COMMUNITY
The Vancouver Convention Centre is committed to strengthening the vitality of communities throughout the province through partnerships with local social enterprises, charitable organizations, and community groups.
Together with our sister facility BC Place, the Vancouver Convention Centre is also proud to raise awareness for events, charities and non-profit causes that are important to communities in British Columbia through our Illumination Program.
PARTNERS
To date, our teams have worked in collaboration with many organizations and groups to create opportunities for positive impact including the partners below:
Binners' Project
The Vancouver Convention Centre is committed to supporting the local community while diverting waste from landfills. It partners with Binners’ Project - a group of waste-pickers aided by support staff dedicated to improving their economic opportunities, and reducing the stigma they face as informal recyclable collectors.
Common Thread
Common Thread is a cooperative social enterprise in Vancouver. They provide practical and flexible training and employment in industrial sewing for women who are newcomers to Canada, who are living with mental health challenges, or who are experiencing other employment barriers.
Employ to Empower
The Convention Centre donates unclaimed lost and found items to Employ to Empower, a charity that focuses on integrating low income individuals in the Downtown Eastside (DTES) back into society through dignified jobs.
Hives for Humanity
The Convention Centre partners with Hives for Humanity, a local non-profit organization that provides individuals from the Downtown Eastside with meaningful work and skill-building opportunities, to maintain the beehives located on the West building’s living roof.
Mission Possible
Mission Possible addresses barriers to employment by providing supportive, transitional employment for those who are ready to enter, or re-enter, the workforce.
Union Gospel Mission
The Vancouver Convention Centre is one of the largest food donors to the Union Gospel Mission’s meal program, donating kitchen over-production to this charity for more than 15 years.
Vancouver Community College's Job Readiness Program
The Convention Centre, through its official food and beverage supplier Centerplate, places deaf and hard of hearing students from the Vancouver Community College’s Job Readiness Program in positions in the stewarding department. The Convention Centre has placed students in the program for 12-week work placements since 2010.
Buy Social Canada
In 2019, the Convention Centre was recognized as a Social Procurement Champion by Exchange Inner City and Buy Social Canada. Buy Social Canada advances and promotes social procurement by bringing socially driven purchasers and social enterprise suppliers together, building business relationships that generate social benefits to communities across the country.
Embers Vancouver
In November 2018, the Convention Centre started a partnership with Embers, a charitable social enterprise, to provide temporary staffing opportunities for workers with barriers supporting various initiatives within the facility.
The Greater Vancouver Food Bank
The Convention Centre works with event organizers to facilitate the donation of items left behind from events to local charities or community groups, including the Greater Vancouver Food Bank Society.
Kudoz
Through its official supplier Centerplate, the Convention Centre participates in Kudoz, a volunteering platform that connects adults with cognitive disabilities to the business world, allowing them to connect, grow and build confidence. Since 2017, several participants have been hosted and exposed to different functions of the business – and one individual has been hired as result of this program to date.
Plenty of Plates
Plenty of Plates is an initiative by A Better Life Foundation and Save On Meats that supports those in the Vancouver's Downtown Eastside that are food insecure.
United We Can
United We Can is a local organization that provides income and job training opportunities for those with barriers to traditional employment. The Vancouver Convention Centre is the largest single contributor to their Recycling Depot, donating 100 percent of beverage recyclables through its official food and beverage supplier, Centerplate.
Wish Drop-In Centre Society
The Convention Centre works with event organizers to facilitate the donation of items left behind from events to local charities or community groups, including WISH. Drop-in Centre Society. WISH works to improve the health, safety and well-being of women who are involved in Vancouver's street-based sex trade.
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