We're excited to share that we're in the process of developing two new additions to our Action Guide series, focusing on Community Engagement and Healthy Housing. Our guides feature actions and examples from BC communities, opportunities for funding, indexes of other resources and summary checklists that local governments can use to evaluate their processes and determine next steps forward.

Look for the guides in early 2019. In the meantime, browse our current collection of Action Guides on PlanH.ca.

Evaluation practice is rapidly evolving, and new tools and methods are constantly emerging. This November, BC Healthy Communities attended the Canadian Evaluation Society's BC Conference in Vancouver. While our Research & Impact Specialist Diana Gresku presented, our Researcher Cassidy Paxton catalogued many of the valuable tips, tools and resources shared at the conference. In this blog post, Paxton shares her top learnings from the conference for others interested in evaluating organizational impact.

Released earlier this year, Kelowna's Journey Home Strategy is a five-year plan to ensure everyone in the city has a home. The strategy's extensive consultation process is a compelling example of what can be achieved when inclusivity is prioritized and included a Lived Experience Circle—an ongoing advisory group of people who have experienced homelessness. The city's plan aims to see 2100 formerly homeless community members housed by 2024. Learn more about the Journey Home Strategy.

The NCCEH Healthy Built Environment in Canada Online Discussion Forum is now live. The forum is open to anyone involved with or interested in designing the built environment, including local governments, those in the design and planning professions, and health professionals. Join the forum to ask questions about healthy built environments, share information and resources, or discuss related topics. Learn more here.

How do we better connect with those we share a front door with? In November 2018, Vancouver invited stakeholders and industry leaders to explore learnings from the Hey Neighbour pilot project, a PlanH-funded initiative. The evening also included recommendations from the Happy City Designed to Engage report, another initiative focused on policy interventions to promote social connection in multi-family housing. Learn more about both projects and view the presentation on the Hey Neighbour! site.

Did you know PlanH resources include a selection of videos by and for our local government partners? From one-on-ones with local leaders in BC explaining the connection of local governments to health, to videos explaining the value of the healthy communities approach, to profiles of communities using PlanH grants to make their communities thrive, this section showcases some of the best that PlanH has to offer. Explore our videos here.