Hastings Crossing BIA is Canada's first Social Innovation Business Improvement Area. The 2014 Executive Director's Report highlights the programming and advocacy of the organization from 2011-2014 and showcases the various Community Economic Development focused projects of the organization.

1. Hastings Crossing Business Improvement Association

2.  Lay the organizational foundation for the BIA
 Develop board and staff competency
 Committees, strategic planning, work plan, internal systems, manage
and guide the ED
 Create HxBIA brand, voice, identity
 Website, logo, communications strategy
 Position HxBIA accordingly - Canada’s social innovation BIA
 Create programming in accordance with brand and position
 Experimentation, partnership building, collaboration, grant
applications to try new things, prove the value of programming areas
and testing assumptions
 Take a leadership role for Community Economic Development in
the DTES (advocacy, convening etc.)

3. 450 businesses (retail, office/services, non-profit and social
enterprise, post secondary, creative, web, design etc.)
150+ properties with total value of nearly $400 million

4.  $103,000 starting budget
 Leveraged this through numerous grants and
sponsorship
 40 cents per $1000 taxable assessed value
(class 5 and 6)
 Based on the impact of our programming
thus far we hope we can increase this levy in
2016 to keep the area even cleaner, safer and
more active with events, public art etc.

5.  Sheer magnitude of street disorder and street debris
along Hastings
 Mental health and addiction and other public health
challenges
 Keeping parks and other public spaces clean
 Tagging, vandalism, acid sketching etc.
 Current tax policies towards SMEs, particularly retail
 Rapidly rising values (and leases)
 Retention of existing businesses
 Decaying heritage properties
 Managing tensions and creating equitable
opportunities

6.  Young and energetic entrepreneurial community
 DTES Local Area Planning Process
 Amazing cluster of heritage buildings and
affordable spaces with real character
 Already a good cluster of F&B and Cafes
 Newly renovated retail spaces along Hastings
and Pender
 Major post-secondary institutions
 Incredibly innovative non-profit sector
 Proximity to other BIAs and transit nodes

12.  MP Neighbours Community Patrols -
Crime prevention, street debris removal,
business and property owner support.
Social Impact Employment.

13.  Sep 2012- Sept 2014 (MP Neighbours)
 Needles and street debris removed – 10,000+
items
 Illegal dumpings reported to COV – 1,000+ cases
 De-escalated hostile situations – 196 incidents
 9 Part-Time flexible jobs created for residents
with barriers

18. The Lowdown – SFU Fine Arts Student Submission (FOUND Spaces Collective)

19.  CommunityWise
 North America’s first social inclusion strategy for a
Business Improvement Area. Decal recognition
program for participating businesses.
 Living History Series
 Innovative signature BIA event that seeks to activate
numerous venues by screening a documentary on a
person, place or event of significance in our area’s
history. Integrated crowdfunding, marketing and
promotions.

20.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1eZgysMa4
XY
 This past year we have been working on the launch of what we envision as our signature yearly event., unlike many BIAs
this event will be focused on activating spaces within businesses, as opposed to street closures. The event is called the
Living History Series, and it is a multimedia celebration of the history of our area through the examination of a person,
place or event of historical significance. Over the past year we have worked with a film production company to unearth the
fascinating history of a long gone notoriously famous venue, the Smilin’ Buddha Cabaret, a venue that went through
dramatic changes from the 1950s to early 1980s. It started as a supper club and ended as a punk rock dive, and in that time
countless stories and lore were generated, including Jimi Hendrix’s connection to the Buddha along with Tommy Chong
and other Vancouver artists who grew to great acclaim. With original never before seen performances by Joe Keithley of
DOA and Neil Osborn of 54-40 and with dozens of interviews with people who performed, worked at or frequented the
Smilin’ Buddha we uncover the story of one of Vancouver’s most legendary lost venues.
 Now comes the truly innovative part of this. We have raised several thousand dollars in sponsorship to hire the production
team who have done outstanding work thus far but we still need $5000 more to finish this project and provide some seed
funding for the next Living History topic. In so doing we are turning to crowdfunding to both raise awareness of the project
but also to reward our contributors with local swag that will market our member businesses.
 This is our first foray into utilizing crowdfunding not only as a means to complete a project but to also mobilize marketing
for our members, gift certificates, experiences, products etc. When the documentary is complete we will be screening it in
several small venues throughout the neighbourhood, and will be working with businesses to activate their spaces if they
wish to host a screening of their own. We are truly excited about this project as it is very close to completion. The Museum
of Vancouver has also expressed interest in screening the documentary and assisting us with getting word out about the
crowdfunding campaign. The combination of built in marketing for our members through the contribution system of the
crowdfunding platform, the platform as a means to bring in revenue to complete the project, and the potential to activate
multiple locations in our BIA catchment area make this a very innovative and well integrated signature event.

21. Sunday, October 5th:
2pm - 5pm
Thursday, October 9th:
4pm - 8pm
Friday, October 10th:
730 am - 1030 am
Wednesday, October 15th:
8am - 11am
A chance for you as
small business
owners to influence
policy, we lobbied
hard for this…

22.  RENEWAL
 Now that we have developed foundational
programming and demonstrated what this
BIA is capable of doing we want to increase
the levy to really have a more substantial
impact.
 We would love for you to be more involved on
our committees, special events etc.
 THANK YOU