Is East Van Roasters a social enterprise?
East Van Roasters (EVR) is a social enterprise that was founded by PHS Community Services Society and currently owned and operated by Atira Women’s Art Society. Atira provides meaningful employment opportunities for women living in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, supporting full and equal participation in our community and economy for all of our employees.
A social enterprise is a business that measures it success on the impact it has on the community (or social mission) rather than on its profit.
On April 19th, 2012 we started EVR as an employment program for the women residents of the Rainier Hotel (which is up above us). At that time the Rainier was a federally funded project providing wrap around care for women in treatment for addiction. Our peer employment program is geared to be flexible and approachable, offering gradual entry positions that start at four hours per week and increase as the participant is motivated to take on more responsibility.
On April 1, 2021 East Van Roasters became it’s own CCC (community contribution company).
On April 1, 2022 East Van Roasters became part of the Atira Women’s Arts Society.
What is the Atira Women’s Arts Society?
Atira Women’s Arts Society (AWAS) was founded in 2014 by three women passionate about providing economic opportunities for women through the teaching, making and selling of arts and crafts in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.
The name Atira was taken from The Brooklyn Museum’s site, where The Dinner Party is on permanent display. Atira was known as “Vault of the Sky.” She was Mother Earth and a member of the council of gods in the mythology of the Pawnee, a First Nation originally located in Nebraska. Atira was the wife of Tirawa, the creator god.
For the Pawnee, Atira’s earthly manifestation is corn, which nourishes them and symbolizes the life that Mother Earth creates. “It was she who had brought forth life and it was into her body that all life would return at the end of its appointed time. Her symbol was the ear of corn, to represent the idea that, as the kernel is planted in Mother Earth (Atira) and she brings forth the ear of corn, so the child is begotten and born of woman.”
The founding mothers are Janice Abbott, Clare Mochrie and Deb Jack, along with other women who have joined the board over time.
AWAS runs Enterprising Women Making Art (EWMA), a program which began in 2003 for women in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside community, located at 800 East Hastings. EWMA provides a craft space, a storefront, and opportunities for artisans to participate in local craft fairs and fashion shows as a group. The society continues to receive support from the community- members, contributors, and consumers of the products that are sold by women in the program.
The purpose of the Atira Women’s Arts Society is to operate exclusively as a charitable institution (without profits to its members) for the purpose of providing arts-based wellness activities to women in the Downtown Eastside community who experience violence and other forms of marginalization.
How did you get the start up capital to launch EVR?
We started with a comprehensive five-year business plan and a loan from our local credit union.
We have secured a number of private foundation grants over the years to support our program and like most non-profits, we are always looking for funding to bolster our staffing as we operate with a very small team.
What is bean-to-bar chocolate?
Bean-to-bar means that we start with raw cacao beans, we sort, roast, winnow (remove the shells), grind, conche (refine), temper and form them into bars and confections. This process takes about 1 week to do.
Most chocolatiers use chocolate that is made by another company, this means they would start from the temper portion of the process listed above.
The craft chocolate industry is fairly small and focuses on craftsmanship, sustainability and transparency.
We roast coffee weekly onsite in our 15 kg Loring fluid airbed roaster. We sell our coffee beans retail out of the shop and online and we have a wholesale coffee program for a number of cafes, restaurants and offices. This also provides training opportunities for weighing out coffee, packaging and delivery.
Do you roast coffee?
Suspended coffee is basically a pay-it forward system that allows our customers to purchase extra coffee(s) or drinking chocolate(s) and then we add a number to our chalkboard.
Community members that cannot afford to purchase a beverage can pop into the shop and if they see a number on the board they can have a suspended drink.