This past month was another busy one for the BC Healthy Communities team. We spent time in partner communities and organizations in the Okanagan, the Kootenays, and North-Central Vancouver Island. We also had the honour of presenting a workshop on metrics to the planning professionals at the Planning Institute of BC's annual conference here in Victoria. Hot on the heels of our sold-out webinar on social connectedness back in May, we were also invited to present a Pecha Kucha on the importance of social connectedness at the Rural Health Services Research Network of BC's Building Intersections Conference.

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Pictured above: PlanH Delivery Team members Shannon Clarke, Sandy Mackay, Diana Gresku and Sarah Ravlic stop for a quick selfie before their presentation Information Overload! Rethinking Metrics for Planning Healthy Communities at PIBC's 2018 Annual Conference.

Together with Ontario Healthy Communities Coalition, we bring you the A to Z of Healthy Communities—a collection of terms you'd find in the Healthy Cities movement. Read the whole alphabet here!

C is for Community Engagement
Community engagement is a key building block of healthy communities. It centres around working collaboratively as a group to create changes that improves health and well-being. It does this primarily by catalyzing change in policies, programs and practices.

Meet Cassidy Paxton, BA, our new Researcher

We first met Cassidy when she applied to do her practicum with us during her final semester of undergraduate studies in Health and Community Services at UVic. Six months later, she's joined our Research and Evaluation team, supporting our evidence-based work for communities across the province.  Find out more about Cassidy's passion for healthy communities work, and the one aspect of the healthy communities approach that she views as key to its track record of success.

Focus on health: Making the most of the Housing Needs Assessment process

As you may have heard, all municipalities will now be required to perform Housing Needs Assessments every 5 years, with the province providing $5 million in funding to help communities get started. Our Healthy Community Planner Sarah Ravlic breaks down the Housing Needs Assessment process and offers some tips for ensuring your local government can make the most of this opportunity.

Local governments: There's still time to apply for our grants

Looking for some support in implementing your healthy community initiatives? Local governments still have some time to apply for our Creating Healthy Places and Community Wellness Strategy grants, which provide funds and subject-area support to help you research, plan and execute efforts to improve health and well-being in your community. Applications close July 15.

Healthy Built Environment Linkages Toolkit recently updated

Our health is significantly influenced by the design of our communities. The BC Centre for Disease Control's Population & Public Health Program recently released an update to the Healthy Built Environment Linkages Toolkit which considers health evidence related to neighbourhood design, transportation systems, food systems, natural environments and housing, linking a synthesis of research findings to planning principles and health outcomes. Download the guide.

Every Blog Has Its Day

We've rounded up our favourite online reads for this month:

• 20 things every city can do to boost the quality of public life (Curbed)
• How does a gender perspective contribute to urban planning? (Ingenere)
• New inclusivity framework for healthy community places (Report; Gehl Institute)
• Early care and education can help narrow inequitable gaps in childhood (Report; RWJF)
• Why accessibility needs to evolve into design for everyone, by everyone (Globe and Mail)