1pm Eastern (10am Pacific, 2pm Atlantic)

Opened in 2012, Skwachàys Lodge is located at the crossroads of Vancouver’s historic Gastown, Chinatown and Railtown districts in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside (DTES). Part hotel, part gallery, part social housing complex the Skwachàys business model allows 100% of the profits to flow directly to VNHS. In addition to being a hotel and fair trade Aboriginal art gallery, it operates a native artist in residence program and houses subsidized apartments for First Nations people at risk of homelessness.

This social enterprise model reduces VNHS’s dependence on government subsidies and private donations while enabling it to continue its mandate of providing safe, secure and affordable housing to Vancouver’s urban Aboriginal population. This webinar will provide insight and learnings on developing an innovative social enterprise model and leveraging assets to deliver positive community impacts and unique experiences rooted in cultural heritage.

You Will Learn

• About the vision and development of Skwachàys Lodge
• How to leverage a real estate asset for a social purpose
• How to pinpoint a unique strength in your community and how to build a creative social enterprise around it
• About the challenges and opportunities that were faced in developing this model
• About working with partners to bring your social enterprise to life

Register for the Skwachàys Lodge Aboriginal Hotel and Gallery webinar

About the Speakers

David Eddy

David Eddy became the Chief Executive Officer of Vancouver Native Housing Society (VNHS), a non-profit, off-reserve, Aboriginal housing provider in Vancouver, Canada, in January 2001.

Under David’s leadership over the last seven years, VNHS has increased its portfolio by nearly 100% and broadened its mandate from strictly housing urban Aboriginal families and seniors to providing supportive housing for Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal homeless people and those at risk of homelessness, as well as housing for youth and for women leaving abusive/violent situations.

Since June, 2012 David has taken VNHS in a new direction of entrepreneurialism and self-sustainability, creating two social enterprises which have received international media attention and acclaim. With the introduction of Skwachàys Lodge (www.skwachays.com) and the Urban Aboriginal Fair Trade Gallery (www.urbanaboriginal.org), the society is guiding new projects to focus on Aboriginal art and culture as a means of revitalizing community pride and leading transformative change, and while doing this providing subsidy for 24 Aboriginal artists to live in the community.

David sits on the Board of Directors of Canadian Housing and Renewal Association (CHRA) and served as its president from 2008 to 2010. He previously served on the Board of the British Columbia Non-Profit Housing Association as a director and as secretary on its executive. He is a founding director of the Metro Vancouver Aboriginal Executive Council (MVAEC) and currently sits on its Housing and Homelessness Table. In 2014, Dave was asked to join the Vancouver Mayor’s Task Force on Mental Health and Addictions.

Prior to his work with VNHS, David worked for 16 years in social and affordable housing with a particular focus on marginalized groups and communities on the east side of Vancouver.

He has a Master’s degree in Leadership and Training from Royal Roads University in Victoria, BC. A father of a grown son, David delights in his role as grandpa to his three young grandchildren.

Pru Robey

Pru Robey is a passionate advocate for the transformative impact the arts and culture have on the lives of individuals and communities. Throughout her career, the development of innovative, multi-sector approaches to support cultural sector development, creative economy activation and sustainable urban regeneration has been a centerpiece of her work. Pru has over 30 years of experience as a consultant, researcher, manager, promoter and funder in the arts, culture and creative industries in Canada and the UK. As Vice President and Creative Placemaking Lab Director at Toronto-based Artscape, Pru takes the lead in new project research and development and on major research initiatives; directs a suite of programs and services designed to build the capacity of communities internationally to undertake creative placemaking; and advises communities internationally on strategies to support city-building through the arts. She designed and teaches Canada’s only undergraduate course in Creative Placemaking for the University of British Columbia and is a member of the Placemaking Leadership Council.

12pm - 1pm Pacific TIme

Dacher Keltner of the Greater Good Science Center joins Michelle Long and BALLE Fellow Erin Kilmer-Neel to share the science of well-being and ideas for how leaders can adapt the Well-Being in Business Lab to their own communities.

Learn more and register for the Magic & Soul webinar

1:00pm Eastern Time

Founded in 2001, the Steel Yard sits on the former Providence Steel and Iron complex in Providence, Rhode Island. The non-profit was founded around the idea that people could be reconnected to the process of making which would open up new possibilities for the incubation of industrial arts and small business. An exemplary project in creative placemaking, the Steel Yard leverages the existing assets of this former industrial site and was developed collaboratively over time with grassroots efforts of local artists and community members. Home to many programs serving a wide range of practices, the Steel Yard is preparing to set out on planning the next phase of its evolution. Join us to understand how this successful project is evolving and learn about the exciting Public Projects program and Community Arts Courses that contribute to its sustainability.

Register for Activating the Creative Economy

Featured Speaker

Howie Sneider, Executive Director, the Steel Yard, Providence

Facilitator

Pru Robey, Vice President and Director, Creative Placemaking Lab, Artscape, Toronto

You Will Learn

• About the Steel Yard’s evolution, purchase and development of a historic site still being used for its historic purpose on a new scale
• About the spaces and programs that make up the Steel Yard
• About Public Projects’ innovative revenue generating program that utilizes public infrastructure budgets to fund the creation culturally-rich amenities
• About working with municipalities and activating the local creative economy by creating jobs for artists
• About the Steel Yard’s plans for expansion, increased programming and reach

About the Speakers

Howie Sneider

Howie Sneider was born in Syracuse, NY. His childhood exploration of the forests and abandoned quarries of central New York encouraged his sense of wonderment and discovery. He moved to Providence in 1998 to attend RISD where he studied sculpture and photography. He is the Executive Director at the Steel Yard, where he has been an active community and staff member since 2005. In 2007 he received a Providence Arts and Business Council Encore award for his public art and community organizing through the Steel Yard’s Public Projects department. He has taught welding, fabricating, sculpture and drawing and has collaborated with over 100 other local artists to create functional and decorative public art throughout Southern New England.

Pru Robey

Pru Robey is a passionate advocate for the transformative impact the arts and culture have on the lives of individuals and communities. Throughout her career, the development of innovative, multi-sector approaches to support cultural sector development, creative economy activation and sustainable urban regeneration has been a centerpiece of her work. Pru has over 30 years of experience as a consultant, researcher, manager, promoter and funder in the arts, culture and creative industries in Canada and the UK. As Vice President and Creative Placemaking Lab Director at Toronto-based Artscape, Pru takes the lead in new project research and development and on major research initiatives; directs a suite of programs and services designed to build the capacity of communities internationally to undertake creative placemaking; and advises communities internationally on strategies to support city-building through the arts. She designed and teaches Canada’s only undergraduate course in Creative Placemaking for the University of British Columbia and is a member of the Placemaking Leadership Council. 

6:00pm to 9:30pm

The HiVE is a community hub with a mission to support and amplify the social impact sector. To HiVE, social impact means creating a just, inclusive and sustainable economy that values people and planet above profit.

Join the HiVE for a community engagement jam on the future of social impact in Vancouver!

Come jam with HiVE to determine how we can better support and amplify the social innovation ecosystem and inclusivity in our city and help shape the HiVE's strategic direction. HiVE will be co-creating solutions that allow them to collectivly support, build capacity for and convene the social impact community going forward. 

To do this, they'll be going through a fun and engaging design thinking process, facilitated by the one and only Vancouver Design Nerds. Everyone is welcome!

Light refreshments provided | Cash Bar

Register for Swarm the HiVE

**Unfortunately, at this time the space is not wheelchair accessible. Access to the space on the second floor is by a flight of stairs. There's a sturdy hand railling, but no ramp or elevator. 

11:30am to 1:30pm
 Burnside Gorge Community Centre

Successes In Poverty Reduction

"Sustainable and inclusive communities creating their own social, economic and environmental futures."

Community Social Planning Council (CSPC) leads social, economic and environmental planning in BC’s Capital Region. We engage community members and organizations, businesses and government to research social issues and create sustainable solutions.

The CSPC AGM this year will be held during Homelessness Action Week and they will be celebrating local successes in the area of poverty reduction.

Register for the Community Social Planning Council's AGM

This event is free for current members
Non-members: $35

For more information please contact Mary Katharine mk at communitycouncil.ca