can

Purpose

The project will support DTES Neighbourhood House to expand partnerships with local businesses and markets, expanding work with social enterprise organizations in our community with whom they might not otherwise connect. The project will continue to support and expand 12 employment opportunities for local residents from a range of socio-economic groups by broadening the market for local products.

Areas of Focus

  • Asset based community development
  • Local economic development
  • Vulnerable populations

Skills

  • Experience in collaborative community development processes;
  • Understanding of local retail landscape (including local food markets)
  • Marketing experience;
  • Knowledge about issues affecting residents of the Downtown Eastside neighbourhood

Other

  • A cleared Criminal Record Check (CRC) will be required for working with vulnerable adults and children (this is a specific CRC)
  • We believe that all jobs are important. This said we expect students, volunteers and staff to show up with a can-do attitude ready to pitch in where needed. Mopping up is also part of the job.

Location

Organization Information

Name

Downtown Eastside Neighbourhood House

Vision + Mission

  • Our Mandate

The mandate of the Downtown Eastside Neighbourhood House is to provide programming, and educational, leadership, social and recreational opportunities to residents of Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.

  • Our Vision

To provide a dignified welcoming space that creates and supports an improved quality of life for the DTES community.

  • Our Mission

To provide opportunities for residents to meaningfully engage with and contribute to their community in an equitable atmosphere of sharing and learning.

Guiding Principles + Values

The DTES Neighbourhood House (DTES NH) is a secular, locally governed, place based non- profit centre that is part of a global neighbourhood house movement. Volunteers, staff and Board members work to fortify the voice and ambitions of our neighbours by sustaining a Neighbourhood House in which DTES residents of all ages, genders and ancestries sculpt their future while honouring the four historic DTES communities – Indigenous, Japanese, Chinese and Low-Income.


We mirror the entirety of our community: in its beauty and its harshness, its poetry and its frustration. We are advocates, non-violent, critical of the poverty mentality and the charity model. We challenge the clichés visited upon the materially poor. We work towards dignity and deservedness of all.

Primary Contact

Contact Person(s): Carol White Email: carolw@dtesnhouse.ca Address: 573 East Hastings Phone: 604.215.2030 Website: dtesnhouse.ca Best time(s)/method(s) to contact: Email


Project Description

In 2015 the DTES Neighbourhood House piloted a seasonal gift basket project as a fundraising idea. The project supports existing local food manufacturing and production enterprises and creates a positive message about our neighbourhood. The project trains local residents in food production – specifically our in-house products. We need help to scale out this project. We are seeking help to identify new street level retail partners, and to develop a sales and marketing strategy.

Goal and Project Scope

The project will create an opportunity for us to expand our work with local businesses and markets, and expand our work with social enterprise organizations in our community that we might not otherwise connect with. The project will continue to support and expand 12 employment opportunities for local residents from a range of socio-economic groups. The project will broaden markets for local products. In the long term, the revenue generated will help to support our move to a larger, healthier facility from which we can carry out our mandate more effectively.

Skills Preferred

  • Experience in collaborative community development processes;
  • Understanding of local retail landscape (including local food markets);
  • Marketing experience;
  • Knowledge about issues affecting residents of the Downtown Eastside neighbourhood

Preferred Days of Week and Hours

  • It is best to be available in the afternoon and early evening. Tuesday and /or Thursday evenings in particular.

Project/Partner Orientation

All students will participate in the a NH volunteer ordination session with the volunteer coordinator.

Expected Outcomes

Learning Outcomes

I hope students will learn about:

  • How to overcome system obstacles that challenge food justice

I think students will come to appreciate:

  • The diversity and resiliency of our community – and celebrate it

I hope students will develop a:

  • Direct lived experience of those who call the DTES home.

Organizational Outcomes

  • Up-to-date and new ideas about food security and sustainability that we can reflect in the project;
  • Students who may feel passionate enough to want to work in NH’s;
  • A record of the project that we can share with others.
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