News

Farm to School BC – Offering Grant Applications

Posted on October 2, 2018

Farm to School BC Is Offering Grant Applications!

Do you want to promote food literacy and healthy local food in your classrooms? Farm to School BC (F2SBC) is offering grants up to $3,500 for new start-up programs and up to $1,000 for previous grant recipients to bring your ideas to life! From school gardens, microgreens and smoothies to tower gardens, farm visits and so much more, F2SBC promotes healthy local food, hands on learning opportunities and connections between schools and communities.

To learn more about the Farm to School BC’s Bringing Healthy Local Food to Schools Grants, please check out the grant application and eligibility criteria available here. The grant applications are due November 19th, 2018.

For questions or further inquiry, please contact Richard Han, Provincial Manager of F2SBC at prov.manager@farmtoschoolbc.ca.

Farm to School BC – Farm to School Month

Posted on

Farm to School BC Celebrates

Farm to School Month!

Victoria, BC: October is Farm to School Month, and Farm to School BC is proud to be celebrating the hard work of students, teachers and school communities across the province who grow, cook and eat healthy food. We are also pleased to announce that Farm to School BC is accepting applications to receive up to $3,500 to kick-start a Farm to School program for new applicants, and up to $1,000 for previous recipients to expand their existing program. For more information and to apply, please go to https://farmtoschoolbc.ca/farm-to-school-bc-grant-application-form-2018/, or click here (deadline November 19, 2018).

To help us celebrate, we are launching our first Farm to School BC Photo Contest. Submit a photo of your Farm to School activity with a catchy caption, and enter for a chance to win one of five $100 stipends to go toward your Farm to School program! For more details, please click here. All schools are encouraged to participate! Just because you don’t have a formal Farm to School program or grant doesn’t mean that you aren’t supporting our cause. By promoting local and healthy food through hands on learning opportunities that foster school-community connectedness, you are already a superstar!

Learn about Farm to School BC activities that are sprouting across the province in the form of stories and photos via Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/farmtoschoolbc), Twitter (@farmtoschoolbc) and Instagram (farmtoschoolbc).

Want to start your own Farm to School BC program? Visit our website at http://farmtoschoolbc.ca/ for resources and toolkits.

For more information about Farm to School BC, contact Provincial Manager, Richard Han at prov.manager@farmtoschoolbc.ca.

About Farm to School BC

Farm to School BC is a diverse and expanding provincial network that promotes, supports, and links Farm to School activities and programs across the province. From school gardens and local food at lunch, to farm field trips and more, Farm to School activities help students learn about their local food system, teach important life skills and provide the opportunity for healthy habits to take root. Farm to School also benefits local farmers and suppliers.

Conference 2018: First Round of Speakers Announced & Exclusive Hotel Room Rate Available Now!

Posted on October 1, 2018

Building Safe & Inclusive Communities:

The Public Health Approach

November 15th & 16th, 2018

The Sutton Place Hotel

845 Burrard Street, Vancouver, BC

First Round of Speakers Officially Released!

Stay at the Sutton Place Hotel with our Exclusive PHABC Room Rate

We are excited to announce our first round of speakers for our upcoming conference, Building Safe & Inclusive Communities: The Public Health Approach, happening November 15^th and 16^th, 2018 at the Sutton Place Hotel in downtown Vancouver. Registration is on now, click here or copy the link below to register for the premier public health event of the season!

https://phabc.org/2018-phabc-conference-registration/

We are delighted to welcome a number of members from the World Health Organization’s Global Violence Prevention Alliance to host a couple of plenary sessions focusing on safety, violence prevention and injury prevention. These speakers include:

Bridget Penhale, a Reader in Mental Health of Older People at the University of East Anglia in the UK. Bridget is a member of the UK National Social Care Research Ethics Committee, Chair of the University of East Anglia Research Ethics Committee, Board member of the International Network for the Prevention of Elder Abuse (INPEA), and is recognised nationally in the UK for her work on adult safeguarding/protection and internationally for her work on elder abuse. Bridget has published material on decision-making and mentally incapacitated adults, social work and older people and extensively on elder abuse.
Finn Kjaerulf, a programme specialist in the area of urban violence at DIGNITY, the Danish Institute Against Torture. Finn is an international development professional with more than 20 years of experience as a policy, strategy and operations advisor to state institutions and civil society organisations. He has in recent years worked in the fight against torture and organised violence in conflict and post-conflict settings in Central America and South Africa, within a knowledge-driven, human security and rights-based development perspective.
Dr. Arturo Cerventes Trejo, a professor and Chair of Public Health at the Faculty of Health Sciences at Anahuac University in Mexico. Dr. Cerventes has also served as general director of the Mexican National Center for Injury Prevention where he led the design and implementation of the Mexican National Program for Road Safety and was lead author of policy for the National Road Safety Strategy 2011 – 2020. As head of the National Center for Injury Prevention, he authored the National Specific Action Program for Road Safety and the National Specific Action Program for Violence Prevention, 2007 – 2012. Dr. Cerventes is also a founding member and research associate at the Mexicans against Corruption and Impunity think-and-do tank.
Dr. Irvin Waller, an author and university professor at the University of Ottawa. Dr. Waller is a prize winning champion of victim’s rights, collaborative policing, and violence prevention and his life work is using science and logical practice to get victims´ rights and stop street and intimate partner violence across the world. Dr. Waller has received many international awards, including for his role as the founding executive director of the UN-affiliated International Centre for Prevention of Crime. The US National Organization for Victim Assistance (NOVA) and the World Federation for Mental Health both recognized his pioneering work leading to the magna carta for victims – the UN Declaration on Basic Principles of Justice for Victims of Crime and Abuse of Power.

Stay tuned for our second wave of speaker announcements and the release of our full program!

If you submitted an abstract for consideration please note that our reviewers are currently in the process of evaluating all the submissions. Please be patient as they work through the high volume of submissions received and keep an eye on your inbox for your results in the next couple of weeks! Best of luck to everyone who submitted their research!

We are also delighted to announce a special conference hotel room rate of $195/night(plus tax) for all PHABC conference attendees at the Sutton Place Hotel, 845 Burrard Street, Vancouver. This discounted rate is only available for the nights of November 11^th-18^th, 2018 and is subject to room availability.

To access this rate copy or click on the link below and use the group code PHABC to book.

https://www.suttonplace.com/hotels/sutton-place-hotel-vancouver-van?groupCode=PHABC2018

Join PHABC and members of the Global Violence Prevention Alliance on November 14^th, 2018 at SFU’s Harbour Centre in downtown Vancouver as we celebrate the opening of our conference at our annual public forum. The event is free to attend and open to the public. It will serve as chance for the public to learn more about public health while providing networking opportunities for public health professionals.

We will be releasing more information about our public event shortly, including the link to register via Eventbrite, and we hope to see you there.

Staffing Changes at PHABC

Posted on September 25, 2018

PHABC is pleased to have Sarah Dyer join the team as our new office and events coordinator!

Sarah has an MSc. in nutritional sciences and has a passion for health and healthy living. She recently moved from Toronto to Victoria where she had many years in research project management within the academic health research field. After arriving in Victoria she became a member of PHABC and attended the 2017 Summer School. Everyone here at PHABC is excited to be working with Sarah. If you want to congratulate Sarah on her new role, contact her at staff@phabc.org .

Our previous office and events coordinator, Christina Harding, is evolving her role within PHABC; first moving into the position of Conference Coordinator for this year’s annual PHABC conference, “Building Safe & Inclusive Communities: The Public Health Approach,” happening from November 15th to 16th, 2018 at the Sutton Place Hotel in downtown Vancouver. Christina has helped coordinate a number of PHABC and partner events over the past two years including our annual summer school 2017 & 2018, our 2017 annual conference ‘Facing a Changing World: Transformative Leadership & Practice,’ ‘Groundswell: Communities leading local action on overdose’ (in partnership with Community Action Initiative, the Vancouver Foundation and Pacific Aids Network), the BC Population Health Network’s Social Determinants of Health Public Forum, and the PHABC board’s annual face to face meeting for 2017 & 2018.

In the new year Christina will move on to her role as Project Coordinator where she will assist the organization in procuring and managing new programs and assisting in the expansion of existing ones. Her double major bachelor’s degree in Linguistics and Anthropology combined with excellent organization and time management skills makes her a perfect fit for this position and we here at PHABC are delighted to have her continue to develop her career with us. If you want to congratulate her on her new role or if you have projects that may be of interest for PHABC, you can contact her via email at coordinator@phabc.org.

Conference 2018: Call for Abstracts Extended until September 24th, 2018

Posted on September 17, 2018

Conference and AGM

Call for Abstracts Extended until September 24th, 2018

We know, we know, September is a busy time of year. School is back in session, everyone is home from vacation, extracurricular activities start up again and you are just getting back into your regular schedule. We know you wanted to submit an abstract for our upcoming conference but between everything else you haven’t found the time and soon it will be too late…

Or will it??

We are pleased to announce we will be extending our call for abstracts until Monday September 24^th, 2018! If you have research or are part of a promising practice you think is helping to foster safety and inclusion in your community we encourage you to submit your abstract for our conference, “Building Safe & Inclusive Communities: The Public Health Approach,” happening from November 15^th to 16^th, 2018 at the Sutton Place Hotel in downtown Vancouver. Click here or copy the link below to read the call and submit yours before it’s too late!

https://phabc.org/2018-phabc-conference-call-for-abstracts/

Our call for nominations for 2018-2020 board member positions is still open until 5pm Monday September 24^th, 2018. If you are interested in becoming more involved with the Public Health Association of British Columbia, please consider joining our board. Being a PHABC Director is an interesting and challenging opportunity, a terrific way to build your professional network, connect with like-minded people to advance the principles of public health in British Columbia.

The call for nominations can be found on our website by clicking here or by copying the link below.

https://phabc.org/phabc-board-of-directors-call-for-nominations-now-accepting-applicants/

Don’t forget! Only e-mail applications sent to staff@phabc.org are accepted. We hope many of you will consider becoming more active within PHABC and apply for a board member position. We have had an exciting couple of years of growth and more is expected in the following years. Help us shape the future of our association and public health across BC and beyond.

We are always looking for volunteers to help note-take, keep time, support our public forum and work the registration desks. We are pleased to provide volunteers with a complimentary registration provided they complete 8 hours of volunteer work.

If you would like to volunteer, please contact Christina at coordinator@phabc.org to sign up. Preference will be given to those who have successfully completed a volunteer shift for PHABC in the past (in either the summer school or conference).

Keep checking on our events page for the most up to date information on the conference, and stay tuned for details about our public forum, happening the evening of November 14^th, 2018.

Conference 2018: Early Bird Passes and Call for Abstracts close Sept 15th! BOD Call for Nominations now on

Posted on September 10, 2018

Public Health Association of British Columbia’s

Annual Conference & AGM

PHABC - Public Health Association of BC

Building Safe & Inclusive Communities:

The Public Health Approach

November 15th & 16th, 2018
Sutton Place Hotel
845 Burrard St
Vancouver, BC
V6Z 2K6

The final countdown is on! This week is your last chance to register for early bird passes to the premiere public health conference of the year, “Building Safe and Inclusive Communities: The Public Health Approach,” happening at the Sutton Place Hotel in downtown Vancouver on November 15^th and 16^th, 2018. Prices increase September 16th, 2018.

This two-day conference is a unique collaboration of key-note presentations, case studies and hands-on workshops designed to give attendees new and innovative solutions to a variety of issues within their communities and beyond while providing the opportunity for professionals throughout the province to meet, mingle, and learn from each other.

Click here or copy the link below to take advantage of the discounted rate before it’s too late!

https://phabc.org/2018-phabc-conference-registration/

This week is also your last chance to submit an abstract for the fall conference, if you have research or are part of a promising practice you think is helping to foster safety and inclusion in your community we would welcome your contribution to our dialogue.

Click here or copy the link below to read more about the call for abstract and submit yours.

https://phabc.org/2018-phabc-conference-call-for-abstracts/

While the main theme is divided into five subthemes; Violence Prevention, Community Inclusion & Literacy, Health Equity, Building Safe & Inclusive Physical Environments, and Healthy Relationships & Emergency Responses, we encourage submissions from the full spectrum of public health and endeavour to be inclusive of quality submissions even if they do not fit under our conference theme.

Our annual call for nominations for our board of directors is now on. If you are interested in becoming more involved with the Public Health Association of British Columbia, please consider joining our board. Being a PHABC Director is an interesting and challenging opportunity, a terrific way to build your professional network, connect with like-minded people to advance the principles of public health in British Columbia.

We are seeking individuals for a total of 10 positions including 3 executive position: Vice-President (2 year term), Treasurer (2 year term), Secretary (2 year term) and 7 Directors-at-large positions (2 year term).

The call for nominations can be found on our website by clicking here or by copying the link below.

https://phabc.org/phabc-board-of-directors-call-for-nominations-now-accepting-applicants/

The call for nominations will close on September 24th, 2018. All nominations must be posted by 5 pm on that date. Only e-mail applications sent to staff@phabc.org are accepted. A slate of candidates will be prepared and the election process will commence on October 1st, 2018 and close on October 22nd, 2018 with the results announced at the annual general meeting during the fall conference.

As always, continue checking back on our event page to keep up to date on everything conference related. We look forward to seeing you in Vancouver this fall!