Community Engagement

Over several months in late 2023 and spring 2024 we set out to engage with the community to learn more about how we could do better at sharing and receiving information from the community. 

We wanted to know how you want to receive information from us, how you want to share information and feedback with us, how we’re perceived and what are the main concerns about our organization we can address.

We went door-to-door with business and household neighbours of our program sites, ran a community-wide survey, hosted an interactive breakfast event for Chamber of Commerce members, and met with other non-profit community service providers. 

The information we gathered will inform how we plan to engage and communicate with the qathet community going forward. 

We learned so much! Click here for the full report. 

Keep an eye on our social media for result highlights and our future plans, but in general we learned that we need to:

1. Educate
We have the opportunity to lead when it comes to educating the community about the issues that our work aims to address.

2. Demonstrate Action
We need to build trust through action and communicate what we are doing to address issues, concerns and opportunities.

3. Empower our supporters
Many of you are eager to learn more about and/or support Lift! We need to find new ways to make that happen. 

We are excited to continue engaging the community through events, information, and ways to take action!

Some plans in response to what we heard include:

A Homelessness Action Toolkit: Launched!
One-stop shop for information about homelessness in the qathet Regional District, and how YOU can help advocate for additional affordable housing options for everyone in the community. Click here to check out the toolkit. 

Film Screening of Someone Lives Here: October 30th
We’re partnering with Cinema Politica qathet to host a free screening of the acclaimed documentary Someone Lives Here on October 30th. Details coming soon!

Education Series Launch: November 14th
Save the date for the launch of our quarterly community education series. This free series will be open to the public and address a range of topics related to the issues our programs aim to address. More coming soon!

Friends of Lift Campaign: Coming Winter 2025
We’re working on a sustainable and meaningful way to connect with individuals who want to learn more about and support our work.

Information sharing and sharing our plans: Ongoing
We’re making a concentrated effort to be upfront with plans and information. As part of our 40th Anniversary we held a community fair at Willingdon Beach with program-specific and community resource information. We’ve proactively reached out to the neighbours of our new Family Place and CRC site in recent weeks to share information about our moving and programming plans, and we’ll be attending BC Housing’s Open House in September to share information about our supportive housing program. There’s much more to come!

Stay in the loop about our upcoming events and plans. 

Click here to subscribe to our newsletter for regular updates.

Follow us on Facebook and Instagram to learn more about what we’re up to!

We’ll be updating this page as our plans unfold.