Board Voice has partnered with The Federation of Community Social Services of BC (FCSSBC) who won a grant from the Vancouver Foundation to engage with businesses, municipalities, community partners and citizens to spark interest in new ideas in the design and delivery of human services in BC and create the climate needed for change.
Board Voice has been advocating for a made in BC social policy framework for over two years now. This grant will allow Board Voice and the FCSSBC to begin this conversation in communities right across the province.
Initial partners include municipalities like Duncan (who took this cause to UBCM), Surrey, Burnaby, Prince George, Vancouver, and other supporting municipalities like Nelson and Campbell River, the BC Association of Social Workers, the Surrey Board of Trade and—beyond its funding role—the Vancouver Foundation.
This is more than a discrete project. We see an opportunity to engage partners in the community benefit sector, business, municipal, health, justice, and education sectors, as well as regular citizens, to begin to talk about more effective social policy, more bang for the tax dollars spent and—most importantly—better outcomes for our seniors, our kids, people with physical and mental health challenges, those struggling with addiction, First Nations people and immigrants. A conversation about how we all want to be treated and live together.
If we are successful, we will have not just a project with some check boxes ticked off, but the beginnings of a movement towards a more equitable society, where every individual and every community have the opportunity to reach their full potential.
And that is why so many of us volunteer our time.
We are beginning to plan next steps and will roll some of it out at the Board Voice annual conference in November (you need to be there!). The actual project begins in January.
We have only come this far with the support of some extraordinary people. We will only get where we want to go with your support. Join us and start a movement!
Michael Davis
Chair, Board Voice