Together with our partner communities across the province, we're excited to announce the recipients of our Health and Wellness Grant for Indigenous Communities. Through a combination of funding and customized supports, these grants work to support health and wellness planning. This marks the first PlanH grant specifically for Indigenous communities. Learn more about the grants and the community projects being funded.

Rural communities are a key part of our province. But we know that when it comes to planning and policy, urban solutions are often ineffective in the face of unique assets—and challenges—of rural communities. That’s why, based on your feedback, we’ve re-developed our Rural Resources page to feature a new interface, a carefully curated selection of resources, and a way for you to submit your favourite rural resources to be added to our collection. Browse our new Rural Resources page.

Join us on April 3 for a webinar debuting our Healthy Built Environment Tools Guide. This new resource, launching this month through PlanH in partnership with Vancouver Coastal Health, gathers our top 10 tools for local governments looking to identify the strengths and gaps in their community’s built environments. The webinar will review a selection of these tools in detail, looking at how they can be used to make small changes that can improve health in communities. Learn more and register here.

In order to work towards improved health and well-being in communities, clarity is vital. Collaboration across the many sectors involved in healthy communities work—planning, public health and policy, to name just a few—works best when we can fully understand one another. That’s why we’re excited to announce the release of our Jargon Buster, a PlanH resource that provides simple definitions to some of the most complex terms regularly used in healthy communities work. Explore the Jargon Buster.

One of our 2018 grant recipients, the Township Esquimalt, has announced their ‘missing middle’ housing project, supported by a PlanH grant. This month, we bring you a more in-depth look at what the project will do for the community, why Esquimalt decided to act, and more information on how ‘missing middle’ housing serves as a vital part of the housing spectrum. Learn more. 

Political commitment is a pillar of healthy communities work. The City of Campbell River is demonstrating its commitment to tackling regional housing issues through the funding of a Coordinator position for the Campbell River and District Coalition to End Homelessness, an organization whose roots can be traced back in part to a 2014 PlanH-supported workshop. Read more.