Tell Us Your Story. What motivated you to start your business? Why are you passionate about what you do?

Years ago, wanting to make a difference, our Founder and CEO Dylan Goggs bought a truck and headed down to Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. He began by helping the managers of one building clear out some unwanted junk with the help of a couple of local residents who were looking for work. As it turns out, they were very good at doing this kind of work in this environment. This was the genesis of how CleanStart came to be a social enterprise. We wanted to build a company that helped our community in two ways: providing employment to the barriered workforce of Southwest BC while doing much-needed property services in environments that are more sensitive or difficult than traditional buildings. And what has blossomed from this original idea is truly amazing: we are one of the Downtown Eastside’s most prominent social enterprises, with over 30 employees and a large roster of social and not-for-profit housing we do work for. That original idea has worked - we are providing great jobs and doing great work. This is what gets us to the yard bright and early every morning.

Describe and demonstrate, including metrics, your community support. How do you support and uplift your community, and how do they show that support in return? Minimum 25 words, maximum 2500 characters.

CleanStart’s mission is to provide professional services for the most difficult jobs while staffing a team facing barriers to traditional employment. To that end, we hire and train employees that come from some of Canada’s lowest income and most marginalized communities, like Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. The benefits are real and measurable. In 2022 alone we provided over 24,000 hours of employment to staff with barriers to employment, with a dollar value to the local community of over $980,000 (as estimated by Ernst and Young’s Supportive Employment metrics.) And hiring and employment is just the first step. We provide a Living Wage (currently $24.08/hr) for all staff, paid vacation, a flexible scheduling policy, a full health and wellness plan for all employees, and work with multiple groups to provide our employees with supportive services from mental health to financial planning. We do this because we believe healthy communities come not from good luck, but hard work and economic circularity. We are not a charity, but a business focused on giving employment to people facing traditional barriers. One of our biggest impacts is in the housing of our people: 55% of our workers have reported that employment at CleanStart has improved their housing situation. And our work is also supportive: we work with Social Housing Providers and Health Care Workers to help tackle some of the most difficult and sensitive property services. For instance, our Moving Division assisted the City of Vancouver, the Parks Board, and BC Housing with moving of encampments in Oppenheimer and Strathcona Parks. This is work we do well because of our experience working with similar groups and our compassionate and attentive approach to such jobs. As part of CleanStart’s dedication to its social mission, we have registered as a Community Contribution Corporation (C3), meaning we have a self imposed 40% cap for profits being distributed to shareholders. The remaining 60% is re-invested into the community. Last year, for instance, this took the form of a substantial donation to the Simpson Society, a charitable organization focused on relieving poverty by providing marginalized individuals that experience barriers to employment with equipment, training, counselling, and other services.

Why do you deserve to win the Business Impact award?

Working where we work and doing what we do, we often get asked the question: “are you a charity?” The answer, of course, is no. We are a business. A business that puts supportive employment and community enhancement first, but a business nonetheless. And while we see a lot of great work happening all around us, we believe our Social Enterprise-based approach is not only interesting, but extremely effective. We are a successful business but we do so much more: we provide our workers the means by which they can improve their lives. We are currently facing an economic downtown that is impacting the vulnerable among us in severe ways. Housing, food, and other basic necessities are becoming prohibitively expensive. And with this insecurity comes a rash of other issues. While CleanStart isn’t going to solve all the problems we’re facing, we believe we can make a difference. Our dedication to Living Wage has put a lot of financial pressure on us, but it’s a challenge we’re happy to take on. Inflationary figures as high as 7% have been floated, and our wage increases have been there to meet the rising costs. That’s a big hit to our bottom line, but here’s why we’re ok with it: increased wages mean increased security for our workers. That leads to better, healthier lives. We believe that a Social Enterprise model like CleanStart can serve to inspire businesses of all kinds to approach their work and workforce with a more community-minded, socially-positive approach. This will improve our communities, and our world.

Tell Us About Your Culture. How are you creating a sustainable and healthy workplace where everyone feels welcome? Provide examples of leadership you show in interactions with clients, vendors, contractors, staff and others.

As part of our mandate as a Social Enterprise a positive working culture is baked into our business model. Things such as flexible scheduling, paid time off, and health and wellness benefits are standard at CleanStart. But what really drives our culture is the bottom-up management philosophy which looks to our on-the-ground team to form natural connections based on respected working relationships. Part of this originates in our barriered staff, who bring to CleanStart a wealth of knowledge about how a working life can impact people with such things as housing insecurity or physical disability, to cite two examples. To work with staff in an equitable way these must be front of mind for all decisions, and it results in a fairer, more inclusive company culture. Truly an organization of peers. This leads to a more sustainable employment culture as it is largely self perpetuating, and it also increases the longevity of employees and decreases the turnover. A consistent workplace is key not just for company culture, but also our service delivery. It’s all part of the same package. We also work closely with staff to help staff engage in non-traditional forms of wellness. Retreats, day hikes, and mindfulness coaching are examples of how CleanStart’s culture puts the health and wellness of our employees above all, and a very positive culture flows from that.