North Vancouver Social Plans – Phase 1

The City of North Vancouver and the District of North Vancouver collaborated to better understand the social landscape and collective well-being of their respective communities and neighbourhoods. Together, they initiated Phase 1 of the North Vancouver Social Plans and engaged our CitySpaces team to facilitate the Social Plans Phase 1 process. The Social Plans Phase 1 included preparing:

• Emerging Trends in Social Policy: A brief research memo on emerging trends in social policy including social impact assessments (SIA), collective impact processes, data sharing/open data, and social return on investment (SROI).
• Social Research and Issues Report: A baseline document with relevant social indicators.
• Engagement Summary Report: Highlights of what we heard from community consultation.
• Social Gaps Report: A summary of the gaps in the City and District’s social infrastructure, such as services, facilities, systems and networks.

A very rewarding component of the Social Plans Phase 1 process was community engagement. Over 2,150 residents from both the City and the District were engaged through a variety of activities including:

• 6 focus groups;
• 4 community workshops;
• 24 listening post stations;
• 6 pop-up events;
• 10 kitchen table talks;
• 1 caring community deep dive event; and,
• A survey that received 938 responses.

The City and the District are already utilizing outcomes from the Social Plans Phase 1 process and will be working towards creating a Community Well Being Strategy (City) and updating social policy as part of the anticipated Official Community Plan Update (District).