June 2022 Newsletter from Greater Victoria Acting Together
Greater Victoria Acting Together’s unions, faith, service, environmental and student organisations representing tens of thousands of people have had a busy year and many successes! We have supported decision makers to take steps to protect us from a changing climate, address affordable housing and find community first ways to address opioid overdose deaths. We’ve also helped organisations engage their members and stakeholders and continue to learn and listen before we speak.
About us
Greater Victoria Acting Together is dozens of unions, faith groups, service and environmental groups working together on shared priorities to make life better for us all. Each month more than 50 active volunteers contribute their skills, knowledge, understanding and listening ears to our common work of making life better for everyone. For a list of all our current members and ideas about how you can get involved see here.
Our campaigns
We listen to people directly affected by an issue and other organisations working on it. We talk to decision makers and researchers. Once we have set a direction we talk to people in positions of influence, write letters, attend meetings and use the media to make our point. Our collective voice is large and our impact is growing.
A lot of our energy will be focused on affordable housing through the fall municipal elections, but we will still be working on all three of our focus areas:
Climate Justice
Our wet spring had us longing for some warmth! But not too hot please! For some stories of how we are working together to help our decision makers protect old growth and make transportation, and housing, affordable and sustainable see these GVAT blog posts:
Letter to editor by GVAT Climate Team: Province must protect old-growth forests before it’s too late
Win! Victoria wants motorized wheelchairs, mobility scooters to be able to use bike lanes
Member organisations have also embraced deep conversations about climate anxiety and hope.
Affordable housing
Decision makers who support prioritising not-for-profit and affordable housing know we support them. We have run workshops and helped persuade our two largest municipalities, Victoria and Saanich, to fast track affordable housing. We are especially proud of our work persuading decision makers to spend $35 million to improve support and reduce homelessness for youth in care. For some examples of our work see:
‘A Roof for All’ Workshop helps shape GVAT’s housing campaign
Win! Victoria and Saanich vote unanimously for Rapid Affordable Housing
Mental Health and Addictions
In 2020-2021 GVAT member groups invited their members to the virtual town halls organized by the Existence Project, bringing stories of people in the region with lived experience of being unhoused to various community associations and allied groups in Victoria. GVAT also played a major role in establishing Victoria’s new Peer Assisted Crisis Team, which will start responding to mental health and addictions crises later this summer. For more information on this work, see these blog posts:
Building leaderful communities
GVAT is full of leaders who support other leaders to step up. All of us are busy and all of us know community work is like running in a relay or singing in a choir. We participate when we can and when we cannot, others are there to take their part. This means we train a lot of leaders!
Strengthening organizations
GVAT groups know they can count on us to support them to engage effectively with their members. We help identify the quiet leaders - the ones with influence - and show them how to engage in ways that work for them and their group.
How does GVAT work?
GVAT’s direction is set by Strategy Hub, delegates from each member organisation who meet every month. Our hard-working Board keeps the legal and accounting basics going.
Our campaigns are shaped and designed by Action Research Teams on each of our priority areas - Climate Justice, Affordable Housing and Mental Health and Addictions. Come join us! You can be sure of a warm welcome from thoughtful people working together to make life better for us all.
Upcoming actions
We are getting ready to challenge candidates for municipal office to pledge support for affordable housing and other policies that make life better for everyone. We will be working over the summer to refine key issues to focus on and plan our actions.
We are often working on issues that also concern members of our sister organisations in Vancouver (Metro Vancouver Alliance), Calgary (Calgary Alliance) and Edmonton (Edmonton Alliance). Look for opportunities for us to learn from each other and add our collective voices to provincial and national conversations.
Make your summer more fun and meaningful! Come join us
https://www.gvat.ca/get-involved
GVAT External Communications Team - Jane Welton, Eric Doherty & Patricia Lane
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We recognize GVAT conducts its business on the lands of First Nations across this region: Lək̓ʷəŋən (Songhees) and Xwsepsum (Esquimalt) Nations in the core area, the W̱SÁNEĆ Nations {W̱JOȽEȽP (Tsartlip), BOḰEĆEN (Pauquachin), SȾÁUTW̱,(Tsawout) and W̱SIKEM (Tseycum)} on the Saanich Peninsula and Gulf Islands, Sc'ianew (Beecher Bay), T’Sou-ke, and Pacheedaht in the west , and MÁLEXEȽ (Malahat) in the north.