Cumberland has become the first municipality in B.C. to adopt the Social Public Procurement framework, which refers to a value-aligned approach to leverage existing public purchasing in order to add social value to the community, in hopes of maximizing returns for taxpayers. After the adoption of this framework, an average of $5 million will be spent by the Village each year to support micro/small businesses and social enterprises by its value-driven purchasing activities. Sandra Hamilton, a Social Procurement expert and catalyst, has helped Cumberland for designing and implementing the Social Procurement Framework, leading Cumberland to the first framework adopter in B.C.
Here is more information about this framework from Cumberland’s news release: