January 18, 2010 - District of Mission

19between these spheres of influence across the community, you work towards building a web ofinterconnected efforts that support one another. Sustainable success results from interconnectingcommunity members in all settings where adults and youth intersect.The 40 Developmental assets working group is creating a positive vision which can energize a communityfor the long term. The vision for Mission focuses on encouraging organizations and institutions tointegrate asset building into their own mission and commitments. Asset building is a long-term vision, nota quick fix; however it is important to celebrate successes along the way to renew energy and refocuscommitment. One elementary school in Surrey making a shift to a more community oriented school istaking the assets and incorporating them into the curriculum. Perhaps this is a model we can adopt infuture years.Town SquaresThe purpose of this sub-committee is to identify and facilitate the creation of town squares throughoutMission. The goal is to establish public meeting spaces and places and enable citizens to meet, socializeand feel like part of their community.The town squares working group broke ground on the rain garden project in October 2009 at the corner of7th Avenue and Grand street. The goal of the Rain Garden is to add bio-diversity to the neighborhoodthrough an interactive demonstration of rain-water management as a self-sustaining environmental pilotproject. It will be an innovative educational 'green' experience, and an accessible social interactive space.Over $25,000 was raised for this project through donations, materials and volunteer time. This group hasworked diligently to make this project a reality.HousingThe purpose of the Housing Committee is to advocate and establish for a wide variety of housing optionsthroughout Mission to meet the needs of its residents.The housing working group is actively involved in consultation workshops with Planning through SharonFletcher and Dayle Reti. The diversity and housing experience of this working group has been greatlyinformative and beneficial to this process. The group is actively engaged in establishing guidingprinciples, definitions and vision statements to contribute to the development of practical solutions for anaffordable housing strategy.Currently, this group is measuring and assessing housing need in the community. This is timely with thedevelopment of an FVRD needs assessment which will be helpful in providing us with some backgroundstatistics and information.Our neighboring communities in the FVRD are also in varying stages of developing affordable housingplans for their communities. I coordinated a FVRD Social Planners Meeting which was held on September23, 2009 to discuss the current needs assessment for the Fraser Valley. This event was followed uprecently and expanded upon in a Regional workshop held December 11, 2009 entitled "A progress reporton municipal responses to the need for affordable housing and a look at some new strategies that getPage 8 of 11