Vital Signs analysis | Community Foundations of Canada board measures success and improvement in several areas
Oct. 1 was report card day for 25 communities across Canada.
They are the ones that released analyses called Vital Signs, which measure various aspects of community health from literacy to employment to volunteerism.
Among the 25 were five cities and regions in Alberta and five in British Columbia.
“The reason it’s valuable is because it’s a report card on the wellness of our community,” said Phil North, a Lethbridge resident who sat on the Community Foundations of Canada board.
“It talks about things such as poverty, youth, health, recreation, culture, volunteerism, any topics that each community foundation wants to do.”
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North spoke at the official release of the Vital Signs report from the Community Foundation of Lethbridge and Southwestern Alberta. Medicine Hat and southwestern Alberta, northwestern Alberta, Edmonton and Calgary released their reports on the same day, as did north, central and south Okanagan, Abbotsford and Victoria.
“Initially you can see what areas we are doing well in, by comparison to others, and it can also help us set priorities for action going forward,” North said.
“And if we do it on a periodic basis … you can note your improvement.”
The Lethbridge foundation has holdings of $15 million and distributes $400,000 annually to charities in the region, said president Dianne King.
She said Vital Signs was initiated in her region to ensure grants were distributed where they would meet the greatest need.
Community Foundations of Canada is one of the country’s largest grant makers, contributing more than $154 million annually to charities. There are more than 180 foundations, which together hold more than $3.1 billion in assets.
Foundations choose which of 12 areas to explore when undertaking a Vital Signs project.
The Lethbridge region chose to analyze the following topics:
- Gap between rich and poor
- Arts, culture and recreation
- Health
- Belonging and leadership
- Getting started, which relates to literacy and immigrant adjustment to new communities.
The other seven areas in the Vital Signs repertoire are housing, economy, learning, work, getting around, environment and safety and security.
Rita Berte, a nurse who chairs the Lethbridge region’s Vital Signs committee, said these topics might be explored in future reports.
She said local, regional, provincial and federal data were used to compile the report, which took two years to complete.
Berte said she was particularly interested in statistics showing food bank use on a national basis continues to increase.
“Why is that?” she said. “A lot of it is certainly around minimum wage and the cost of housing and that type of thing. But on the other hand, we’ve got hunger and we’ve got obesity. All of these indicators kind of interact with one another.”
The Lethbridge and southwestern region has numerous food banks, a food box program that provides fresh food to needy families at a reduced rate, school lunch programs and meals on wheels.
- 15 percent have income of less than $30,000.
- 1,802 immigrants came to region in 2011-12.
- There were 186,500 people (2010 statistics).
- Livestock and poultry were valued at $822 million.
- 94.7 percent say they are satisfied or very satisfied with overall life.
- 159 doctors per 100,000 people, 23 percent lower than national rate.
- 22.9 percent obesity rate, higher than the national average of 18.4 percent.
- 672 homeless people found homes between 2009 and 2013 through community programs.
- The food bank delivered 1,700 sandwiches to evacuation centre during June floods.
- The median age is 30.3 in city and 36.8 in county.
- Grande Prairie Regional College saw a 22 percent increase in trade program enrolment in 2012-13.
- The obesity rate in 2012 was 28.8 percent, up from 25.9 percent in 2011.
- Hypertension, diabetes and heart disease are the most prevalent chronic diseases.
- Meals on wheels program delivers 6,500 hot meals per year.
