The Great Beginnings Program: Old Streets, New Pride

The entire 2009 Year End Progress Report
( PDF 140 MB) is available to download as a PDF.
*Warning this is an extremely large file therefore the download will take longer than normal.

2009 Year End Progress Report

The Great Beginnings Program is an initiative developed by the City of Vancouver in 2008 to celebrate British Columbia’s 150th anniversary. The provincial government supports this initiative through an investment of $10 million over three years to celebrate the history, heritage, and culture of Vancouver’s first urban areas, including the neighbourhoods of Gastown, Chinatown, Japantown, and Strathcona. The provincial investment has been used to attract other supporters over the project’s three year lifespan with the aim of creating a genuine legacy of improved physical, social, and economic conditions, as well as seeding future opportunities in these neighbourhoods.

The program restores the founding neighbourhoods' original public appeal by creating attractive and welcoming physical environments through improvements to streets, buildings, publicspaces, and public safety. It also establishes a foundation for improvements to the social environment through facilitating arts and cultural activities, celebrations, and street festivals for residents, business owners, and visitors alike.