Position: LEDlab Project Coordinator
Commitment: 24 weeks, 20 hours/week
Start date: January 9, 2017
End date: June 23, 2017
*Please note, you MUST be currently enrolled as a graduate student to apply for this position.

The Local Economic Development Lab (LEDlab), initiated and closely supported by Ecotrust Canada and RADIUS SFU, incubates community-driven social enterprise for a more vibrant and inclusive local economy in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. We do this by partnering with local organizations and leaders, resourcing them with talented graduate students, and working collectively with experts in a ‘Lab’ format to develop shared skills and knowledge, collaborate, and test new ideas to change the local economic system over time.

Our intended outcomes are to:

1. Catalyze new economic activity that benefits the local low-income community;
2. Equip local individuals, organizations, and networks with the tools, methods, processesand agency to advance future ideas on their own; and to
3. Build stronger networks and opportunities for collaboration and coordination amongst inner city organizations, residents, funders and other stakeholders.

Project:

Low-income Entrepreneur Needs Assessment (LENA)

The Low-income Entrepreneur Needs Assessment (LENA) project is a priority action of the newly adopted DTES Community Economic Development Strategy. This project was recommended by members of the Community Economic Development Strategic Action (CEDSA) Committee and Urban Core, and members from the two groups will make up an advisory board for this project. The Local Economic Development Lab will host this project in it’s early incubation phase, and dedicate staffing resources to bring this idea to fruition.

Purpose:

The Downtown Eastside is already a creative, hardworking, and innovative community. The purpose of this project is to explore how we might substantially increase the number of income-generating opportunities for DTES residents by focusing on self-employment as a lever, and better support those working in home-based businesses. Building on the economic activity that already exists in the neighbourhood, from vending and window cleaning, to art making and graphic design business - how might we legitimize and support entrepreneurship in order to increase the personal incomes of DTES residents? What new business models or policy interventions could help achieve these goals?

Scope of Work:

Conduct a 24-week user discovery and needs assessment in order to inform what additional value could be created for the self-employed and micro-entrepreneurs living in the DTES.

Responsibilities include:

• Mapping existing clusters of self-employment in the DTES (on a spectrum from informal to formal) in order to identify potential user groups
• Conducting informal one on one and group interviews with identified user groups
• Determining what supports user groups might need to improve their incomes, businesses, find success and legitimacy, etc.
• Prototyping potential solutions to address identified needs through small, informal experiments (e.g. business cards, collective marketing, vending in specific locations)
• Conducting secondary research on existing comparable initiatives (such as unions, micro-franchise models, co-ops, etc.)
• Drafting report on findings, including proposed value proposition for supporting self-employment in the DTES, recommendations for next steps, and recommendations for associated policy innovation

Is this you?

•  You have experience working in a community setting, and are familiar with the unique character of Vancouver’s DTES
•  You can work with a diversity of stakeholders, you’re patient and open minded
•  You are familiar with human centered design and lean methodology, and have a knack for prototyping and testing new ideas
•  You’re a creative, adaptive, and strategic thinker, and enjoy building and launching new ideas
•  You can manage a small budget, and work on schedule towards specific project goals
•  You are a clear writer and communicator, and experienced in producing reports and presentations
•  You are self-directed, and can conduct independent research without supervision

Deliverables:

1. Written report of findings
2. PowerPoint summary of findings
3. Presentations delivered to Urban Core and the CEDSA Committee
4. One blog about your experience as an LEDlab Project Coordinator

Compensation:

$10,000, non-negotiable. Funding for this position is provided by Mitacs Canada and stipends are fixed. You must be a graduate student at a Canadian university to apply. No exceptions. This is not an employee position. Candidates are expected to have their own laptop.

How to Apply:

Apply by sending a cover letter, CV, and writing sample to Kiri Bird at info at ledlab.ca by midnight, Sunday, December 4th, 2016.

In your cover letter, address the following questions (500 words max):

1. Why do you want to join the LEDlab team?
2. Tell us about the skills you have to get the job done
3. Tell us about an experience that has profoundly changed you
4. Tell us about a time you tried something and failed. What happened next?

SOURCE: Local Economic Development Lab (LEDlab)