We Are
FIRST UNITED
For 140 years, we’ve sough to build better futures in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside by providing essential services, community connection, and healing.
We Are
FIRST UNITED
For 140 years, we’ve sough to build better futures in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside by providing essential services, community connection, and healing.
Move First Forward
Buy a Brick
When you buy a symbolic brick for $50, you’ll help inspire healing and possibility in the neighbourhood and put reconciliation into action.
How We Help
We seek a just society by nurturing each person’s spirit through community services, advocacy, and ministry in the face of the often-intersecting challenges of extreme poverty, historical and personal trauma, mental illness, and oppression in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.
View all Programs
How You Help
Be a part of building better futures through our Community Giving Program, volunteering, attending an event, or subscribing to our newsletter. However you choose to get involved, you can help us remain agile and responsive and meet the most pressing needs of our time.
How You Can Help
A Sanctuary Within our Community
We are on the frontlines
Our Work
We’re building better futures by responding to the most pressing needs of our community: providing essential services, community connection, and healing. We provide direct support to our neighbours in the Downtown Eastside and advocate for dignity, belonging, and justice for the community.
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Sign up for email updates about announcements, invitations, and news about FIRST UNITED!
Latest news
Redevelopment and Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Artwork
Date 29 Jul, 2025
Category Art Campaign, Blog, First Forward, Redevelopment
Our new building is starting to come alive—construction is progressing smoothly and the exterior artistic elements are beginning to take shape. Public art shares culture, stories, and narratives about a place. It creates a sense of purpose, identity, and pride. Who is included and who is excluded from these public narratives matters—and that’s why we’re […]
Tenant’s Rights Are Heating Up
Date 29 Jul, 2025
Category Advocacy, Blog, Programs & Services
Ever since the deadly heat dome that scorched the Pacific Northwest in 2021, the impacts of climate change on housing policy have been an area of concern. In 2023, we advocated directly to the Minister of Housing to change the Residential Tenancy Act to disallow landlords from prohibiting tenants to install and use air conditioners. […]
The Story of FIRST UNITED is a Story about People
Date 29 Jul, 2025
Category Blog
In May 1885, a small group of people gathered at the Hastings Mill schoolhouse for a church service. That small congregation started a history that would extend over a century—that was the start of FIRST UNITED. “Vancouver” wasn’t even the name for the city yet. The Canadian Pacific Railway didn’t yet extend to the town […]
Attend an Event
Join us for virtual and in-person events to learn more about FIRST and connect with our community.