Employ to Empower Presents The Cardboard Project
byTo highlight the global pandemic’s impact on Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside community, Employ To Empower is hosting the Cardboard Project 3.0 — featuring a talk show-style event and a new online gallery.
The Cardboard Project 3.0
- When: Saturday, May 15, 2021 10:00am to 7:30pm
- Where: Online here
- Tickets: Register online. By donation, suggested $10.
- All proceeds will help low-income entrepreneurs access business mentoring and resources through Employ To Empower.
- Attendees can sign up for individual sessions, multiple sessions, or for the full day.
Held live virtually for the first time, the Cardboard Project is a unique collection of 100+ written experiences by DTES residents. Submitted by members from across the city, the messages on the cardboard pieces reflect responses to this year’s question: What have you learned about connection and community in the past year?
The event will feature three talk show sessions, with three diverse speakers each — all offering a unique perspective to the dialogue. Following the event, viewers can head to a living digital display on the website, linking the stories behind each cardboard piece collected over the past three years.
“We want to provide a space to reflect on the past year, remind us of our resiliency, and shed light on the importance of staying socially connected within our communities, in whatever way we can,” said Christina Wong, Executive Director of Employ To Empower. “Most importantly, we hope to give insight to the impact that the global pandemic has had on our DTES community.”
Session 1: Creating Connection from 10:00am to 12:30pm will feature speakers Diane Finegood (Simon Fraser University Professor and Fellow), Iven Simonetti (DTES peer and Founder of Medicine Art), and Minah Lee (DTES peer and Founder of ArtActionEarWig).
Session 2: Real-Talk from 1:30pm to 4:00pm will feature speakers Niki Sharma (MLA of Vancouver-Hastings), Sarah Blyth (Executive Director of Overdose Prevention Society), and Jeannette & Alley Blais (Founders of Back Alley Apothecary).
Session 3: On The Frontlines from 5:00pm to 7:30pm will feature Hannah Ahn & Shafia Ali (Licensed Practical Nurses at Providence Crosstown Clinic), Austin Lui (Community Developer at EMBERS Eastside Works), and Mark De Freitas and Elwood Price (Founders of Crap Trapper).
View the full schedule along with speaker bios online here.
Employ to Empower (“ETE”) is a registered charity, launched in 2018, that provides residents in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside with access to development and entrepreneurial resources, such as affordable microloans and business mentorship, to have long-term positive impact on their personal and economic well being. ETE, which also organizes the Street Store in December, actively advocates for positive social change in the DTES community.
Related: DTES Street Store Returns
