Neighbourhood Small Grants (NSG) offer $500 to community members to hold any activity or event that they believe will help build community in their local area. Since 1999, the program has grown each year and now involves communities across British Columbia. Created, supported and promoted by the Vancouver Foundation, the program has produced countless projects, friendships, and activities that promote neighbourhood belonging and joy amongst its participants.

The Strengthening Canadian Democracy Initiative at the SFU Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue wanted to find out if participation in the NSG program affected project leaders’ social capital (human networks), participation in democratic engagement, and motivation to create change. We conducted pre and post surveys and interviews with participants.

Download our final report, Building Community Democracy - Review of the 2020 Responsive Neighbourhood Small Grants, to learn what we found from our evaluation.