Since March 2007, the West Vancouver Community Centre has followed a Community Governance Model that incorporates the principles of community leadership, empowerment and ownership into community services.

How it works

West Vancouver Community Centre successfully operates through a joint operating agreement between the District of West Vancouver and Enhance West Van, a registered charitable Society.

The Society’s Board of Directors are residents of West Vancouver who are committed to:

• Community ownership and significant volunteerism, building capacity in the community and providing an important opportunity for citizen engagement and development of community leadership.
• Ability to fundraise and leverage additional dollars beyond what the District contributes.
• Enhanced service delivery to the community by providing a comprehensive array of services.
• Strong partnership arrangements among the various governmental non-profit and private agencies to work together and maximize each other’s strengths and resources.

Community Benefits

• Engaging community members and fostering community ownership of public facilities.
• Builds volunteer and community capacity.
• Leveraging financial resources (over and above those provided through District resources) to enhance program and service delivery.

Community governance means we self-organize to create safe and forward-thinking spaces for inspiration, continued learning, and collaboration.  This model ensures that our core community infrastructure continues to support our dynamically-changing community in terms of growth, and alignment with our shared values.

Principles

We endorse the following:

• A sense of ownership both by participants and the community as a whole.
• Community participation based on volunteer leadership.
• Financial management that leverages existing budgets and and creates new sources of funding from a balance of sources.
• A strong community-orientated Board of Directors with credibility and varied expertise.
• Managers and facility operators who are committed to innovation and fiscal accountability.
• Partnership with multiple partners and agencies to support Community Centre activities and services.