June 15, 2009 - District of Mission

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that the Mission District is fortunate to have many dedicated and passionate individuals working
diligently in the area of social and community development. However, increased networking of
these individuals needs to be a future goal.
I felt it important to meet with each member of the Social Development Commission, to not only
gain a sense of each individual and their involvement with the Social Development Plan, but also
to give each member an opportunity in confidence to relay any concerns or suggestions they may
have regarding their previous experience with the Social Development Plan. The main
overlapping concern focused on the meetings being too lengthy in the past, and thus, members'
concerns with wanting to remain involved yet struggling with the balance between the time
commitments and needing to return to their places of employment. To remedy this and maintain
involvement, I have shortened the meetings to 1.5 hours instead of the previous 3 hours.
I met with Mike Younie, Sharon Fletcher and Kevin Poole to discuss the benefits of working
together in areas of mutual concern. I believe that the community of Mission will benefit from
increased networking between the areas of environmental, social and economic development. In
the future, I hope to meet with Sharon, Mike and Stacey either monthly or every second month.
I met with Jason Roufosse and Wendy McCormick of Parks and Recreation and was updated
with the strategies that Parks and Recreation are developing to implement The 40 Developmental
Assets which is one of the 10 initial priorities of the Social Development Plan that seems to be
extremely successful. I will provide additional detail in this area in Section 3.
I had an extensive meeting with Darryl Gehlen of Mission Restorative Resolutions in which we
discussed potential areas for networking as well as Darryl has provided me with old documents
and paperwork previously belonging to Michelle Royle which has been very helpful in gaining
more insight into the history of the position.
I also attended various sub committee meetings including the central resource bureau, BC
Housing, 40 Developmental Assets, Mission community food coalition and sustainability and the
Child and Youth Committee.
Additionally, I had meetings with Kevin Koopman and Stacey Corriveau of Abbotsford
Community Development. They shared with me, their ideas on the concept of transitional towns
for Abbotsford and Mission and invited me to attend a series of Fraser Valley Transitional
Towns Workshops. I also attended an ASDAC Meeting (Abbotsford Social Development Acting
Committee) to gain some insight into the related social issues in Abbotsford, meet key
community members and explore potential areas for networking.
I also met with Dr. Alanaise Goodwill from the Chilliwack MCFD to explore her concerns in
areas of Aboriginal Housing and Social Development in the Fraser Valley.
I met with Joy Cox and most recently, Mr. Tony LaPointe, the new Executive Director for
Mission Community Services. Additionally, I met with Mark Littlefield a community child and
youth development specialist, to seek out the programs offered through these individuals.
Sharon Fletcher, Dayle Reti and I attended a Regional Affordable Housing Meeting in the
Chilliwack District facilitated by Siri Brtelson. This meeting was very positive and members felt
P.O. Box 20, 8645 Stave Lake Street, Mission, B.C. V2V 4 L9
Phone (604) 820-3752 Fax (604) 826.1363 8, (604) 820.3715 Web Site: www.city.mission.bc.ca E-mail: khargreaves@mission.ca