As Dave Harvey retires from his co-leadership position at Park People, he reflects on the incredible journey since founding the organization in 2011.
Why are events in parks important? How do grants fit into Park People’s larger goals for creating change in city parks?
TD Park People Grants support local leaders to organize environmental education, sustainability or stewardship events that bring people together across Canada.
Explore reports, articles, toolkits, and webinars on racism and inequality in public spaces, with insights to address systemic barriers in parks and urban settings.
Explore inspiring community-led events funded by our microgrants program, from land-based learning to nature walks and skill-sharing workshops.
Come together with community members, park professionals, and municipal staff at the 2025 Park People Vancouver Forum!
By donating to Park People, you’ll support vibrant parks for everyone.
Location
Vancouver, British Columbia
For more information reach out to: jralamboarisoa@parkpeople.ca
The social benefits of parks are especially important for seniors. A study from CARP found that living near a park helps seniors avoid loneliness at a rate that’s four times greater than that of having children. Yet seniors represent just 4% of park users, despite being 20% of the population.
Park People’s Senior Champions in Vancouver address this gap by supporting seniors in leading free activities in their urban parks, providing eight seniors annually with hands-on training and access to mentorship from previous leaders. Past events have included park-based art classes, knitting groups, bird watching, Indigenous plant identification walks, Tai Chi, and gardening — to name just a few!
Each Champion receive:
0+
seniors engaged in greenspaces
0
senior champions running community programming
0%
of participants feel better connected to their community
The Application for the 2024 Vancouver Senior Champions is closed.
May 13, 2024
Applications open
May 13 – June 26, 2024
Phone or Online Interviews
June 17, 2024
Applications Close
June 30, 2024
Notification to successful champions
July and August 2024
Mandatory Training sessions
July 22, 2024 – Jan 31, 2025
Park activites
Feb 14, 2025
Post-event evaluations
People aged 60 and above living in Metro Vancouver are eligible. We prioritize seniors from historically marginalized communities, especially racialized, newcomers, living with disabilities, and/or LGBTQ2S+ seniors. Through community outreach with our local partners, we’re seeking to ensure that 100% of senior activity leaders and 75% of participants identify as belonging to one of these equity-deserving groups.
No, you don’t need to have any prior experience in organizing events to apply. Our program is designed specifically to train and equip seniors with the necessary knowledge and tips to lead their events in parks successfully.
You can apply individually or as a group of two. Both would lead the activities (co-champions) if applied as a pair.
Successful applicants must participate in all three training sessions.
These sessions will provide essential information regarding event planning, community outreach, effective communication and accessibility. During these training sessions, you will also have the opportunity to engage with mentors who are former champions.
Champions, Seniors, Training
Here are some valuable tips to create a welcoming, safe, and respectful environment for participants of all abilities, backgrounds, ages, and gender identities!
Fundraising is a great way to build the capacity of your community park group. Here’s a list of the grants and funding options for park groups located in BC.
Montreal's Urban Park Champions mentoring program offers dedicated community members from equity-deserving neighbourhoods training and coaching opportunities to help them organize a series of two activities in their local parks.
The InTO the Ravines Champions program offers people living near ravines training and support to learn, explore, and celebrate Toronto's one-of-a-kind ravines system.