Regional Wellness Plan Presented by: Natasha Raey Community Capacity Facilitator Community Capacity Building Strategy

The idea: This plan will aim to bring together community developers to establish common goals for wellness in the Fraser Region and to find meaningful ways for all of us to work together to achieve these goals

True Participation in Action BC Healthy Communities Surrey Food Bank Mitrunen Development Corp. Burnaby Community Connections City of Chilliwack Options Surrey Community Services Canadian Cancer Society Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Vancouver Early Childhood Refugee Project Langley Community Services Society UMOJA The Center of Well-Being Langley Food First Langley Meals on Wheels Diversity School District 36 – Surrey School District 35 – Langley Hope Community Services Chilliwack Early Years Community Coordinator Burnaby Public Library

True Participation in Action Society of St.V.dePaul New Westminster School District New Westminster Community Food Action Committee Langley Environmental Partners Society Coquitlam Farmers Market Society Center for Sustainable Food Systems - UBC Farm BC Association of Farmers' Markets Abbotsford Farm and Country Market Elizabeth Fry Society of Greater Vancouver White Rock/ South Surrey Meals On Wheels Mission Community Food Table Western Society for Children Spirit of the Children Society Delta Food Action Table St. Matthews R C Parish Primerica Financial Services LTD. Peace Arch Community Services City of Surrey Fraser Health

The Regional Wellness Plan The Fraser Regional Wellness Plan will serve to honor work and plans that have been developed in the past and will position the region to move forward together to build health capacity in our communities.

The process We strongly believe that the process of developing the plan is just as important as the plan

Our timeline Spring/ Summer 2009: Consultations with regional stakeholders (that’s you!) October 2009: Framework development meeting November 2009: Regional Gathering – launch of the Regional Wellness Plan Concepts

The Vision to 2029 Youth of Today Celebrate the Impact of the 2010 Youth Bike and Pedestrian Trips Exceed Car Trips 100% of Communities Adopt Wellness Charter at UBCM into Their OCP Everyone Has Access to Whole Food Build Sustainable Communities and Pay It Forward Food Bank Closes

The Vision to 2029 Fraser Region Hosts Wellness Forum as Model for the World Happiness Index Approaches 100% in Fraser Region Homelessness Eradicated Last Tobacco Company Closes Healthy Built Environment and Official Community Plans Respected Sustainability Charters Include Health and Wellness

Glossary of Terms Individual and Community Wellness: –As adapted by the Maine Community Wellness Coalition: Well-being for individuals, families, and communities in all the interdependent dimensions of wellness: physical, emotional, intellectual, spiritual, social, cultural, occupational, financial/material, and environmental.

the value demonstrated in coming together should outweigh the value of continuing to work in silos to address community health.

Regional Wellness Concepts

Indicators for wellness in the Fraser Region The implementation of a Fraser Regional Wellness plan should include an assessment of current indicators that exist within organizations and the development of a streamlined set of indicators to measure future wellness achievement in the region.

ACTIONS: Develop an inventory of indicators used by regional organizations to measure wellness Convene a subcommittee of interested individuals to define a streamlined list of wellness indicators Develop a Regional Wellness Plan logic model which concentrates on activities and outcomes for collaborative effort

Collaboration between agencies The most important component of the development of a Fraser Regional Wellness Plan is the process of bringing regional stakeholders together and allowing for a conscious and meaningful effort to discuss how organizations and individuals can better work together to achieve regional wellness.

ACTIONS: Environmental scan = gap and asset analysis  Pilots of organizations collaborating on projects for individual wellness and community wellness  Regional wellness charter with representation from all municipalities and agencies for a tangible symbol of the Regional Wellness Plan.

Communications Strategies Methods of communication between organizations and individuals need to be more meaningful, frequent and useful

ACTIONS A mailing list of organizations should be developed and maintained All progress towards the development of the Fraser Regional Wellness Plan should be communicated on a consistent basis to all stakeholders and feedback should also be garnered. Assess the need and feasibility of developing an online portal/ forum for service providers

Necessary Programs/ Initiatives: There are a number of currently successful programs and much needed potential programs that could greatly assist with increasing the wellness of Fraser by increasing access to skill building and other support areas to our more vulnerable populations.

ACTIONS There should be a clear linkage to programs being developed and the indicators developed for the Regional Wellness Plan Vulnerable target groups should be identified and due care taken to ensure that these groups are receiving the support and services they need from organizations and institutions.

Community engagement strategies In order to truly increase the wellness of the Fraser Region, community members (not just organizations and service providers) need to be engaged and actively involved in the pursuit of wellness for the region.

ACTIONS A communications strategy that encompasses town hall meetings and other strategies of engaging the general population to gain their perspective on community and individual wellness. Encourage municipalities and other institutions to develop and carry out public education campaigns on the importance of individual and community wellness.

Systemic changes needed Wellness will best be achieved within a system that has the infrastructure, policies and environment that allows for individuals and organizations to make the healthy choices the easy choices.

ACTIONS  Advocacy efforts should be made to encourage the development of community wellness charters (or the integration of wellness priorities into Official Community Plans) in order to ensure “principles-based decision making” that is guided by such charters and plans. Encourage neighborhood based planning and resources

Your thoughts? The plan will be posted at

Feedback Please We want to hear from you! Meeting at the end of November 2009