Cardboard Project 3.0 – A Virtual Community Event to Highlight Pandemic Impact on Vancouver’s DTES

To 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 — on Saturday, May 15, from 10 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. 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 take the form of a virtual talkshow, split into three 2.5 hour sessions. Each session will feature different voices from the DTES community, that includes Employ to Empower Entrepreneurs, as well as community figures such as Sarah Blyth (Executive Director of OPS), Niki Sharma (MLA – Hastings Sunrise), and more. Attendees can sign up for individual sessions, multiple sessions, or for the full day. 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. To make this event accessible to all, tickets are being offered by donation, suggested at $10. All proceeds will help low-income entrepreneurs access business mentoring and resources through Employ To Empower. Key partners supporting the event include Simon Fraser University External Relations, BC Housing, Daily Hive Vancouver, Cillema, Twin Oak Media, and the videography team (Sam Neufeld, Eri Kikuchi, Jordan Siemens, and Anna Ashbarry). Time: Saturday, May 15, 2021, from 10 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Location: Virtually online Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/the-cardboard-project-30-community-connection-in-a-time-of-disconnect-tickets-150845542077?aff=ebdssbonlinesearch Virtual gallery to view after the event: http://www.cardboardproject.com/ Video trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHBFQ9kfOcE Event contact: Employ to Empower https://employtoempower.com/ Christina Wong christina@employtoempower.com 778.928.1221 Session 1: Creating Connection from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. 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 1:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. 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 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. 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).