Kelowna’s Lived Experience commitment to healthy community engagement
Kelowna’s Journey Home Strategy is a strong example of healthy and equitable community engagement, incorporating a Lived Experience Circle made up of individuals with experience living with homelessness or precarious housing.
A message from our partners at the Ministry of Health: Food bank donations are low
In light of the current COVID-19 pandemic, our partners at the Ministry of Health have asked us to share the following message regarding food banks in B.C.: We are asking government, businesses, corporations and individuals to please remember that at this time, food...
Physical distancing and healthy spacing… without disconnecting
It seems like until the beginning of March, ‘social isolation’ was a term very few of us in B.C. knew of, confined to the halls of academia or public health.
Reflecting on equity in the COVID-19 pandemic
Amidst health advisories, travel restrictions, cancelled events in the province and worldwide, BC Healthy Communities is working as an organization to respond.
Hey Neighbour! Social connectedness program expands
In 2018, with support from a PlanH grant, the City of Vancouver piloted the Hey Neighbour! initiative to explore how resident-led leadership might create more socially-connected buildings.
“It’s not a numbers game”: Getting to the heart of equitable engagement with Jessica Delaney of Delaney + Associates
Canadian communities are now more than ever expecting to be part of creating and evaluating public decisions.
Building connection to build capacity: Mid-Island Métis Nation
Nine years ago, the Mid-Island Métis Nation (MIMN) could not pay rent, let alone develop and implement programs to tackle systemic issues in community health.
5 things to know about the TogetherBC Poverty Reduction Strategy Funding
Local governments are at the front-line of seeing the impacts of poverty in their communities, and play a central role in developing local solutions with community partners and other levels of government.
Doing the right thing: lessons learned from IAP2
A few weeks ago, our Communications Manager Johanna and I had the good fortune of attending a public participation (P2) training put on by the International Association for Public Participation (IAP2). We met dozens of P2 and community engagement professionals from around Canada advocating for public input in a variety of sectors and projects. Community engagement is a pillar of Healthy Communities work, reinforcing a ‘whole of community’ approach involving individuals, communities, governments, and other entities in policy and decision making.