With a new year and new decade underway, and in the spirit of January – looking back and looking forward – we are very happy to share a few highlights of our work over the past months and a bit about our work as we look forward to spring.
Wrapping our first year as a Canadian charity, we’ve been able to establish a very solid foundation for the coming years, including new team members to expand our local programming and scaling business activities.
176 New Projects Since September
This fall term we developed 176 new projects, co-created by 599 students and 22 city staff contributing to a more sustainable, liveable, joyful and inclusive Vancouver. Two project examples include equitable access to Park Board services, and a continuing VPD collaboration to reduce bike theft. See more projects here.
Programming
This semester we welcome the 3rd cohort of students from RADIUS SFU into the studio for the Civic Innovation Change Lab (CICL). This is a collaboration between SFU, Vancity and CityStudio designed to explore opportunities for impact businesses within the theme of Neighbourhood Resilience in Vancouver.
Team News: We’ve Grown!
We are excited to announce that we’ve hired three new team members. We welcome Katie McDonald as our Communications & Engagement Coordinator; Alix Linaker as our Canadian Network Coordinator; and Kelly Gardner as our Projects Coordinator, allowing Ileana Costrut to move into the role of Senior Projects Coordinator. Welcome to Katie, Alix and Kelly, and congratulations Ileana!
Bonus News: We are excited to share that we have received the first donation through our new Canada Helps portal. Stay tuned for fundraising announcements in the coming months.
Scaling the CityStudio Network across Canada
This past October, with support from the McConnell Foundation and Vancouver Foundation, we have officially launched our business activities for scaling, which offers the CityStudio model to other cities in Canada, made possible with the hiring of Alix Linaker as our Canadian Network Coordinator. She is leading the 2X expansion of the CityStudio model in Canada, including business development, marketing, licensing as well the launch of a shared platform for member cities.
