11. South Vancouver Neighbourhood House

Organization Information

Organization Name

South Vancouver Neighbourhood House

Mission and Vision of Organization

Vision

Everyone in South Vancouver lives in a healthy and engaged community.

Mission

SVNH plays a leadership role in building healthy and engaged neighbourhoods in South Vancouver by connecting people and strengthening their capacity to create change.

Guiding Principles + Values

Our Diversity and Inclusion Statement

• We are diverse individuals of all ages, colours, ethnicities, nationalities, faiths and beliefs, cultures, abilities, socio-economic and education levels, sexual orientations and gender identities.
• We communicate in many languages. We value and celebrate diversity and inclusion. We define diversity broadly and encompass many individual attributes.
• We create an environment that actively embraces diversity and inclusion by recognizing the value in the uniqueness of all individuals.
• We strive to reflect the diversity of our neighbourhoods in our membership, our Community Boards, our volunteers and our staff.
• We respect all neighbours. We expect that all who come to our neighbourhood houses and camps, all those who provide or receive services, will extend the same respect to all.
• We acknowledge that we live, work, and play on the traditional, ancestral and unceded territories of the Coast Salish peoples.

Our Food Hub and Spoke Values

• Respect and Dignity
• Care
• Culturally-appropriate
• Equity
• Hand up, not a hand out

Contact Information

• Primary Contact Person(s): Joey Liu
• Email: [[1]]
• Phone: 604-324-6212 ext 210
• Address: 282 West 49th Avenue
• Website: www.southvan.org

Preferred Method of Contact

• Best method(s) to contact: Email
• Best day(s) to contact: Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays
• Best time(s) to contact: Afternoons

Preferred Platform(s) for Remote Collaboration

• In person, Skype, Microsoft Teams

Project Description

Context: What challenge or issue does the project aim to address?

Food insecurity, social isolation and inequitable access to support and community are issues that face South Vancouver residents. Food assets and programs are fewer and far between in South Vancouver which is comprised of the Sunset, Victoria-Fraserview and Killarney neighbourhoods, and home to over 100,000 people and majority racialized and newcomer households. Language and cultural barriers are substantial, which makes providing supports that are community-driven challenging.

South Vancouver Neighborhood House has established the SVNH Food Hub and Spoke program located at the Langara YMCA. We are currently operating a community food distribution program for residents across 7 locations, working our 'spoke' partners from other agencies. We strive to provide the most accessible, culturally appropriate services for all our neighbors. The goal of the Food Hub and Spoke model is to meet immediate food security needs while also developing neighbourhood specific community hubs and long term food security strategies.

Main Project Activities

• Support and help implement community engagement strategy
• Research and develop food safety / best before tips, nutritional info and recipes for food in grocery boxes. Help translate into various languages if possible.
• Support program evaluation and community feedback
• Help complete and update training guides for volunteers and spoke agencies

Will the project work for the students be online, in person, or a combination?

• Project work can be a combination of online and in person. Students can also get involved with our Food Hub volunteer shifts to get a sense of what our program is all about!

Expected Project Deliverable(s)

• To be decided with community partner at the first meeting

Student Assets and Skills (preferred or required)

• Cross-cultural communication and understanding of equity issues in racialized communities.
• Interest/experience in cooking and food safety.
• Writing skills.
• Helpful language skills include Cantonese, Mandarin, Spanish, Arabic, Punjabi, Tagalog.

Student Assets and Skills (to be developed through the project)

• Cross-cultural communication and understanding of equity issues in racialized communities.
• Program evaluation
• Community outreach and engagement

Are there any mandatory attendance dates (e.g. special event)?

• No

Is a criminal record search (CRS) required?

• See "Related Community Service Opportunities" (below)

Preferred Days of Week and Hours

• Flexible

Related Community Service Opportunities for Students

• We welcome our project students to volunteer in person at our Food Hub to get a deeper sense of our program and the South Vancouver community. We have a variety of volunteer shifts on Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays for grocery box packing/sorting and direct community distribution and outreach.
• We are also throwing a daytime Harvest Festival on Sat, Oct 16th through our South Vancouver Food Network with games, food, apple cider pressing and more, and would love help then!
• For students who would like to volunteer for these opportunities, we require a Criminal Record Check that we will initiate for the student.

Required Reading

Project/Partner Orientation Materials

Students should review these materials prior to the first partner meeting:

• Review our website for program information: www.southvan.org

Additional Project/Partner Orientation Materials

The following will be provided at the first community partner meeting:

• Orientation session (in person or online)
• Detailed map of program activities across South Vancouver
• Program slideshow