Good Practices and Innovations in Public Governance 2003-2011

2003 Category 3: Canada
Europe and North America
Canada
2003 Category 3 Winner
The Neighborhood Integrated
Service Team (NIST)
City of Vancouver
British Columbia, Canada
Description
Empowering citizens by integrating services at the city level to address difficult
issues in the residents’ communities.
The Problem
Vancouver is the third largest city in Canada, and serves as the gateway to the Pacific
Rim. With a budget of $636.0 million, the city’s 8,000 employees provide hundreds
of services to an increasingly diverse community of more than 550,000 residents.
The Solution
The Neighborhood Integrated Service Team (NIST) program is the city of Vancouver’s
initiative helping residents address difficult issues in their communities. These
might be issues relating to the infrastructure, waste removal, noise management,
crime control, health services or safety. The NIST program mission statement is “to
lead, to provide and to facilitate integrated community-based service delivery”. In a
nutshell, NIST takes city government to the streets.
The program was developed in 1994 and implemented in 1995. It is based on two
simple premises:
• Local problems should have local solutions; and
• Cooperation and information sharing are essential to achieving effective
solutions.
The program established 16 Neighborhood Integrated Service Teams (NISTs), which
helped Vancouver residents solve a variety of problems in their communities. More
than 200 municipal employees participate in the 16 teams, each of which represents
a particular area of Vancouver. The teams include police officers, firemen, city engineers
and planners, community organizers, librarians, healthcare professionals and
social workers. These city officials work together, sharing information and coordinating
their efforts to solve problems in a holistic and multidisciplinary manner. The
teams meet regularly in and with their communities.
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