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Social purchasing portal expanding
Lisa Wichmann
Vancouver—An initiative called the Social Purchasing Portal (SPP) is gaining momentum across Canada, following its grassroots conception in Vancouver four years ago.
The SPP is a tool to bring purchasers together with socially-responsible suppliers-without incurring extra cost to the purchaser. The portal can now be found in Toronto, Winnipeg, Surrey, Fraser Valley, Calgary, Vancouver Island and Waterloo, Ont. Several other communities are in the process of setting it up.
It got started in 2003, when David LePage was working with unemployed people in Vancouver's downtown east side. LePage, who is program manager for Enterprising Non-Profits, was trying to help "chronically unemployed" people re-enter the workforce.
"What we realized is we could train people for employment, but because they were either a single mom who'd been at home with their kids for a while, or people who had recovered from drug addiction...they didn't have the best track record or the best resume."
LePage approached various companies, especially in the IT sector, only to realize they didn't hire entry-level candidates. "They were very interested in supporting the concept...they wanted to be socially responsible and wanted to look at hiring, but their requirements are very high, because they're writing software," he explained.
"So we looked down the supply chain and said, 'aha'! The people who do hire entry-level people are [companies] like office cleaning, courier services, catering..."
LePage and his team went back to the IT companies, and asked them to consider buying from the caterers and couriers who hire underemployed people.
"So what it meant was a company like Pivotal Corp., who isn't going to hiring entry-level employees, to direct their catering to a downtown east side caterer who does hire from that pool of people. So by using their purchasing, they're not paying more, they're not giving up quality, but they're adding a source of value."
For purchasers, participating in the SPP is a quick way to add an element of social responsibility to their sourcing, without paying more, or losing value. "If you can get the same quality and the same price, then choose from the social purchasing portal list. All of those suppliers have made a commitment to hire from...the inner city or from marginalized communities," he said.
The portal may be viewed at www.sppcanada.org
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