Social Planning Council
The Social Planning Council of Williams Lake and Area (SPC) is an open forum to facilitate and share information, programs, projects, issues and connections. Its mandate is to inform, recognize, and celebrate social developments to City Council, organizations and public citizens. The SPC is strategically focused on poverty reduction and the local Living Wage Campaign, on community collaboration and networking, and retention and succession of residents within the area. Community social planning supports communities in building an integrated approach to complex problems that take into account social, economic, and environmental concerns; maximizes the effectiveness of often scarce resources by working to reduce duplication, overlap and competition; and provides an ongoing forum for communication, coordination and conflict resolution. SPC receives funding through the City of Williams Lake and the TNC United Way.
Last year’s project with the SPC was focused on ‘Active and Convenient Transportation’, which is a policy area in the Community Sustainability Plan. Recommendations to BC Transit resulting from the project included changes to bus stop locations and characteristics, changes to bus schedule access, and route changes. This year the SPC has the following ideas for project areas:
- Continue the work on transportation started last year. Some ideas include creating a pilot carpool project in a local rural community (e.g. Horsefly or Big Lake, where many people live who work in Williams Lake).
- Working on the Social Wellbeing policy area of the Community Sustainability Plan. One idea is to assess how Williams Lake has progressed on the goals in the plan five years since it was adopted.
- Updating the living wage calculation for Williams Lake
- Work with the Central Cariboo Arts and Culture Society (CCACS), one of their member organizations. The CCACS has a goal in their three year strategic plan to ‘Produce a preliminary report on the development of Arts and Culture in the Central Cariboo since 2010.” They are currently in the process of developing the framework for data collection, followed by adoption of the framework and approval of a terms of reference for a researcher or research team and appointment of the team.
- They are open to other ideas and excited to collaborate.
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