Building Opportunities with Business

BOBs Logo, created by Vancouver based Karo in 2006

'Building Opportunities with Business Inner-City So-
ciety (AKA Building Opportunities with Business or
BOB) is a non-prot organization that has been active
in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside, Chinatown, Strath-
cona, Mt Pleasant, Gastown and Downtown South areas
since October 2005. BOBs goal according to its website
is to support local business development and increase job
opportunities for inner-city residents by championing an
inclusive revitalization process.
[1]
1 Creating BOB
Vancouvers inner city. The dark grey areas are where BOBs
eorts are focused as per the Vancouver Agreement.
The creation of BOB came as a direct result of the Van-
couver Agreement
[2]
an urban development initiative be-
tween the governments of Canada, British Columbia,
and the City of Vancouver. BOBs role as dened by
the agreement is to promote business development, oer
mentoring and employment training as well as adminis-
tering a loans program to inner-city small businesses.
[3]
In the time since its creation the organization has devel-
oped from being seen largely as an employment agency
into being recognized as a credible and reliable source
for a variety of information on the DTES. Separating it-
self from the legacy or failures of PEACH, the economic
development and job creation organization that BOB was
created to replace and distinguishing itself as a separate
and unique entity has been a challenge to the organi-
zation. While some of the people and resources from
PEACH were transferred to BOB the organization was
created as a comprehensive new service to address the
needs of business and employment. Fast Track to Em-
ployment (FTE)another organization active in the DTES
has remained its own agency working in tandem with
BOB. With a mandate to create employment opportuni-
ties by working with employers and residents FTE oper-
ates within the BOB oces as an aliated or sister char-
itable organization sharing the same board of directors as
BOB.
BOB as an organization has made eorts in the me-
dia to clarify its role in the DTES while addressing a
diverse range of policy and planning issues relevant to
Vancouvers inner-city such as STIR (Short Term Incen-
tives for Rental Housing)
[4]
homelessnes and economic
development
[5]
and industry clustering
[6]
Though becom-
ing more widely recognized in 2008 and 2009 the orga-
nization has struggled to overcome obscurity concerning
its past and present work.
Directly related to its support of clustering in Vancouvers
inner-city, BOB has also been noted for its co-working
space
[7][8]
made available for bloggers, independent me-
dia/social media, as well as independent contractors and
consultants working in Vancouvers DTES.(Downtown
Eastside) The BOB co-working space is also utilized
as an art gallery and presentation space and is an of-
cial host gallery of the 2010 Winter Olympics Cul-
tural Olympiad.
[9]
The organization has also been noted
for placing focus on social enterprise in the inner-city
and was instrumental in the support and creation of the
SOLEFood Inner City Farm Project along with Seann
Dory of United We Can, and local property owners Gudy
and Pal Sahota.
[10][11][12]
2 BOB and the Millennium CBA
(Vancouver 2010 Olympic Vil-
lage)
BOB was involved in the creation of Vancouvers rst
Community Benets Agreement centred on the construc-
tion of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Village.
[13]
While
this development has been criticized for going over-
budget
[14]
the CBA may potentially serve as a valuable
example of the emerging potential between investors, de-
1
2 4 REFERENCES
velopers and social enterprise in urban planning. The
CBA was a collective eort between the City of Van-
couver, BOB, VANOC and Millennium Development
Corporation focusing on job creation for local residents
and encouraging direct procurement of goods and ser-
vices from the Downtown Eastside as per the needs of
the Olympic Village development.
[13]
Other major part-
ners included Bell, VanCity Credit Union, the Province of
British Columbia and the Federal Government (as repre-
sented through the Vancouver agreement)as well as the
Canadian Housing and Mortgage Corporation and the
Vancouver Regional Construction Association.
3 Criticism of BOB
BOB has been the recipient of criticism from both ac-
tivists who view the organization as a potential agent
of gentrication and from other individuals active in
the DTES. The organization has made eorts to clarify
its role in the DTES in response to these criticisms.
[15]
PEACH(Partners for Economic and Community Health)
having been proven largely ineective in its approach was
dismantled and its funding halted. BOB, though sup-
porting a dierent development model and with dier-
ent roles has also been viewed by some in Vancouvers
DTES as not serving its primary purpose or being ef-
fective enough in job creation.
[16]
Kim Kerr, executive
director for the Downtown Eastside Residents Associ-
ation and Vancouver employment councilor Ruth Meta
are examples of vocal critics.
[15][16]
Meta and BOB CEO
Shirley Chan both commented on BOBs role and work
in the DTES through a series of articles in the Vancouver
Courier in 2009
[15][17]
It is rumored that Meta reconciled
with BOB after this exchange.
4 References
[1] BOB | Building Opportunities with Business. Buildin-
gopportunities.org. Retrieved 2010-07-26.
[2] TheAgreement. web.archive.org. Retrieved 2014-02-
05.
[3] EconomicDevelopment. web.archive.org. Retrieved
2014-02-05.
[4] Stir is a step in the right direction, Shirley Chan, Vancou-
ver Sun, 2009 http://www.vancouversun.com/opinion/
STIR+step+right+direction/2373405/story.html
[5] Stephanie Levitz, Hope and despair in Vancouvers
Eastside, The Canadian Press, CTV, Monday Decem-
ber 28, 2009 http://www.ctvolympics.ca/news-centre/
newsid=23996.html
[6] Clustering in Action, Robert Matas, Globe and Mail,
December 18, 2009 http://v1.theglobeandmail.com/
servlet/story/RTGAM.20091218.escenic_1406276/
BNStory/National/
[7] Shaw, Gillian (2009-12-18). Vancouvers Downtown
Eastside gets innovative coworking space - Digital Life.
Communities.canada.com. Retrieved 2010-07-26.
[8] Shaw, Gillian (2009-12-21). New shared workspace
opens in Vancouvers inner city. Vancouversun.com. Re-
trieved 2010-07-26.
[9] Trimpin: Sheng High - Event Listings : Vancouver
2010 Winter Olympics. Vancouver2010.com. Retrieved
2010-07-26.
[10] Kelowna News, Weather, Business, Sports, Entertain-
ment, Classieds, Real Estate & More | Kelowna.com.
kelowna.com. Retrieved 2014-02-05.
[11] Christabel Shaler (2009-11-01). SOLEfood Inner City
Farm: A Source of Food and Jobs for Vancouvers Dow-
town Eastside | The Vancouver Observer - News, Culture,
Sports, Blogs in Vancouver, BC. The Vancouver Ob-
server. Retrieved 2010-07-26.
[12] Sitemap - Vancouver Courier. .canada.com. Retrieved
2010-07-26.
[13] http://vancouver.ca/olympicvillage/pdf/CBAFactsheet.
pdf
[14] Olympic village $130 million over budget: audit,
Miro Cernetig,Vancouver Sun, October 6, 2009
http://www.vancouversun.com/business/Vancouver+
Olympic+Village+million+over+budget+report/
2072466/story.html
[15] Sitemap - Vancouver Courier. .canada.com. Retrieved
2010-07-26.
[16] Sitemap - Vancouver Courier. .canada.com. Retrieved
2010-07-26.
[17] Sitemap - Vancouver Courier. .canada.com. Retrieved
2010-07-26.
Community Benets Agreement [external links]
3
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Building Opportunities with Business Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Building_Opportunities_with_Business?oldid=629725008
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