Edmonton’s Downtown Enrichers
Edmonton City Centre is proud to be collaborator within Edmonton’s downtown. As the largest group of retailers (80+ stores) and businesses tenants (TD Tower, 102A Tower, Centre Point Place) we are passionate about all of downtown, the people, residents, businesses, workers, commuters, shoppers, tourists. This series is our way of reflecting on some of the people that are making a difference in your downtown and enriching the community with the work they do. We hope you enjoy the series.
Jordan Reiniger
Jordan Reiniger – Executive Director, Boyle Street Community Services
Jordan has been with Boyle Street Community Services for 6 years and was appointed Executive Director in October of 2019. Previous to his current role Jordan held the positions of Director of Programs, Director of Development as well as General Manager of Boyle Street Ventures. Jordan lives in the Boyle Street neighbourhood with his wife, Joelle, and two daughters, Maddy and Lucy. He holds a master’s degree in poverty studies and management, but his most important lessons have come from the wisdom of those in the community he is privileged to live in and serve.
Dave Freeman
Dave Freemen – President, The Brick
Dave was appointed President of The Brick in 2016. He is a long serving Brick Team member, starting in 1980 in the Brick’s Distribution Centre in Edmonton and has been in a variety of roles within The Brick including Senior Vice President of Operations and Vice President of Sales, bringing 42 years of experience through his diversity of roles.
His experience and leadership have been focused on delivering The Brick’s Vision of “Saving you More” to the Brick’s valued customers along with being an employer of choice, with further focus on giving back to the community through The Brick’s extensive charitable endeavors.
Interview
1. Jordan – tell us a little about the 50 Year journey of Boyle Street in Edmonton.
It has been an interesting journey starting with a small group of volunteers opening a drop-in centre not far from here on 96th Street. We have had a couple more moves until moving to our current location in 1996. We now offer 40 different programs all focussed on individual needs. Each person is individually assessed as we listen to their challenges then a recovery path that can work for them is mutually developed.
2. Dave – I understand the Brick is also celebrating 50 years… can you share how the Brick and Boyle Street got connected?
Yes, we just wrapped up our 50th year anniversary celebration in December, it was a wonderful year for our organization, and it was interesting to see how much the Brick has changed our community engagement over the years. Over the last 12 years specifically, we have challenged ourselves as a company to do more for the communities we are part of. Our connection to Boyle Street goes back several years and over that time we have taken the opportunity to help the organization most recently as a sponsor for the Boyle Street food truck.
3. A question that we would like both of your thoughts on – how important is it that businesses support community organizations that help the vulnerable?
JORDAN – Good question and I would say that as the challenges and complexities have become greater, we really need the passion and skill sets of the business community. It’s been proven that a neighbourhood approach involving residents, supporting, spiritual and business organizations have a deeper and longer, more successful impact.
DAVE – I think it is important. Businesses are part of the fabric of their community, and we all know there are no cookie cutter solutions. Support organizations like Boyle Street need businesses to step forward in each of their communities and help. If you are a local business owner or a larger company doing business locally, we should endeavour to support our community as best we can, understanding that support comes in many ways. In the case of Boyle, it starts with the acknowledgement that there are human need issues that exist and that they will have to worked out in the community and we need to complement and support that process.
4. Jordan – can you give us the impact values that the new development will have in Edmonton’s downtown?
This new facility is a game changer for Edmonton. It will be a purpose-built facility that allows the community to participate in caring for our vulnerable people. It will be beautiful while providing comfort and healing in addition to individual care development to bring our vulnerable population back into a productive and more sustainable life.
5. Dave – the Brick has been a cornerstone of the community and in that specific area you will be neighbours…what is the Brick doing to support this initiative?
Yes, we are very proud of the work we do on several fronts, we support Children through the Children’s Miracle Network (CMN), Wounded Warriors in support of Veterans, Homes for Hero’s in support of Homeless Veterans and a variety of others charitable endeavours across the country. For Boyle Street, we want to get let the public know we support this terrific project and know it will change the lives of our community members fighting chronic homelessness. We hope that can get other like-minded businesses to step forward and support.
Build with Boyle
If you wish to learn more about this exciting initiative or to donate please connect here: