Employ To Empower

Community Partnerships

We Educate, Empower and Engage

Our goal is to educate, empower and engage the Vancouver broader community by providing diverse marketing platforms for our entrepreneurs. We meet people where they are at and recognize that people like to story-tell in different ways.

Entrepreneurs may get access to:

Documentaries Features
Short Videos Features
Educating Students at Educational Institutions

Our Initiatives

The Cardboard Project

The Cardboard Project is an annual fundraiser that shares what inspired each entrepreneur’s unique business, while exploring what it means to humanize the individual experience. A unique artwork is also unveiled using messages written on cardboard, contributed by the Downtown Eastside community.

Marketplace

Entrepreneurs in our program are given the opportunity to share their work, abilities, and diverse stories at event booths, store showcases throughout the year.

Workshops

Entrepreneurs in our program may partner with school institutions to lead workshops and/or share their business story.

Documentaries

Entrepreneurs may get the opportunity to be filmed for a documentary highlighting what “A Day in the Life” looks like to spread awareness about the talent and resilience in the community.

About The Cardboard Project

Cardboard Project event’s feature cardboard and cardboard responses in an artistically creative way and in order to spread important messages.

The Cardboard Project is a unique event that was inspired by the culture of individuals experiencing homelessness and poverty, who often write messages and stories on pieces of cardboard. The Cardboard Project features a unique artwork, created using messages written on cardboard. These messages respond to a different question every year, focusing on human connection, recovery, wisdom, community, listening, spirituality, and other themes. The Cardboard Project also features talks by thought leaders, discussions with our members, experiences inviting us all to connect, and an exhibition of our members’ artistic creations. The overall goal of the Cardboard Project is to dismantle prevailing negative stigmas and strive towards a Downtown Eastside neighbourhood where members are seen, heard, and validated, while feeling connected to the greater community.

Workshops

Every year, we partner with private schools like Mulgrave and St. Georges and engage entrepreneurs to offer workshops to young students to shift the stigma. Over the past two years, we’ve impacted 30+ students and engaged 15+ entrepreneurs.