Vancouver Programs This section covers a number of programs that contribute to liveability, community and democracy through partnerships between government and citizens. Neighbourhood Integrated Service Teams In response to the call for more efficient and effective service, the city has created Neighbourhood Integrated Service Teams. The goal is to bring city services closer to the community level so that city workers from many departments can deal with local issues in collaboration with local residents. NIST seeks to: Provide more user-friendly city services. Improve access to information. Co-ordinate city responses at the neighbourhood level. Improve public process and community participation. Promote more creative and collaborative problem-solving. A multi-departmental service team were created for each of 15 different areas of the city. Each team includes staff from Fire, Police, Health, Planning, Library, Engineering, Permits and Licences, and Social Planning. Over three thousand city workers now work directly in the community out of facilities such as community centres, libraries, firehalls and health units. Teams will identify facilities in their area in which to hold meetings. Each team will be responsible for coordinating city services and information in their area. They will also be responsible for working with the community to identify and resolve local issues. As part of this task they will establish links with community associations, non-profit groups, schools, businesses, and provincial and federal agencies. Any combination of groups and individuals might become involved in addressing a particular issue. Where possible, integrated service teams will also implement acceptable solutions. For more information on call Judy Rogers, City Manager, at 873-7626. Public Art Community Initiatives Program Public Art Community Initiatives Program supports artists and communities wanting to undertake joint community-building projects. Public art consists of almost any art work which addresses a public site, or a public issue. It may be a statue, a fountain, a paving pattern, a special garden, an interpretive program, or even a sound pattern. The intent of such art is to humanize public spaces, making them places where people want to be. Projects in the Community Initiatives Program usually focus on a neighbourhood issue or concern. For example, Mt. Pleasant's Community Fence Project, initiated by artists, drew broadly on community and artistic resources to create community pride and identity. The program co-ordinator will work with communities to identify opportunities and help prepare one or two projects for funding each year. For more information, call Office of Cultural Affairs, City of Vancouver at 871-6000. Community Cultural Development Community Cultural Development is a collaborative process in which artists and community members work together to develop projects that use the arts to define and address local issues. In conjunction with a community centre and its association, the Park Board chooses a community cultural development project to fund each year by the following process: First the community identifies issues or opportunities. Then a facilitator, familiar with the arts and community development, is contracted to work with the community. Finally artist/s are hired to work collaboratively with community. Sample projects: Artists address community identity by painting murals, sewing banners, or constructing ceramic walkways. A theatre group works with community members to address race relations. A photographer works with youth or seniors to address alienation from community life. For more information call Wendy Au at 871-6039, or Susan Gordon, the Park Board, at 257-8495. Greenways/Publicways The Greenways/Publicways program aims at improving the quality of spaces used by pedestrians and bicyclists to move through the city. In 1994, Vancouver city council approved two pilot projects -The John Street Connector and the Burrard Slopes Area pilot projects. Each explores different issues such as shared street uses, funding, and community participation. Future projects will be financed through $1.5 million allocated in the 1994-1996 Capital Plan. If you wish to help turn a project in your community into reality, become a Greenways/Publicways partner or volunteer. For more information check out the Greenways info on the City's internet site. Community Schools Unlike regular schools, community schools provide space for a myriad of community activities by staying open on weekends and in the evenings. Besides making better use of some of Vancouver's 1.25 billion dollars worth of school facilities, community schools offer youth, day-camp, preschool, and hot lunch programs, provide volunteer teacher assistants, arrange transportation for field trips, and provide care for children between the time school ends and when parents get home from work. They also co-ordinate numerous outreach programs; one of these, Silver Threads, arranges regular visits between school children and seniors. Community schools concern themselves with everything that affects the well-being of every citizen in the community. They collaborate with a whole range of community services, non-profit agencies and government departments to assist in the delivery of educational, cultural, health and social services. Thanks to over 400 volunteers they manage to turn every $1 they receive in funding into $5 worth of programming. Vancouver has six community schools located throughout the city: Bayview in Kitsilano; Britannia in Grandview/Woodlands; Carnarvon in Point Grey/Dunbar; Champlain in the Champlain Heights; Franklin in the Vancouver Heights; and Sexsmith in South Vancouver. For more information on community schools, contact any of the schools listed above; or Liz Dill, Britannia Community School at 255-9371; or Irene Wotten, Bayview Community School at 738-7018. Neighbourhood Matching Fund The Neighbourhood Matching Fund is a Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation program that provides matching funds to neighbourhood groups who want to improve and develop parks and facilities on public land. The projects must involve a broad base of people in a way that promotes community development and builds neighbourhood connections. Project examples include: greening a street-end, building a community fence, producing banners, building benches with a ceramic artist, painting murals, creating community gardens and community orchards, developing nature and history programs, building an information kiosk. To obtain funds a neighbourhood group must submit a project proposal and an application to the Park Board. An advisory committee composed of community members from across the city selects the most eligible projects. The Park Board will reimburse the neighbourhood group for project expenses up to $5,000.00 once the project has been completed. For more information, contact Susan Gordon at 257-8495. Vancouver CommunityNet The Vancouver CommunityNet provides free information and discussion forums to non-profit organizations, community groups and individuals. The CommunityNet resembles a computer bulletin board linked to a growing information network that will soon include freenets from every major city in Canada and around the world. The Vancouver Regional ComunityNet Association, founded in 1993, has over 100 active volunteers on seven different committees. The VRCA works extensively with community organizations to assist them in using the CommunityNet computer and telecommunications systems to further public participation, and provide up-to-date information. Community organizations can contact the VRCA through its voice mail telephone system at 257-3811. Individuals can access the CommunityNet by modeming 257-8778 or (better) through the internet at www.vcn.bc.ca. From Barriers to Bridges From Barriers to Bridges aims at improving race relations at the community level. The program tries to develop a dialogue between people of different race who normally don't meet. It also helps to develop plans for connecting people of different age, ethnicity, gender, religion, economic status, and sexual orientation in ways that lead to harmonious relations. Project workers set-up community forums to bring together a wide cross-section of the community. Through a visioning and planning process, participants identify barriers to more harmonious relations, and then develop action plans to remove these barriers. Projects underway include an Encounters and Arrivals Festival, community safety initiatives, and strategies to encourage block parties and inclusive board development. For more information, contact Wendy Au, Social Planning, 871-6039. Health Care Reform The Ministry of Health is in the process of restructuring health care in British Columbia. These are some of the objectives of the reform process: Bring health care and health care decision-making "closer to home" by placing responsibility for managing health care under regional and community (citizen) control. Recognize that good health comes from more than health care. Only 25% of our health status comes from health care, the rest is dependent on an adequate income, a clean environment, secure housing, employment opportunities, and a social support system. Emphasize health promotion, and the prevention of illness and injury. The Vancouver/Richmond Health Board receives a portion of the provincial health budget, and act as the planning and decision-making body for Vancouver and Richmond. The Board is made up of volunteer community members, government appointees, elected representatives from groups such as school boards, city council, and Community Health Committees. In Vancouver, six Community Health Committees, each representing a different geographic area of the city, will advise the Regional Health Board. The CHCs will identify community health needs and priorities. They will also plan, co-ordinate and, if necessary, operate local health services. Community Health Planning Groups have been meeting across Vancouver since the spring of 1993. Their task has been to inform their community about health care reform, and to involve as many people as possible in discussions around health planning at the local level. For more information on the state of health care in Canada read Strong Medicine: How to Save Canada's Health Care System by Michael Rachlis and Carol Kushner. For information on how you can take part in devising a health plan for your community, call Faye White at 775-1866.   The Citizen's Handbook Table of Contents Vancouver Programs / Part 6 The Citizen's Handbook: A Guide to Building Community in Vancouver (c) Charles Dobson / Vancouver Citizen's Committee