BC Healthy Communities recognizes that local governments are focusing their attention on delivering basic services in response to COVID-19. Our team is committed to supporting you in these uncertain times by making adjustments to the 2020 PlanH Healthy Communities Grant program, which is currently accepting applications. We have extended the grant deadlines to July 15. We've also retitled the existing Social Connectedness stream to be the Community Connectedness stream, and in addition to projects that enhance social connection, we're now accepting project proposals for this grant in which local governments start developing strategies and plans to address the mental health implications of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Though local governments have duties during public health emergencies as specified under B.C.'s Public Health Act, it can be hard to know which other actions should take priority and how to make decisions that will not only respond to the current situation, but also build community resilience towards future crises. The Pan American Health Organization's Pandemic Response Toolkit provides guidance with these issues and more for local governments.

Has your community received an Age-friendly Communities Grant, or is it considering applying for one in the future? BC Healthy Communities is hosting a webinar on June 9 exploring how local governments can ensure their Age-friendly needs assessments and action plans will have maximum impact. Issues including equity, engagement, and evaluation will be covered, discussing practical approaches that allow communities to move forward with Age-friendly planning and help navigate some considerations related to the arrival COVID-19.

The City of Kelowna’s Journey Home Strategy to End Homelessness is a strong example of healthy and equitable community engagement. In developing the Journey Home Strategy, the city hosted a Lived Experience Circle on Homelessness, comprised of of individuals who have personal experience with homelessness or precarious housing. Read the success story.

Mid-Island Métis Nation is one of seven Chartered Communities in the Island region. Through a PlanH grant, the community built on their existing organizational skills to improve cultural health awareness. Now, they’re exploring ways to build self-sustaining funding, so that MIMN and other nations can gain independence from the grant funding model. Read the success story.

In an April Angus-Reid poll, 50% of Canadians reported a worsening  of their mental health since the start of self-isolation. It’s well-established that social isolation or loneliness has a devastating impact on individual and community health, on par with physical inactivity, obesity and lack of access to health care. So how do we use a wide-angle lens to appreciate the current need for physical distancing without social disconnection? Read more at BC Healthy Communities' website.

Canadian communities are now more than ever expecting to be part of creating and evaluating public decisions. Equitable engagement lifts up seldom-heard-from voices early on in the decision making process by identifying and lowering the many barriers that prohibit participation. We speak with Jessica Delaney, Principal at Delaney + Associates, about what it takes to make engagement truly equitable. 

In 2019, Revelstoke decided to take action to respond to its emerging and complex affordability challenges. Using a Collective Impact model, a group of municipal leaders, businesses, non-profits, and citizens banded together as Vibrant Revelstoke to tackle these challenges. Now, the group is leveraging the networks and capacity they had built in order to respond to the current pandemic, creating strong neighbourhood connections by sharing reliable information, connecting isolated families and seniors and supporting students to access computers. Read more about their success on the Tamarack Institute's website. 

Local governments, health authorities and social services organizations in Canada are working hard to respond the the enhanced risk of COVID-19 infections in group settings including encampments, shelters, retirement homes, group homes, and transitional housing. As a response, the Alliance for Healthier Communities of Ontario hosted a webinar at the beginning of this month to provide guidance around supportive care for COVID-19 in group living settings. Register to view an on-demand version of the webinar.