Chinatown Strategic Priority Grants
Motion 4 · Standing Committee of Council on City Finance and Services, March 11, 2026
Summary
- Renewed grants supporting the Chinatown Stewards program (run by Embers, a non-profit employment agency), graffiti abatement via Mission Possible, and general neighbourhood cleanliness.
- Councillor Lucy Maloney asked about expanding the stewards program beyond Chinatown and improving merchant awareness through the BIA.
- Councillor Pete Fry asked how the grants support placemaking; staff noted physical beautification and wayfinding fall under the separate Chinatown Cultural District Framework.
- Staff confirmed the program costs approximately $177,000 for 20-25 people and is considered cost-effective compared to police deployment.
Vote
Public comments
Read all 1 statements
Transcript
22 segments
Okay. All right, so the report passed unanimously.
That completes Report 1 on the agenda.
We're going to go to the report number 2, which is Chinatown Strategic Priority Grants. Before we begin this agenda item, if anyone believes they have a conflict of interest, now is the time to declare it. Does anyone have a conflict of interest to disclose? This item does not have a team member presentation. Councillor Maloney, you held this item. You have five minutes to ask questions to team members.
Yeah, please go ahead.
Thanks very much. I just want to ask a couple of questions about the Chinatown Stewards program because it's a great program and I was impressed to see that there have been over 2,800 community interactions. But it says the average response time for a steward to attend after a call is 11 minutes. But we heard, council did a tour of a business recently and we heard that it was taking an hour and a half to, this merchant was having trouble with their storefront being blocked. And so that was a problem. I'd be interested in knowing what your perspective is on that.
Yeah. Hi, Belcha, Associate Director, Strategy and Project Support. The stewards typically work on four-hour shifts throughout the day, seven days a week, and so they're often in different parts of the neighbourhood, just depending on where they're roaming. The 11 minutes are the stats that we've received, but what we can also do is follow up. with Embers as well and flagged this, we do meet with each of the partners regularly each month as a part of the working group, and so we can certainly bring this forward as a way of revisiting response times for businesses and whether there's any areas that we can improve on.
Yeah, and I mean, so it's about 20 to 25 people, which costs about $177,000, which is incredibly cost-effective, compared to how expensive it is to have employed police officers. Is there any plan to expand this program or demand for expanding this program?
Yeah, at this time we've only spoken with Embers about kind of the Chinatown boundaries, but we do know that Embers has expressed an interest. in expansion to other areas. We know that this program is kind of one of their highest demand programs. There are lots of people who would like to be employed, I think, through the program. And we've seen really good progress through the Chinatown program. But the Uplifting Chinatown Action Plan is a council-directed initiative. And so right now, the focus is primarily restricted to Chinatown.
And I really like the business model of Embers being a charity, like a non-profit employment agency. Are there any other enterprises like Embers that have the same business model?
I can certainly come back with a bit more information through Uplifting. We do know that the Chinatown BIA also works with Mission Possible on some of their graffiti removal and abatement. So I do think there are some other options, but we can certainly get that information to you.
And do you think, I heard that there could be more publicity and awareness of the program, especially amongst store merchants. Are there any plans for... More effective communication, maybe through the BIA?
Yeah, so we can certainly, the BIA is part of the monthly working group. And so this is something we can bring to them in the meeting. We do know that we have had good uptake from the businesses and we rely on the BIA to work primarily with all the businesses and property owners in the area. And so... We can, again, bring that up at the working group. And we also know that the BIA does have plans this year to continue their outreach through both the Safe Walk program and the expansion of it and to undertake some more collaboration with different business partners as well to help address and support some of the FIFA demands that we know will come up in the neighborhood. And then they also do some various outreach around graffiti. So, yes, in short.
I mean, I'm sure everyone would be interested in knowing what we can do as a council and a city to support the effectiveness and expansion of this excellent program.
For sure.
Counselor Fry. Yeah, thanks. And this is really more just a general question since we have you here. And the report talks in the context about graffiti abatement and I think community supports. It also mentions placemaking. And I'm just wondering if you could speak to how some of this grant and this work is leveraging the idea of placemaking in Chinatown and what that looks like.
Yeah, some of the challenges we have heard from the neighborhood around placemaking do have to do with just the daily public realm impact in the neighborhood. And the funding through Uplifting Chinatown just helps address and have some more visibility and foot traffic in the neighborhood as well and allows more activities to take place. The stewards also provide more immediate response for both businesses and also other organizations working in the neighborhood so that there are quicker response times should there be any issues that might need to be addressed, for example, at a public plaza so that activities can take place.
So this isn't necessarily the granting stream that would address more physical aspects of placemaking like wayfinding and... Like, placemaking. I mean, beautification, what have you.
Yeah, I think some of what this grant is focusing on really is around graffiti removal and abatement supports for different people in the neighborhood, including seniors, and then generally cleanliness as well, as a means of, I think, enabling placemaking. But kind of some of the other initiatives that you've mentioned around beautification or wayfinding aren't necessarily covered under this program at this time.
For sure, yes. Through other work that we're doing through the Chinatown Cultural District Framework that Council also approved. So we are continuing other work around infrastructure and public realm improvements, both with the Chinatown Advisory Committee and other stakeholders in the neighborhood who are doing work around infrastructure like the Chinatown Foundation and the BIA.
Thank you. Thank you.
Statement Watch
Thank you. Thank you, Mayor Sim. Thank you, councillors. It's been quite a ride. We passed the motion in 2019 and Councillor Fry was there in that very last item of business at that night. And throughout the years, we got through COVID and Councillor Fry and Councillor Meiszner were always there, even though the council was not in session. So we were a little conflicted to have the celebration this year because of all the things that were going on. But we ultimately decided to go through with it because this is actually a spirit of noise. Over thousands of years, we never canceled it. There were times that it was banned, but we still never canceled it. And even like we talked about Iran, but in Afghanistan. It is banned by Taliban, but it's still celebrated. Because Nowruz is a symbol of resilience. No matter how much injustice and tyranny is going on, spring still arrives and hope is still there. Nowruz builds bridges at a time of war, at a time of injustice, at a time of division. And it brings people together from various cultures and backgrounds. goes starting from the Fargana Valley all the way to Albania, from Zanzibar all the way to Bukhara, from the ruins of Persepolis all the way to Balch and Bamiyan. We celebrate it, even though our hearts are heavy, we still stand by. And in Noruz is a time to remember those who are not with us at the half-seen table. And unfortunately, there are many, many, many to remember. So if that's... I would like to conclude, I would like to thank you, thank the staff at the City of Vancouver, particularly Mariam and Ellen, who put this celebration together and the beautiful half-scene table. Thank you all. And I would like to invite my dear friend, Mr. Abdurrahim Parwani, to come and say a few words, if possible. Hello, everybody. Despite the very hard time that people of Afghanistan and Iran are going through at this moment, we celebrate Nowruz. Because Nowruz is a celebration of a new day, a rebirth of nature. It brings happiness, it brings inspiration, it brings hope. And we do celebrate it, regardless of what we are going through. Afghan people have been doing it, celebrating it, for the last 50 years under the fire of war and everything. And now people of Iran is going through that. So we celebrate it because it's Nowruz inspiring us to struggle for peace, for stability, for democracy. And we will do that because Nowruz is an inspiration. I would like to thank you very much, Mr. Mayor and City Hall of Vancouver, for celebrating Nowruz for many, many years. And I've been attending this, and it's really appreciated by our community. And I wish people of Iran and Afghanistan both to have what they desire, peace, stability, development, and democracy. Thank you very much again. Thank you very much, and I appreciate it.