A new report presented to City Council today outlined the largest increase in child care funding in the City’s history, as the 2012 budget surplus – $5 million – was invested into the Childcare Reserve to support new child care spaces.

“We are committed to investing in child care as a way to make Vancouver more affordable for young families, and improve early childhood education,” said Mayor Gregor Robertson. “At a time when demand for child care far outstrips supply due to a lack of funding from senior levels of government, the City is stepping up to help make Vancouver a more supportive city for families and children.”

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After an extensive review process involving city staff and an expert panel of local and international arts leaders, Mayor Gregor Robertson is announcing his support for a new, innovative and expanded Vancouver Art Gallery on the City-owned site at 688 Cambie, formerly known as Larwill Park.

“A new, expanded art gallery at Larwill Park is a huge opportunity to bolster our creative sector, showcase local artists from Vancouver and across BC, and make a clear statement that Vancouver makes arts and culture a priority,” said Mayor Gregor Robertson.

“We’ve done a lot of work to support the arts in recent years, but this has the potential to really elevate our creative economy to the next level. I hope that all of City Council will support the recommendation.”

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Preliminary numbers from the City of Vancouver’s homeless count show that the number of people sleeping outside at night is declining.

This year’s count, which took place over a 24 hour period on March 13, 2013 found 273 people sleeping outside in Vancouver, which is:

• a decrease of 11% from 2012, which saw 306 street homeless; and
• a 66% decrease since 2008, which saw 811 street homeless, and was the first year of low-barrier shelters.

“The drop in people sleeping outside in Vancouver shows that we’re on the right path when it comes to ending street homelessness by 2015,” said Mayor Gregor Robertson. “Our efforts are working, but there is no question there is more work to do. This is within our grasp.

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This week the City of Vancouver approved its first-ever digital strategy, continuing City Hall’s work to support the local digital economy and improve service delivery for citizens. Here’s some of the reaction from the press and on social media: 

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Vancouver City Council has unanimously approved a grant of up to $490,000 to the Immigrant Services Society of BC (ISS) to help assist with the construction of an innovative transitional supportive housing project providing short and medium term accommodation for refugees.

Located at 2610 Victoria Drive, the ISS ‘Welcome House Centre’ will provide short term and transitional housing with supports for recently arrived refugees. The project will include 98 flexible, lockable rooms which can be combined in a variety of configurations, down to 26 “self-contained units” allowing ISS to flexibly house larger or smaller families as well as singles, as need arises.

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Ahead of a City Council vote on Wednesday, the Mayor is urging unanimous support from Council on plans to invest over $7.45 million in Vancouver’s vibrant arts and culture sector.

The City is recommending awarding the 2013 Cultural operating and project grants to 165 Vancouver organizations supporting dance, film, music, visual arts, literary arts and more, selected from a pool of 191 applications. This year’s grants span an impressive range, from the Arts Club Theatre (celebrating its 50th year), Bard on the Beach, the Vancouver International Writers Festival, and the DOXA Film Festival, to the Raven Spirit Dance Society and Vancouver Theatre Sports.

“The City of Vancouver is committed to using every tool at our disposal to support our vibrant local arts and cultural community, understanding that Vancouver’s leading creative sector is a substantial contributor to the strength of our local economy,” said Mayor Gregor Robertson. “The grants recommended to 165 organizations demonstrate the breadth of support the city shows for our local arts and culture groups, and I hope all of Council will join me in supporting them.”

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