CleanStart BC

Our Mission

To provide professional services while offering employment to people who have barriers to employment, such as poverty and disability.

Our Values

We believe that everyone deserves the chance to work and become financially independent. We provide the opportunities for people to achieve this goal. 

Our Vision

Over the next five years our vision is to provide training and career opportunities for 150 persons that have traditional barriers to employment.

Our Story

In 2009 Simpson Society partnered with Anhart Community Housing (formerly Community Builders Foundation) to help establish this new social enterprise initiative.  Anhart provided the initial seed money to help launch the business and the partnership developed as CleanStart began to manage the waste and recycling in Anhart’s buildings. The business was launched with one small pick up truck and two employees who were tenants living at the Dodson Rooming House.

Fast-forward to today and CleanStart BC operates across Metro Vancouver, the Lower Mainland, and Vancouver Island, employing over 30 people - many of whom have barriers to employment. As an organization, CleanStart believes that employment - and the security that it brings - provides the foundations from which people can begin to bring stability to their lives. 

Scaling the business was fraught with challenges though, not the least of which was coordinating employees work lives around their personal schedules, and wages around their social assistance benefits. However, progressive management has meant that CleanStart is able to meet its customers demands whilst also providing adaptable work schedules to its employees.

'coordinating employees work lives around their personal schedules

The success of this model is illustrated by the fact that CleanStart is now the go-to service provider for Vancouver’s not-for-profit social housing sector, working closely with the likes of BC Housing, Raincity Housing, Atira, and many others. 

Often a fundamental issue for social enterprises is that their social missions can conflict with the enterprise. However, CleanStart BC has developed a model that makes it a rare scalable example of a social enterprise that is achieving both its social and business goals.