Our Future Community Project Charts a New Future for the VSB
Last night the Vancouver School Board released a massive report titled Vancouver School Board Sectoral Review: Our Schools, Our Programs, Our Future. The report presented dozens of important recommendations that if eventually adopted by the VSB, could have a profound impact…
Prince Rupert – BC’s ‘Little Port that Could’
It’s been a while since I waxed poetic about ports. Last year I went on at some length about Port Metro Vancouver, how it’s this engine of Canadian economic growth, moving monumental quantities of trade in an understated, almost hum…
Streetfront Builds a Community for Troubled Youth Around Running
Hidden away in a pair of joined portables on the cusp of Britannia Secondary’s property is one of the Vancouver School Board’s most dynamic and inspiring programs. It’s called Streetfront. Captained by Head Teacher Trevor Stokes, Streefront is an alternative…
The Early Entrepreneurs Experiment
This is all kinds of community-awesome. Earlier today, Friend of The ‘Boot, Zac Whyte, shared the video below, which is a very awesome Taylor Conroy’s Destroy Normal campaign. Check it out here: Simply put, there needs to be more of…
How to Shelter Everyone – Lessons from First United Church
Nothing spoils Christmas like thought of dozens of people sleeping outside in cold, wet Vancouver weather. It’s been an ongoing struggle for years and isn’t likely to change anytime soon. In 2008, shortly after the municipal election and right before…
The Britannia Homework Club
Who are you? We are a non-profit society that draws its students from Vancouver’s 3 poorest neighbourhoods – Strathcona, Grandview-Woodlands and the Downtown East Side. Our mission is to support the academic, social/emotional and financial needs of youth at Britannia Secondary, struggling…
99 Ways to Leverage Our Humanity
For better or worse, many parts of the world have been recently occupied – and in some places, like Vancouver, these occupations may be coming to an end. Many elements of the Occupy Movement have issued demands. Personally, I see…
The Case for Wal-Mart
The mega-company is called Walmart and its – or his/her, because corporations are people – motto is Save Money. Live Better. I will venture a guess that – ahem – about 99% of this blog’s readers do not believe that…
End of the Blackberry World? I hope not.
Photo courtesy of Fred Lum with the Globe and Mail. Several years ago I got a Blackberry as a gift from a friend. I’ve been hooked ever since. I like the streamlined push email notification. I like the rugged business…
On Getting Old
It’s Saturday afternoon. As I type this every part of my body is throbbing with the dull ache of stiffness, fatigue, defeat, and aging. On Thursday night, my basketball team was thoroughly trounced by our younger, sprier opponents. The nine…