Community Partner:
Potluck Café Society
Knack is an expanding initiative of Potluck Café Society, which connects employers who want to achieve community impact with a labour force that is experiencing barriers to employment. In order to meet the needs and abilities of local residents, Knack reframes the unit of work from 40hours/week to small tasks, and aims to create a ‘task bank’ of low barrier income generating opportunities.
Knack’s online platform uses digital badges (similar to girl scout badges) to create a standard common language for employmentrelated skills. This online platform allows ‘Knack Earners’ to show off their collection of badges earned through attending workshops, volunteering, and working. This microcredentialing system (aka digital badges) addresses long gaps in resumes experienced by many residents of Vancouver’s inner city population.
Knack is a quick growing start up: over 50 Knack Earners have been awarded more than 150 badges, and a task bank with 15 employers to date. Learn more at www.knackworks.ca.
LEDlab is pleased to partner with Potluck Cafe Society for a second year. The scope of our work with the Knack 2.0 project is to further develop a digital badging ecosystem amongst inner city organizations recognized by government in order to broaden the Knack labour pool. This will require collaborating with other agencies in the DTES along the income generating continuum through recognition, navigation, and motivation of employmentrelated skills.
LEDlab Project Coordinator, Teresa, will:
Map out how Knack could take the form of a collective impact initiative for employment related skills in the DTES
- Interview other social enterprises/agencies doing preemployment training and understand who is doing what
- Identify opportunities for shared training and badging
- Model the economic opportunity in shared training and badging
- On behalf of Knack, support agencies to create and upload badges
- Assist with strategic development and growth, including new partner acquisition