In this three-part series, we explore the findings of the national and local Vital Signs® reports issued by Community Foundations of Canada (CFC) and 11 local community foundations. In the first installment, Monica Patten, CFC president and CEO, described the purpose of Vital Signs® and how it is different from other reports.

The second story looked more closely at the trends identified nationally and locally, plus found out more about collaboration in action at the local level.

In this third and final installment, we explore the impact of Vital Signs® in various communities across Canada and what local communities are doing with the findings.

On October 2nd, 2007, 11 community foundations released local Vital Signs® reports, including the Waterloo Region, Toronto and Victoria. These three communities launched their reports and promoted discussion about the report findings in a multitude of ways: large-scale launch events, newspaper inserts, town hall meetings, community presentations, online forums, websites, and special online editions incorporating new page-turning technology.

This was the very first year for a Vital Signs® report for the Waterloo Region in Ontario. Theirs was unique in Canada, explains Rosemary Smith, CEO of the Kitchener and Waterloo Community Foundation, because it was the only instance of two community foundations working on the report together (they partnered with Cambridge and North Dumfries Community Foundation). While it’s a very new report, Smith says that Vital Signs® definitely has people talking about the issues in their community. “Organizations have let us know that Vital Signs® has furthered the work they’re doing, [and] not just their internal understanding; they’ve been able to use it to engage their stakeholders.” However, since this is their first report and they only just launched this past October, Smith feels their community hasn’t experienced the full benefit yet.

Vote of confidence

Even still, the Waterloo Region Vital Signs® report received a major vote of confidence recently. In 2006, Dr. David Johnston, president of the University of Waterloo, outlined a vision for making the Waterloo community the knowledge capital of Canada by 2010. After the release of the Vital Signs® report, Dr. Johnston came to the two foundations and asked if they would consider including in their next Vital Signs® data collection, the metrics for measuring the knowledge capital vision.

While Vital Signs® is new to the Waterloo Region, Toronto was the first community to issue a Vital Signs® report back in 2001. Toronto Community Foundation president and CEO, Rahul Bhardwaj, firmly believes that there is strength in that history. “We’ve been able to keep track of the picture over the years and enhance the awareness of the city on certain issues. Vital Signs® is a provocative piece. People have strong views, which I think is great. It’s clear when I speak about Vital Signs® that people appreciate that our city is a complex city to try and understand. What we’re providing is a balanced, incredible snapshot. When you look at some of the shortcomings identified in the report, we’re not attached politically or otherwise for putting those out there. We’ve developed a track record of impartiality, so people look at Vital Signs® favourably.”

Community initiatives with Vital Signs® connections

There are a couple of very specific initiatives that can be directly linked to past Toronto Vital Signs® reports, including the Toronto Sports Leadership Program. A couple of years ago, Vital Signs® indicated that youth, particularly in high priority neighbourhoods, were challenged to find sports and recreational opportunities, as well as employment options. The Toronto Community Foundation (in partnership with the City of Toronto, the Toronto District School Board, the Toronto Catholic District School Board, the United Way of Greater Toronto, and the YMCA of Greater Toronto, with support from Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, the Toronto Blue Jays, the Lifesaving Society and the Ontario Sport Alliance) created an initiative that provided an opportunity for youth in high risk neighbourhoods to get certification in sports training – specifically lifeguarding, swimming and soccer.

Another soon-to-be completed project with links to Vital Signs® is Arts on Track. Several years ago, Vital Signs® indicated that public spaces were in decline in Toronto. The Toronto Community Foundation brought together planners, architects and others interested in city spaces and came up with an idea to refurbish subway stations along the arts corridor in Toronto. “Arts on Track connects the subway space below ground with the vitality going on above ground,” enthuses Bhardwaj. “Our first project was to refurbish the Museum subway station. That had its roots in Vital Signs®.”

Building anticipation among stakeholders

This is the second year the Victoria Community Foundation produced a Vital Signs® report. President and CEO Sandra Richardson believes the marketing of the material is so important. “We built an anticipation of what would be in the report right from the beginning when we collaborated with the community,” recalls Richardson. “The focus groups and the people involved in grading become interested in what you’re searching for. There’s some real anticipation by the time of the launch.”

The Victoria Foundation really encouraged people to think about what they could do as an individual to make a difference. During focus groups, for instance, the foundation would use little sticky notes for people to capture their ideas. The sticky notes have found their way onto TV ads and into the 2007 report. The newspaper even did a full two-page spread of the sticky note ideas. “They each represent good ideas generated by concerned people,” explains Richardson. “Everyone can do something. It feels do-able if it fits onto a small sticky note.”

Interestingly, Richardson also sees how Vital Signs® is changing them as a community foundation. She states, “We’re starting to take apart our traditional granting model that is reactive. Now when we look at the information in Vital Signs® and look at what we’re doing, it makes far more sense to be proactive in our granting. If we get more proactive and look at funding that way, we’re going to save organizations a lot of the work associated with traditional applications. We’re just going through that with our board right now. We’re moving toward being a foundation that’s more out there in our community and reflecting what’s going on around us and what donors are telling us. It’s exciting work. It’s all more detailed work in a different way.”

Watch for Vital Signs® 2008 launching in even more communities across Canada (as well as the national report) on October 7th, 2008. But what if there is no Vital Signs® report for your community? There are two different answers to that question. Monica Patten, president and CEO of Community Foundations of Canada (CFC) doesn’t expect that all community foundations with membership in CFC will take up Vital Signs®. If there is a community foundation in your community, she encourages you to contact them because releasing a Vital Signs® report in a community requires lots of partners. If there is no community foundation in your community, Patten says, “Vital Signs® is a trademarked program of CFC, so a non-community foundation couldn’t implement it. However, there are lots of other indicator programs around. We know that, and have a deep respect for other initiatives.”

Louise Chatterton Luchuk is a freelance writer and consultant who combines her love of writing with experience at the local, provincial and national levels of volunteer-involving organizations. For more information, visit www.luchuk.com.