Our Facilitation Services

You’re Planning Smart. We’re Here to Help.

There are good reasons to make sustainability a cornerstone of your community plans — to meet gas tax funding commitments, create alignment within your community and most of all, to make your community more efficient, sustainable and resilient.

We help communities of all sizes integrate social, cultural, economic and environmental considerations into planning processes. With facilitators across the province, we understand urban, suburban and rural issues and the planning needs of small and mid-sized communities.

CORE SERVICES BC First Nation and Local governments enjoy free access to our core services. Download Core Services Brochure

NEW! ENHANCED SERVICES Need more support? Enhanced services are now available for a competitive fee. See what we offer below. Download Enhanced Services Brochure

CORE SERVICES

Process Advice

A community planning process may result in a new plan or strengthen your community’s existing plans by introducing sustainability principles. Whatever your challenge, the Smart Planning staff is available to provide advice and assistance to local and First Nations governments. We can:

• offer a holistic, tailored planning process, with indicators that fit your community
• access information and support to meet your community’s specific needs
• assist communities with community relationship-building and partnerships for sustainability planning and action.

Strategic Support

Smart Planning staff can support communities preparing to plan, as well as those already using a plan. Our strategies will help you:

• determine the support needed for community planning and related projects
• make connections by linking your community with experts, advisors and organizations that meet your unique needs
• share resources on how to make external planning expertise work for you
• find funding possibilities
• provide strategic communications advice and identify ways to engage your community
• create a custom presentation on sustainability specific for your community (see our past presentation topics).

Education and Training

Smart Planning for Communities can host learning forums to engage councils, leaders and champions in the Community Planning process. We will:

• help to encourage all community members including Elders and youth to bring their traditional and technical knowledge to the process
• provide opportunities to build relationships in and among communities and sectors
• assist with focusing community goals to determine best practices
• review the benefits and list the strengths of planning for the future
• provide examples of lessons learned and success stories from other communities.

Technical Expertise

Our Sustainability Facilitators are able to provide you with advice for a variety of technical questions. We can:

• review your current plans, projects, processes and maps to find ways to add sustainability criteria
• offer specialized know-how for remote communities that are considering alternative energy power
• suggest retrofitting and green building techniques
• review transportation options for connecting small and rural communities
• find agriculture, water and waste management tools.

ENHANCED SERVICES

Some BC communities have told us they would like direct support to get started on community sustainability planning, or to review and refine existing plans. Whatever your community’s stage of planning, you can now retain the Smart Planning for Communities team for enhanced services, at a competitive fee.

GETTING STARTED? | A SmartPlan for Small Communities

SPC can offer an integrated community sustainability planning (ICSP) process, designed to be affordable for small communities. Over a three-month engagement in your community, our Smart Planning team will facilitate engagement sessions, first with local government staff and then with the broader community, leading to a custom SmartPlan. In the case of local governments, it’s an opportunity to do integrated community sustainability planning, meet gas tax funding commitments, and prepare your community for a more sustainable future.

REASSESSING? | A Smart Planning Review

The Smart Planning Review offers a detailed review and assessment of your existing community plans through the lens of integrated community sustainability planning. We will identify gaps in planning models and opportunities for embedding sustainability principles into plans.

The result of this work is a Smart Planning Review report with a community-specific set of recommendations. It will be followed with a facilitated session on implementation measures and internal capacity.

Please contact

Joan Chess
Manager, Smart Planning for Communities, Fraser Basin Council
250 612-0282
jchess@fraserbasin.bc.ca

Sustainability Facilitators

SPC Sustainability Facilitators bring a depth and breadth of expertise to support communities in all stages of sustainability planning. Working with a wide array of experts in the field of sustainability planning and implementation, the SPC team offers assistance in multiple areas.

To contact a Sustainability Facilitator, please visit our Sustainability Facilitators page.