Current Initiatives

Accessibility Planning

The Government of British Columbia is working towards being an inclusive Province. In June of 2021, the Accessible British Columbia Act was enacted. The Accessible British Columbia Regulation (under the Act) came into force September of 2022, and identified municipalities as accessible organizations that are required to adhere to the regulation. The City of Prince George is currently working on the requirements which include an accessibility committee, accessibility plan and a tool for feedback.

Read more on what the City is doing to increase accessibility on the City's Accessibility Page.

Implementation of 2022-2023 UBCM Strengthening Communities Services Funding

The City of Prince George, with funding from the 2022-2023 UBCM Strengthening Communities' Services program, is taking action to become a cleaner, safer, and more inclusive community.

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Funded through the 2022-2023 UBCM Strengthening Communities' Services program, the City of Prince George hired two Outreach Coordinators as part of pilot project to work in collaboration with City Bylaw Officers to balance enforcement by helping impacted individuals to connect with the agencies that provide access to basic services like housing, food, clothing, and income assistance.
The Outreach Coordinators use their knowledge of health and social service delivery systems (i.e. hours of operation, locations, contact information, 24/7 emergency responses, etc.), to facilitate the connection of interested individuals to trained service providers. Outreach client data statistics from 2022 suggest that Outreach Staff are interacting with an average of five clients per day to connect them with a variety of services, approximately 30-40 individuals a week.
As part of efforts to enhance community safety, the City is working to provide needle disposal boxes at several locations in the downtown area, where a majority of improperly discarded needles are reported. The safe and proper disposal of needles and sharps is a priority for the City of Prince George, property owners, and social service agencies.
Funded through the 2022-2023 UBCM Strengthening Communities' Services program, the City is working closely with community partners including Northern Health, the Downtown Business Improvement Association, and social service agencies to guide the process for the strategic placement of locally-manufactured sharps boxes.

Childcare Space Creation

The City’s Child Care Action Plan provided a number of recommendations regarding the development of new childcare spaces. The action plan, informed by data collection and community engagement activities, was completed at the same time the Province of BC began investing in childcare care space creation, building childcare facilities, and training early childhood educators.

The BC New Spaces Creation Fund and the Union of BC Municipalities Childcare Space Creation Fund have - together - provided approximately $9.3 million to the City of Prince George to enable the development of a total of 228 new childcare spaces on three sites:

The Park House Care and Learning Centre feature 85 spaces:
- 12 spaces for infants and toddlers.
- 25 spaces for children aged 30 months to school-age.
- 48 spaces for school-aged children
About the Operator
The YMCA, as the centre operator, uses the "YMCA Playing to Learn" national curriculum for children aged zero to six and the "YMCA - A Place to Connect" curriculum for children six to twelve years.
These guiding frameworks align well with the new BC Early Learning Framework, and the curricula provide a focus on play-based learning in a home-like environment. By carefully observing each child, providers can extend opportunities to enhance unique learning and development needs at every stage.
The Tsulh'cho Daycare/Huckleberry Daycare at 6776 Dagg Road features 60 spaces:
- 24 spaces for infants and toddlers.
- 24 spaces for children aged 30 months to school-age.
- 12 spaces for school-aged children.
About the Operator
The Prince George Native Friendship Centre’s (PGNFC) childcare centres are based on the Family Centre model, meaning that its centres strive to meet the needs of the entire family. The organization understands that without the support of a healthy family, children will not thrive. In addition, PGNFC works to involve parents in all aspects of planning, programming and governance of its childcare centres.
PGNFC works in partnership with many community organizations such as School District #57, Northern Health, the Child Development Centre, the College of New Caledonia, UNBC, the Ministry of Children & Family Development, the City of Prince George, Lheidli T’enneh, the Immigrant and Multicultural Services Society, and the Aboriginal Housing Society of Prince George.
The childcare centre at 8008 Malaspina Avenue features 83 spaces:
- 24 spaces for infants and toddlers.
- 25 spaces for children aged 30 months to school-age.
- 24 spaces for school-aged children.
- 10 pre-school spaces (for a total of 20 preschoolers attending on a part-time schedule).
About the Operator
Kool Cats Kid Care (College Heights Community Association) has been providing childcare services for 35 years. It currently operates 45 school age childcare spaces and 20 preschool spaces, serving a total of 140 children (given its capacity to accommodate part-time before/after school care participants, and multiple pre-school classes).

2023 Grants Review

Through grants and financial assistance, the City of Prince George invests significantly in the local not-for-profit (NFP) sector to help ensure the delivery of service for its residents, including recreation, arts and culture, social well-being, as well as environmental programs and other services.

As identified in the robust myPG Social Development Goals for a sustainable community, the City of Prince George wants to ensure investments in the grant program are meeting the needs of the community and the Not For Profit (NFP) organizations helping to deliver these services. To that end, the City is undertaking a comprehensive review of its processes to provide grants and financial assistance to support NFP organizations.

The grants review will form the basis for recommendations for Council and inform decisions to update the City’s grants and financial assistance programs to improve processes, create efficiencies and meet the evolving needs of our community.

The Revitalizing Grant Programs: A Comprehensive Review of Investment and Opportunities Report presented to Council on May 8th, 2023 represents the first report of three phases:
- Phase 1 – Discovery: Communications and Engagement Research and Recommendations.
- Phase 2 – Solution Seeking: Identify and Evaluate Options.
- Phase 3 – Alignment, Action, and Awareness: Implementation and Monitoring.

Community Access to Recreation & Transit Pass (CART) Pilot Project

The CART program is a short-term pilot program funded by a UBCM Poverty Reduction Planning & Action Grant. The goal of the CART pilot project is to support individuals who are low income to access City recreation and transit without having to face additional barriers.

The City of Prince George in collaboration with partner agencies (not-for-profit agencies) works to identify participants and support them with access to the program, which includes a 3 month pool pass and transit pass. The foundation of this approach is that partner agencies know their clients, their experiences and how best to support them.

The pilot launched in November 2022 and to date, approximately 100, 3-month passes have been distributed to clients of our partner agencies.

Please note: at this time, this pilot program is not available to the general public. For other low-cost options to access aquatic recreation, visit the Leisure Access Program page.