Improve equity and inclusion
2023 accomplishments
Vancouver is proud of our diverse heritage and committed to centering and welcoming community voices who have been historically excluded or ignored. The below accomplishments demonstrate how we worked to create a community that provides access to opportunities, so everyone has the chance to reach their full potential.
Co-creating our future
Our Vancouver
Kicked off community engagement to co-create the Our Vancouver Comprehensive Plan, the City’s most important planning tool used to guide how Vancouver grows and develops over the next 20 years. The plan’s development strategy centers on equity and community partnerships to ensure disproportionately impacted and historically marginalized communities drive the design of the new plan.
Fourth Plain for All
Through authentic relationship-building and inclusive strategies, the City and its partners engaged diverse multicultural communities in central Vancouver to help co-create the Fourth Plain for All investment strategy. The final plan ensures central Vancouver communities that have experienced long-standing social and economic disparities and were disproportionately impacted by COVID-19 benefit most from the $25 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds. Visit the ARPA section of this report to learn more about plans to expand housing options, build economic prosperity, improve parks public spaces, public health, transportation safety and more.
Community and neighborhood grants
Allocated $200,000 in funding to launch a new Community and Neighborhood Grants Program to support local efforts to build and strengthen community connections, encourage partnerships between groups and empower residents to take meaningful action in the community. The grant review process prioritizes those projects that benefit or engage historically underserved communities, neighborhoods with poor access to community amenities/services, areas of the community identified in the City’s Equity Index and/or serve a diverse group of community members.
Community wellness fair
We hosted the City’s first community wellness fair, a public-facing event to support community members in signing up for state-funded health insurance and accessing other community health resources.
Reducing barriers to equitable justice
Community Court
Launched a Community Court Program designed to help individuals charged with unlawful camping and other livability offenses break down barriers to obtaining housing. HART officers have cited more than 75 individuals living unsheltered into community court, where they are connected to needed services upon enrollment in the program.
Criminal Diversion
Reduced the Criminal Prosecution Diversion Program participation fee to $50 for individuals with limited financial means. The diversion program offers an alternative to traditional prosecution – allowing first-time offenders with a minimal criminal history to avoid a criminal conviction by participating in treatment, staying crime-free and paying restitution to victims.
Improving equity, accessibility of City communications
Launched a new City website (cityofvancouver.us) to provide a modern, user-friendly experience to all community members. The new site is fully accessible, compliant with current Web Content Accessibility Guidelines AA standards and includes an accessibility menu where settings can be customized to meet individual user preferences and needs.
Launched a quarterly print newsletter for all households in the City limits and those receiving City services in our urban growth area to help keep the community better informed and engaged with City news, projects and initiatives. The newsletter is printed in English and available online in Español, Русский, Tiếng Việt and 中国人.
Building a diverse and equity-savvy workforce
30×30 Initiative
Increased the number of women recruited by the Vancouver Police Department by 121% from 2022 to 2023. The department is prioritizing efforts to increase the representation of women in its police recruit classes through participation in the 30×30 initiative, which aims to achieve at least 30% women recruits by 2030.
DEI training
All employees completed a minimum of eight hours of self-selected equity- and inclusion-based professional development following new, annual equity/inclusion professional development requirements. The professional development covered various strategies and approaches to enhance individual employee understanding, skills, and practices to create a more equitable and inclusive community and workplace.
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