Building our Social Future


Updating the Social Development Strategy

The City is currently updating its Social Development Strategy which will build on the progress made by the 2013–2022 Social Development Strategy and continue to guide the City’s approach to addressing the social needs of Richmond’s diverse population over the next 10 years.

On Apr 11, 2023, Council approved the following guiding principles, which will guide the different phases of the Strategy’s development.

Guiding Principles

  1. People-Centred: Ensure the people who live, work, learn and play in Richmond are at the centre of the strategy’s development and implementation. This includes utilizing an evidence-based and data-informed approach, considering both quantitative and qualitative information that values people’s knowledge and lived experiences.
  2. Collective Impact: Develop a shared vision with aligned strategic actions that promote collaboration across the community to draw on strengths from various levels of government, community agencies, non-profit organizations, the private sector and individual residents to achieve the best possible social outcomes for the Richmond community.
  3. Overarching Framework: Provide an overarching framework to guide the City’s approach in addressing city-wide issues related to social development and align with existing City strategies, plans and policies that address and affect social development.
  4. Inclusive and Accessible: Commit to and facilitate public engagement processes that are inclusive and accessible that allow for a wide range of experiences and perspectives to be heard and considered in the design, implementation and evaluation of the strategy.
  5. Accountable: Consider the roles and mandates of those involved in implementing the strategy to ensure actions and mechanisms for demonstrating progress and social impact are reliable, realistic and transparent.
  6. Responsive: Ensure the strategy is based on current need, while being future-focused and proactive and developed in a manner that allows for agile, innovative and responsive action.

Social Development Strategy Timeline

Community Engagement Process

The initial community engagement process to update the Social Development Strategy ended on July 2, 2023. Thank you to those who filled out the online and paper surveys, dropped by the pop-up events across the city, and participated in the focus groups. The input received from these engagement activities will help inform the development of a draft Strategy that will be presented to City Council for consideration. The City will seek further community feedback once the draft Strategy has been endorsed by Council. Information on future community engagement opportunities will be posted on this webpage, as well as LetsTalkRichmond.ca.

For more information, please contact SocialPlanning@richmond.ca.

Richmond’s Social Development Strategy

Richmond is an inclusive, engaging and caring community – one that considers the needs of its present and future generations, values and builds on its diversity, nurtures its social capital and treats its citizens with fairness and respect.

In 2013, Richmond City Council adopted the Richmond Social Development Strategy to guide the City’s decisions on social development matters and act as a resource for external partners which:

  • Identified social development priorities for City attention between 2013 and 2022
  • Clarified the roles of the City and other partners with respect to addressing particular social development topics
  • Provided a foundation for a more integrated, coordinated, and sustainable approach for social development in Richmond for the future

Read the Richmond Social Development Strategy:
Building Our Social Future 2013-2022

Read the Social Development Strategy progress reports which measured the City’s progress on achieving the Strategy’s ongoing, medium and long-term actions:
Building Our Social Future - Progress Report for 2022
Building Our Social Future - Progress Report for 2021
Building Our Social Future - Progress Report for 2020
Building Our Social Future - Progress Report for 2019
Building Our Social Future - Progress Report for 2017-2018
Building Our Social Future - Initial Progress Report 2013-2016

Contact

For more information, contact:

Claire Adamson, Manager, Community Social Development

Phone: 604-247-4482
Claire.Adamson@richmond.ca

Kim Somerville, Director, Community Social Development

Phone: 604-247-4671
Kim.Somerville@richmond.ca