The following communities have received 2017 age-friendly community planning and project grants:

Village of Burns Lake
Project: Seniors’ housing assessment
Amount: $10,500
Details: This housing study is being planned for the Lakes District, which includes the Village of Burns Lake, six First Nations communities and six unincorporated communities. Within this area, there are 8,000 residents, 20% of whom are 55 and older – a percentage that is predicted to increase. This project will enhance the Village of Burns Lake’s efforts to retain current and emerging seniors in the community while improving their quality of life.

Cache Creek
Project: Age-friendly community initiative
Amount: $20,000
Details: An age-friendly action plan will be developed to identify specific mental, physical and social barriers in the existing community infrastructure. The goal is to achieve an understanding of how age-friendly Cache Creek is. The plan will also determine future actions to effectively respond to an aging population.

Capital Regional District (Greater Victoria)
Project: Community mapping project
Amount: $20,000
Details: This project will engage multicultural older adults in developing an online map as a tool for service providers, caregivers and municipal/regional planners. The resource will help seniors navigate regional services and resources while increasing their comfort level with the Internet and computers.

Cowichan Valley Regional District (Mill Bay)
Project: Mill Bay age-friendly community
Amount: $19,750
Details: Working with Island Health, the Cowichan Valley Regional District will do an age-friendly assessment to analyze the needs of Mill Bay seniors and develop an action plan to address those needs.

Creston
Project: Dementia support
Amount: $20,000
Details: This project is designed to provide dementia support services for the town’s residents through the Therapeutic Activation Program for Seniors, which provides an opportunity for seniors to participate in community activities as well as physical and educational activities. Staff and volunteers will receive training to provide dementia support, develop social networks for seniors and caregivers, and help older adults cope with the challenges of aging and memory changes.

Village of Granisle
Project: Healthy Granisle
Amount: $20,000
Details: Expanding on an earlier Healthy Granisle project, the village is developing both indoor and outdoor programming to help improve the overall health and well-being of its residents, including the local First Nations community of Tachet. The goal is to encourage increased participation in healthy community activities such as healthy cooking classes, Tai Chi, walking/hiking the local trails and learning how to use exercise equipment safely. 

Kelowna
Project: Community assessment
Amount: $20,000
Details: To support the Kelowna Community for All Action Plan includes an audit of local parks and city buildings, with a focus on accessibility, safety features and recreational amenities for all ages and abilities.

District of Kitimat
Project: Support of seniors
Amount: $20,000
Details: An age-friendly plan will work to improve services for seniors. It will enhance the Better at Home program, and establish a resource that will help address social isolation, provide access to services such as food boxes and increase awareness on aging in place. The plan will also explore a partnership with the Elders of Kitimaat Village.

Village of Lytton
Project: Lytton seniors housing action plan
Amount: $20,000
Details: The Village of Lytton received an age-friendly grant to support its seniors housing action plan. Through the action plan, the village will work to ensure that facilities and services are in place to properly serve the needs of the local seniors population, including First Nations Elders, so that seniors may remain close to their families as they age.

District of Mackenzie
Project: Seniors housing and health services assessment
Amount: $20,000
Details: Responding to a demand for accessible housing for seniors, the Seniors Housing and Health Services Assessment will focus on community planning to increase the accessibility of housing and services for seniors. The health services component will explore the availability and uptake of services such as home care and assisted living options, as well as work with BC Housing to implement programs that can help seniors age in place.

Regional District of North Okanagan
Project: Cherryville seniors’ social and dinner hall
Amount: $20,000
Details: This funding is for a seniors’ social program that will provide education and activities on a wide variety of topics including hearing loss and hearing aids, safety and avoiding scams, and flu shots. The program provides intergenerational social opportunities with elementary school students performing and assisting with events. This project will also assist with the replacement of appliances in the hall in order to accommodate increasing participation at seniors’ events.

Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen
Project: Naramata age-friendly community planning project
Amount: $20,000
Details: The Naramata Age-friendly Community Planning Project will focus on planning social and physical environments that promote healthy aging and support seniors to maintain social ties to the community, family and friends.

Powell River
Project: Seniors Together Powell River
Amount: $20,000
Details: Seniors Together Powell River is a half-day project once a month that starts with a healthy lunch and provides speakers on topics such as medical needs, physical activity and social opportunities. It will introduce seniors to services in the community, and provide activity programs that promote healthy living and social inclusion. 

Silverton
Project: Silverton age-friendly project
Amount: $12,750
Details: The Silverton Age-friendly Project will develop workshops and social programming focused around food, nutrition and community food security. School groups will be invited to participate, as well as representatives from the community that work in food security, production and processing.

Surrey
Project: Raising the profile for seniors’ provincial summit
Amount: $20,000
Details: A provincially focused two-day summit will strengthen Surrey’s capacity to develop an effective and realistic seniors’ action plan for its residents using new ideas for programming, strategic partnerships and funding. Surrey is working with partners like the BC Centre for Hip Health and Mobility, United Way of the Lower Mainland and the Raising the Profile Project.

Vernon
Project: Greater Vernon Community Garden age-friendly improvements and programming
Amount: $19,430
Details: This two-part project will: develop new infrastructure to improve the accessibility for those with mobility challenges to one of the community’s largest urban community gardens, and develop new programming to engage more seniors in the gardens. A best-practices document will also be developed to guide upgrades to the other two community gardens in Vernon.

Wells
Project: Aging well in Wells community plan
Amount: $20,000
Details: An age-friendly community plan will be created to identify the needs of older adults in the District of Wells. The plan’s development will include consultations with a diverse range of community members.

West Vancouver 
Project: Dementia-friendly North Shore action plan
Amount: $20,000
Details: The City of North Vancouver and the Districts of North Vancouver and West Vancouver are working to create a Dementia Friendly North Shore Action Plan with residents and community partners. The goal is to improve dementia awareness and expand the current dementia-friendly North Shore committee to lead the process for the development and implementation of an action plan.