Growing up in a small town in Siberia, Ksenia Stepkina knew all her neighbours. Borrowing a cup of sugar, stopping in for a conversation, and looking out for one another were simply part of daily life. When she moved to Canada at age 17, she was struck by how many people lived side by side without really knowing one another.
Years later, that experience inspired Good Neighbour Kitsilano, a volunteer-run grassroots initiative working to make Kitsilano a more connected, caring, and resilient neighbourhood. From the beginning, Ksenia believed that strong communities are built when residents help shape the future of their neighbourhood together.
It began with a tray of holiday cookies. Wanting to revive a childhood tradition, Ksenia baked cookies, attached handwritten cards, and knocked on her neighbours' doors. Many people were surprised. Some were cautious at first. Many were touched by the gesture. Before long, neighbours who had never spoken were introducing themselves and stopping to chat in the hallway.
What began with a tray of homemade cookies has since grown into a broader movement that helps neighbours connect, care for one another, and prepare together.
Connection is the starting point for everything that follows.
Over the past five years, Good Neighbour Kitsilano has focused on making neighbourly connection simple, practical, and accessible. Through community potlucks, holiday cookie campaigns, neighbourhood gatherings, and the Block Connector Program, residents have opportunities to meet, share ideas, and build relationships within their buildings, streets, and blocks.
Block Connectors help uncover the strengths that already exist within a neighbourhood. Neighbours share skills, ideas, resources, and interests that can be used to strengthen community life. Whether organizing gatherings, sharing resources, solving local problems, or preparing for emergencies, it all starts with a conversation.
As relationships grow, opportunities for care naturally emerge.
Neighbours begin looking out for one another in ways both large and small. Welcome Wagon resources help newcomers feel connected from the moment they arrive. Helping Hands networks and other communications channels connect neighbours willing to assist with grocery shopping, pet sitting, plant watering, small repairs, and other everyday tasks.
These acts of support emerge through neighbourly relationships and networks of trust. They help people settle into a new community, age in place, navigate challenges, and find support close to home.
Sometimes those connections matter in unexpected ways. Noah, a Block Connector, recalls a time when their regular grocery delivery driver knocked on their door because a senior across the street was not answering for a scheduled grocery delivery. The driver knew both neighbours through his route, had already called 911, and came looking for help. Noah went over to check on the neighbour, helped contact her daughter, put away groceries so they would not spoil, and made sure her home was secure before leaving.
Reflecting on the experience, they described it as a powerful example of how neighbours and even everyday community connections can work together to make sure someone is cared for when they need help. In many ways, neighbours become the safety net for one another.
As Ksenia often asks, “If we cannot get along with our neighbours, what hope do we have for solving larger-scale problems?” Community organizations, social services, and governments all play essential roles, but neighbours are often the first to notice when someone is struggling and the first to offer support.
As relationships deepen, communities become more prepared.
Good Neighbour Kitsilano came to see preparedness as an extension of belonging. Communities become more resilient when strong relationships already exist before an emergency occurs. This understanding reflects a growing recognition that belonging contributes to wellbeing. Canada's Quality of Life Framework identifies Sense of Belonging to Local Community as an important indicator of quality of life, recognizing the role that relationships and connection play in helping people thrive.
That understanding became even more urgent following the 2021 BC heat dome, Canada's deadliest weather event. Many of those who died were older adults living alone. For Good Neighbour Kitsilano, the lesson was clear: emergency preparedness is not only about supplies and plans. It is, first and foremost, about relationships.
Through a partnership with Building Resilient Neighbourhoods, the initiative launched the Connect & Prepare Block Connector Cohort. The program helps residents strengthen neighbour-to-neighbour relationships while developing communication networks, mapping local assets and vulnerabilities, and co-creating emergency plans.
Over six months, twelve volunteer Block Connectors worked across seven apartment buildings and city blocks in Kitsilano and Fairview. Together, they reached more than 400 residents and actively engaged more than 100 neighbours through gatherings, information sharing, and peer-to-peer support. Residents established WhatsApp groups and contact lists, developed preparedness tools, and strengthened collaboration with building managers and emergency partners.
Each building and block faced different circumstances. Participants encountered limited engagement, challenges building trust, physical barriers within buildings, and varying levels of support from strata councils and property managers. Even so, they demonstrated how community resilience can be built one conversation, gathering, and block at a time.
In October 2025, more than 40 residents, Block Connectors, community organizations, and government representatives gathered at Kitsilano Neighbourhood House for the Connect & Prepare Community Dialogue, the culmination of five years of grassroots community-building. The event showcased neighbourhood-led preparedness projects and helped build a shared understanding of the roles residents, community organizations, and government agencies play before, during, and after emergencies. Participants identified opportunities for greater collaboration and stronger neighbourhood resilience. The gathering marked an important milestone, moving beyond individual projects toward a broader network of relationships and partnerships focused on community preparedness.
Participation in the Climate & Equity Lab connected Good Neighbour Kitsilano with residents, researchers, practitioners, and community leaders exploring how climate change affects vulnerable communities and how local relationships can strengthen resilience. Those conversations helped spark a collaboration with Tamarack Institute, MaRS Discovery District, and Gore Mutual Foundation focused on community-led emergency preparedness.
As one of a small group of participating communities in a national emergency preparedness and community resilience initiative, Good Neighbour Kitsilano helped develop resident-centred approaches to preparedness. Through community mapping, peer learning, and a year-long Community of Practice, participants explored how local assets, relationships, and community leadership can strengthen preparedness for climate-related and public health emergencies.
Ksenia captures the approach in a simple reminder: “It's not what's in your emergency preparedness kit but who is in your emergency preparedness kit.”
Good Neighbour Kitsilano demonstrates how belonging strengthens wellbeing, resilience, and community safety. As climate-related emergencies become more frequent and severe, neighbour-to-neighbour relationships become increasingly important.
The initiative has also challenged assumptions about where leadership comes from. Residents play an active role as leaders, connectors, organizers, and changemakers within their neighbourhoods. By supporting residents to connect neighbours, uncover local assets, and organize collective action, Good Neighbour Kitsilano is helping build the case for a resident-led approach to community development, where citizens help shape the future of the places they call home.
This work has been supported by a growing network of partners, including Kitsilano Neighbourhood House, Building Resilient Neighbourhoods, Vancouver Foundation’s Neighbourhood Small Grants program, and other community organizations. Together, they demonstrate how grassroots action and institutional support can work hand in hand.
Tamarack has contributed to the initiative's growth through Cities Deepening Community resources, Community Innovation funding, peer learning opportunities, and participation in a national emergency preparedness and community resilience initiative supported by Gore Mutual Foundation and developed with MaRS Discovery District. Through a year-long Community of Practice and peer learning opportunities, Good Neighbour Kitsilano connected with communities across Canada exploring resident-led approaches to preparedness, climate adaptation, and resilience.
Looking ahead, Good Neighbour Kitsilano hopes to continue strengthening neighbourhood networks and deepening partnerships that support healthy, resilient communities.
Good Neighbour Kitsilano is built on the simple belief that meaningful change starts close to home. By helping neighbours connect, care for one another, and prepare together, the initiative is building essential social infrastructure: a neighbourhood where people know who lives nearby, recognize the strengths around them, and are less likely to face everyday challenges or emergencies alone.
Five years later, Ksenia can see the vision behind Good Neighbour Kitsilano becoming a lived reality. She knows most of the neighbours in her apartment building. Summer potlucks, holiday gatherings, exchanging spare keys, and looking out for one another have once again become part of everyday life. When her son was born, neighbours welcomed him with home-cooked meals, baby books, toys, handwritten cards, and even a handwoven blanket. Today, he joins his mom in delivering holiday cookies door to door, carrying forward the same spirit of neighbourliness that inspired Good Neighbour Kitsilano in the first place.
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