How are your community’s vital signs?

Today 14 community foundations across the country are releasing Vital Signs reports – giving citizens, leaders and philanthropists a snapshot of the health of their communities.

First published by the Toronto Community Foundation in 2001, the Vital Signs report was designed to engage Torontonians in understanding and monitoring the health and vitality of their newly amalgamated city. In 2006, the program expanded across the country and Community Foundations of Canada (CFC) now coordinates the participation of more than 30 community foundations across the country.

CharityVillage worked with CFC and community foundations across the country to bring you feature profiles of five of these communities: 

Halifax, Nova Scotia
Montreal, Quebec
Toronto, Ontario
Calgary, Alberta
Clayoquot Sound, British Columbia

These five were selected to give you an overview of the trends and issues affecting communities from coast to coast, including some of Canada’s largest cities and regional centres in addition to smaller communities, highlighted this year with the inaugural Vital Signs report for Clayoquot Sound, British Columbia.

In addition to the 14 community Vital Signs reports, CFC also released its national Vital Signs report today, with a focus on youth, pulling together research conducted by many organizations to paint a comprehensive picture of the economic, educational and societal factors affecting youth as they enter adulthood, amidst a backdrop of rapid change.

“The linear path from school to career, home ownership, and family has disappeared,” said Ian Bird, President and CEO of Community Foundations of Canada. “We want communities to recognize that this is ‘the new normal.’ We need to work with youth to find better ways of preparing and supporting them for a journey that is less certain and more fragmented.”

The report highlights a number of key findings, including: 

  • Big debt, little work. After graduation, youth are saddled with debt that can take 14 years to pay off. Then only piecemeal or part-time employment awaits: 1 out of 3 move into a low-skilled job after graduation.
  • Summer jobs at all-time low. The youth unemployment rate is consistently double the national average. In June, it was 14.8% compared to the national average of 7.2% and summer jobs in 2012 were at the lowest level since data was first collected in 1977.
  • Delays in post-secondary education. Young people are delaying the start of post-secondary education to improve high-school grades, or save for tuition, which has risen up to 200% in some provinces in the past 20 years.
  • Retirees still working. Young people today face competition from Baby Boomers who are hanging onto jobs longer, or returning to work after retirement age.

For more information on the Vital Signs program and to view reports for other communities across the country, visit www.vitalsignscanada.ca.