FOR THREE YEARS he ate his meals alone. Now Jim has a new home and is teaching one of his fellow housemates to cook. They have breakfast together every morning. Each of them is also taking their first steps towards building small businesses.
They’re two of a half-dozen housemates who are exploring micro-business ideas in their “living incubator,” a shared home with built-in opportunities to learn life skills, earn income and contribute to the community.
Opened just a few months ago, their cozy residence in midtown Kingston is operated by Our Livable Solutions and supported by a roster of volunteers and OLS alumni. It even has a name: Spark of Life House, chosen by its residents. That decision is one small example of OLS’s philosophy of involving the people it supports in decision-making.
Residents can live in the house for up to four years. “It’s a supportive environment, based on collaboration and care,” says Chrystal Wilson, Acting Executive Director of OLS.
This week Spark of Life House celebrated another milestone, holding its first group meeting about its Micro-Loan program. This night, residents are gathered in their living room, leafing through their Micro-Loan binders as Wilson guides them step-by-step through the requirements and resources that will help them.
Community service is key
An important step in the micro-loan process is for applicants to become involved in community service as a means of expanding their sense of compassion and responsibility. This might include volunteering at another organization or writing a letter of support. (Compassion activities must benefit organizations other than OLS.)
Also in the room are volunteer evaluators, who will review the participants’ proposals, give feedback and help determine their readiness to move on to higher levels of loans, learning and responsibility.
Wilson walks them through the paperwork, which includes a proposal form and follow-up documents such as evaluation guidelines, self-learning reflections and earnings reports. All are short but thorough, and flexible. “Residents can do projects together,” she tells them. They can also suggest their own learning activities. There’s also a list of how-to web resources for starting businesses on $100.
She stresses that each of them can go at their own pace – “it’s not a competition.” A longtime small-business owner herself, she reassures them that failure is okay, it’s common in small business, and it’s a learning opportunity. But if it happens, they’re expected to pay back their loans, and do some community service, and reflect on why their idea didn’t work.
Self-sustaining model
Those who are able to earn from their ideas must pay back their loans before advancing to larger amounts. This self-perpetuating cycle should help to keep the program going and it motivates participants, Wilson says.
Jim talks about his plans to start a business that taps into his love of cooking. “I’ve always enjoyed cooking. My mom was a good cook. I like cooking because it’s about making people happy.”
His earlier career was as a mobile mechanic. “I was one of those guys at the side of the 401, out there in all weather,” he says. An accident ended that work and he retrained in a food service program at Sir Sanford Fleming College.
He’s since worked for a catering company, doing events such as weddings and breakfasts. He’s also a volunteer at Martha’s Table, where he’s invented a breakfast sandwich (a poached egg on a bagel with swiss cheese and pesto). In February he volunteered at OLS’s Warm Hearts Day, where his superb pancake-flipping got him an invitation to help out Crossroads Church’s Shrove Tuesday pancake day event.
Ultimately, he’d like to open a catering business for disabled and senior citizens, he says.
One of his housemates is planning to use his micro-loan to kick-start an indigenous crafts venture, making birchbark baskets, with traditional porcupine quill work and beading, using bark harvested from downed trees. An accomplished artist who has been through hard times, he’s enthused about the potential for his work. “I’m finding myself again,” he says.
Neil, who has been at the house for two months, is quietly optimistic about the program and his housemates. “Everyone helps each other here.” He says he’s leaning towarda cleaning or a computer-based business.
The evening’s meeting includes the house-naming, suggested by one of the residents. “It’s Spark of Life, because it’s given us back our lives,” he says. “It’s about a roof over our heads and having a bed to sleep in.”
Mary Anne Beaudette is Co-Editor of The Kingston Crow.