Metro Vancouver Alliance members will be joining in the Walk for Reconciliation in Vancouver on September 24. We are walking because we want to show our commitment to the reconciliation movement. Together we are creating a vibrant Canada where all peoples achieve their full potential and shared prosperity.

Reconciliation starts with you and reconciliation belongs to all of us. We hope you will join our team at the Walk for Reconciliation.

Join and support the spirit of ‘Namwayut - We are all one. Hope to see you there.

In partnership with Matchmaker Productions, we are happy to offer a discount to MVA members to a production of a new comedy about the Vancouver housing crisis. Satirizing issues familiar to all Vancouver audiences, The Concierge of Vancouver looks at the consequences of skyrocketing real estate prices and living costs. It is the second in a trilogy of new Canadian plays, written by local playwright Shaul Ezer.

Speakers from MVA's Housing Campaign Action Team will be making a presentation after the October 11th show.

Visit theatrewire.ca and enter coupon code GROUPB book tickets for $20 (regular adult admission is $31). Members who make use of this discount are asked to consider donating the savings (or a portion thereof) to Metro Vancouver Alliance. Visit our donations page to find out more about how your donation supports our work.

The play runs October 6 to 16, 2016 at Studio 1398, Granville Island. For more information, visit www.matchmakerproductions.com.

Representatives from MVA's member organizations gathered on September 22 2016 at the Annual General Meeting to elect a new board, ratify the financial report, receive an update on MVA activities for 2015-2016, and plan for 2016-2017.

MVA spent the past year actively engaged campaigning around the issues identified by our members. At the same time, we continued to focus on leadership training, institutional development and recruitment of new member organizations.

Read the full 2015-2016 update below and visit the MVA Facebook page for some photos.

MEDIA ADVISORY                                                              Friday, May 27, 2016

Members of the Metro Vancouver Alliance are gathering at Champlain Heights Mall on Saturday May 28 to survey residents and businesses and collect information about transit needs in the neighbourhood. MVA is particularly interested in the impact of the planned rerouting of the bus service along 49^th avenue this summer.

The information gathered from this survey and others planned over the summer will be developed into a proposal that will be brought forward in a proposal to TransLink designed to bring reliable and accessible transit service to the Champlain Heights area of Vancouver.

Date: Saturday May 28, 2016
Time: 10:30 AM
Location: Champlain Square Mall, 7132 Kerr St, Vancouver

RouteSpeak is a citizen led transit improvement network which will develop proposals intended for TransLink to address and and will provide accountability back to the community. The project’s goal is to make transit more accessible, affordable and reliable and to build a civic structure which will increase the strength of our communities through engagement and leadership development.

RouteSpeak will develop a true consultative relationship between TransLink and interested citizens and replace cynicism with positive action through education and prioritized needs of local communities.

For more information: Jack Jardine, jack@sparxc.ca

Web: http://www.metvanalliance.org/routespeak

Since the founding assembly in 2014 the Metro Vancouver Alliance has grown by leaps and bounds. This year, for the first time ever, the International Areas Foundation Northwest Regional Leadership Training was held in Canada - right here in BC - hosted by the Metro Vancouver Alliance.

39 activists from Seattle, Spokane, Portland, Victoria, Calgary, Edmonton and Brisbane, Australia, participated in training from February 5th - 9th at Capilano University to gain a thorough understanding of the organizing practices and principles developed by Industrial Areas Foundation member organizations over its 74-year history.

Transit Campaign Action Team Co-chair, Maria Robinson, made a powerful presentation on the need for a fair fare structure to the Translink Board. In the coming months MVA will be gathering our members' views on what a fair fare structure would look like. Here's the video ...

North Shore - On February 27, 2016 at St. Anthony’s RC Church in West Vancouver, nineteen north shore residents most of whom had attended the February 8th Affordable Housing Assembly and made a commitment to work on the campaign, met with the Housing Team. Michael Markwick (Capilano University), Paul Clark (St. Catherine’s Anglican Church) and James Cavalluzzo (BCGEU) headed delegations to plan the follow-up meetings with the three north shore mayors. Attendees at this meeting all committed to become delegates on one of these three teams: City of North Vancouver, District of North Vancouver, and City of West Vancouver. All three teams will meet again on Saturday, April 2nd at noon at St. Anthony’s Church in West Vancouver to report on their progress.

City of Vancouver - The City passed a revised Standards and Mainantence By-law in the spring of 2015. MVA had no input on this. We attended the Council meeting when it was passed to express our concern. 

Our campaign to make covenants a component of all new developments, locking in truly affordable purchase and rental housing in perpetuity is continuing. We announced last fall to the Board and Strategy Team meeting that we were prepared to start a pilot project of our own to test the covenant policy. After meeting with key people who helped shape the Whistler Housing Authority with its covenant policy designed to supply affordable housing to people who work in Whistler, we launched a pilot project to find developer(s) and a site where we could demonstrate that our ask at the 2014 Municipal Election Assembly would work in Vancouver. 

Affordable Housing Assembly a Success!

Over 300 enthusiastic members of the Metro Vancouver Alliance and community partners, representing a range of faith, labour, educational and community groups in North Vancouver gathered on Family Day to call on local politicians to address the affordable housing crisis on the North Shore.

In an effort to address social isolation in their neighbourhood, a group of MVA member organizations in South Vancouver held a listening campaign, using a series of one-to one conversations and house meetings. One of the major challenges that surfaced during these conversations was the isolation of immigrant seniors, excluded by language from participating in their local community. It was discovered that many of these seniors bring their grandchildren to story-telling sessions at the library, but have no opportunity to interact with others while they are there. Because of cuts in funding and government restrictions, few of these seniors can access ESL classes.

Feelings of loneliness and social isolation are common problems for Vancouverites. Paul Clark, co-chair of theMetro Vancouver Alliance Social Isolation Campaign Action Team was interviewed on Roundhouse Radio recently. Listen in at the link