Waterloo Region’s Vital Signs prompts discussion, action on mental health issues

By Rosemary Smith

What are the people in Waterloo Region most concerned about? Where do we need to improve and what are we doing well? Where should we, as a community, devote time and energy if we want to ensure that our community is a healthy, vital place to live, work, play, and raise a family?

Some of those answers can be found in Waterloo Region’s Vital Signs®, a report released jointly by The Kitchener and Waterloo Community Foundation (KWCF) and the Cambridge & North Dumfries Community Foundation (CNDCF).

The report provides a quality-of-life snapshot about the region and helps spark discussion and inspire action from our residents and stakeholders in our cities and townships. On October 25th, our two foundations invited interested community members to a Community Impact Discussion to learn about the future plans for the Waterloo Region’s Vital Signs report. We also used the opportunity to shine a light on one of the quality of life areas in the report – Health and Wellness – specifically mental health.

We shared some of the feedback we gleaned from our 2011 in-depth evaluation of the report, noting our renewed commitment to continuing the work of Waterloo Region’s Vital Signs. In the future, we will be delving deeper into the priority areas outlined in the report.

In addition, guest presenters led a discussion about mental health in our community. They provided data and information and identified local initiatives making a difference in the community.

However, the highlight of the event was the story of Johanna, as shared by her mother. Since the age of 19, Johanna struggled with mental health and addiction problems. While sad, her impactful story helped to encourage the dispelling of myths and stigmas associated with mental health – a great example of Vital Signs at work!

Rosemary Smith is Chief Executive Officer of The Kitchener and Waterloo Community Foundation 

Today is Random Act of Kindness Day: Do something nice for someone

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Kitchener (November 4, 2011) –The message of the day is simple; do something nice for someone and ask nothing in return except that they do something nice for someone else.

Since 2008, Random Act of Kindness Day® has brought our community closer together by engaging citizens in small acts of kindness and generosity.

On this special day our residents, schools, community groups, service clubs, businesses, healthcare institutions, and churches have joined hearts and hands – helping to build a stronger, more compassionate community.

“We all get caught up in our own busy lives – this day is about slowing down for a bit and thinking about others, “sharesRosemary Smith, CEO of The KWCF, the home of Random Act of Kindness Day®. “Today is about the small things – raking your neighbour’s leaves, telling someone you appreciate them, holding a door – the small acts of kindness that bring us closer together as a community.”

There are 150,000 Random Act of Kindness Day® circulating around K-W and the townships of Woolwich, Wilmot, and Wellesley. The cards encourage the holder to ‘pay forward’ an act of kindness to someone – a friend, colleague, neighbour, or even a stranger.

This morning 200+ supporters got up bright and early to attend an official Random Act of Kindness Day® Kick Off event in the food court at Conestoga Mall. People from all walks of life joined in the festivities and almost 90 teams of volunteers left the event full of vim and vigour to spread the gift of kindness.  Some performed their own individual acts of kindness and others handed out Random Act of Kindness Day® cards along with copies of the Waterloo Region Record compliments of The KWCF.

And it doesn’t stop there. In addition to K-W and area, Random Act of Kindness Day® is also being celebrated today in over 25 Canadian communities including Cambridge, Ayr, Guelph, Windsor, Essex, Brantford, Oakville, Listowel, Collingwood, Brockville, Niagara, St. Catherines, Grimsby, Milton, Kenora, Woodstock, the Yonge-Lawrence Village in Toronto, and Banff Alberta – lead by community foundations and/or community organizations in those cities.

And while having Random Act of Kindness Day® spread across the country is a dream starting to be realized by The KWCF, The Foundation is quick to remember that it all began here in K-W with a vision from one of The Foundation’s volunteers.

“It is absolutely amazing to see how quickly Random Act of Kindness Day® has extended beyond the borders of K-W,” shares Debb Ritchie, Chair of the Friends of the Foundation Committee – the group that helps The KWCF spearhead Random Act of Kindness Day® in K-W and area.

Debb is also The KWCF volunteer who came up with the idea of Random Act of Kindness Day® and worked with The Foundation to make it happen.

Adds Smith: “We are blessed to live in such a remarkable community where so much caring and generosity happens every day. Our hope is that people will take a moment today and find an opportunity to make a difference in the life of someone else. We can’t wait to see what kindness flows out of our community again this year!”

What did you do to celebrate Random Act of Kindness Day®? We want to hear your stories – visit www.kwcf.ca and click on Random Act of Kindness Day®.

Join in on the fun when tweeting about Random Act of Kindness Day® with the hashtag #rakday or visit them on Facebook atfacebook.com/rakday.

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The Kitchener and Waterloo Community Foundation improves the quality of life in Kitchener-Waterloo and the surrounding area, now and for generations to come, by building and investing community assets, and providing leadership on key community issues.

 

New index of wellbeing challenges Canada’s GDP as sole measure of progress

Waterloo, Ont. – Canada has become a world leader in measuring wellbeing with the launch of a new comprehensive composite index set to challenge the gross domestic product (GDP) as the sole measure of our country’s progress, says the Honourable Roy Romanow, advisory board chair for the Canadian Index of Wellbeing (CIW), located at the University of Waterloo. 

The CIW today is releasing a comprehensive composite index designed by an interdisciplinary team of accomplished Canadian and international experts to measure the overall wellbeing of Canada. It shows that Canadians’ quality of life hasn’t improved at anywhere near the pace of economic growth as measured by GDP. 

“Since 1994, the starting point for the CIW, Canada’s wellbeing has seen an overall improvement of 11 per cent – paling in comparison to the 31 per cent growth in the country’s GDP over that same time frame,” says Romanow. 

“The CIW shows us what GDP cannot: our country is not reaping all of the benefits of our economic growth. Our quality of life has actually gone down in areas such as the environment, leisure and culture, and time use, with only modest gains in health. And even in areas where growth has been robust, our research shows that it was the top 20 per cent that received the lion’s share of rising income and wealth during the boom years, while the gap down to the bottom 20 per cent grew even larger. That’s the Canadian reality.” 

Seen as a global leader by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the CIW composite index is based on 64 separate indicators in eight interconnected categories, built to reflect real Canadian life. 

“This may well be a defining moment in our new economic reality,” says CIW deputy chair, the Honourable Monique Bégin. “By providing an accurate snapshot of how Canada’s wellbeing is faring over time, the CIW gives us the tools we need to hold governments accountable for their actions and decisions – so that our quality of life grows along with GDP.” 

Located in Waterloo’s faculty of applied health sciences, the CIW provides an opportunity to bring together experts in all aspects of wellbeing. The faculty has been an international leader for over 40 years in research related to promoting health and optimizing quality of life.

“This is an exciting first step toward a better understanding of the complexity of our wellbeing”, says Bryan Smale, professor in the faculty of applied health sciences and director of the CIW. “The reports we will be generating in the coming years will drive the conversation leading to real social change that will enhance Canadian lives.” 

Today’s release of the CIW puts Canada ahead of France and the UK, countries also on their way to developing a similar index. 

To learn more about the CIW or enjoy a short video and infographic please visit:www.ciw.ca 

About Waterloo

In just half a century, the University of Waterloo, located at the heart of Canada’s Technology Triangle, has become one of Canada’s leading comprehensive universities with 30,000 full- and part-time students in undergraduate and graduate programs. Waterloo, as home to the world’s largest post-secondary co-operative education program, embraces its connections to the world and encourages enterprising partnerships in learning, research and discovery. In the next decade, the university is committed to building a better future for Canada and the world by championing innovation and collaboration to create solutions relevant to the needs of today and tomorrow. For further details, visit www.uwaterloo.ca.

A lasting legacy, guided by Vital Signs

Brian Fisher feels strongly about putting his charitable dollars into initiatives that will have the greatest impact in his community.

He and his wife, Nancy, recently established The Brian Fisher Family Fund with The Kitchener-Waterloo Community Foundation, and they intend to build the fund over time.

“We want to make a difference in the areas of greatest need – Waterloo Region’s Vital Signs will help us do just that, now and in the future,” says Fisher.

Brian Fisher and his wife recently established a family fund with Kitchener-Waterloo Community Foundation

It’s not a new concept for him. When he and Nancy decided they wanted to increase their annual contributions to charity, they looked at the 2010 report, and saw a need in the areas of Learning and Housing. In consultation with Foundation staff, they donated to projects led by Junior Achievement (the Success Skills program) and to Anselma House, which offers women’s crisis services.

As far back as 2004, Fisher – a retired partner and Business and Estate Planning Consultant with KPMG – turned to KWCF to honour the memory of his first wife, Christine, an avid golfer and supporter of the Golf Association of Ontario.

“I was thinking about an endowment fund, and that got me thinking about The KWCF and the work they do in our community,” says Fisher.

He met with Foundation representatives and set up the Christine Fisher Memorial Student Award Fund, which provides yearly awards to qualified female golfing students. This fund has been rolled into The Brian Fisher Family Fund.

 

Random Act of Kindness day resounding success

By Liz Palmieri

When the Niagara Community Foundation was invited by the Kitchener and Waterloo Community Foundation to its Random Act of Kindness Day orientation, I never imagined the tremendous response we would receive to this initiative in our community.

Our board enthusiastically approved our participation and some key younger volunteers new to the foundation jumped on board in bringing this initiative to Niagara. See our sponsors and media partners on our poster.

The next 14 weeks were a whirlwind, with volunteers, sponsors and participants leading the charge to make November 12 the inaugural Random Act of Kindness Day in Niagara. A special thanks to JoAnne Krick, our Manager of Community Initiatives, for spearheading our work on this project.

More than 30,000 students from our education institutions received a RAK card and they really went all out. Brock University students raked leaves and collected toothbrushes for the food bank, while a professor baked for his colleagues.

The Niagara Falls Mayor’s Youth Advisory Council distributed mittens and hot chocolate downtown, while YMCA leaders and high-school students did the same in other locations. Tales of paid-for coffees at drive-thrus were rampant across Niagara, but it’s the stories of some remarkable students that really touch the heart. One student thanked her teacher for volunteering at the house league activity, and Grade 8 students wrote letters to the Nova Scotia couple who donated their $11 million lottery win.

There are similar success stories in each of the 10 participating communities, and from other involved community foundations in Kitchener and Waterloo, Cambridge & North Dumfries, Windsor, Orillia, Brant, and Guelph.

In Windsor and Essex, elementary schools received new sports equipment and immediately paid it forward by collecting canned goods for area food banks; residents of a downtown neighbourhood were surprised with candy flowers and smiley-face cookies, delivered to their door by students from the Community University Partnership; and a thoughtful bus driver stopped his bus to walk a senior citizen safely across a busy thoroughfare.

The true impact of the Random Act of Kindness initiative may never fully be revealed. In Niagara, we distributed 50,000 cards and if only a fraction paid it forward, once or twice, than the outcomes are unimaginable. The Niagara Community Foundation believes in helping good people do great things in their community and November 12, 2010 was proof of that.

Liz Palmieri is Executive Director of Niagara Community Foundation

Progressive partnership: Vibrant Communities and Community Foundations

By Paul Born

Vibrant Communities Canada has partnered with organizations across Canada, including many Community Foundations, on a nine-year experiment that demonstrates the positive impacts of an innovative and collaborative approach to fighting poverty that is driving individual benefits, neighbourhood changes and large-scale community poverty reductions.

For nearly a decade now, a wide range of partners, including Community Foundations, have formed leadership tables in more than a dozen communities across Canada, giving new momentum to the work of poverty reduction. More than a hope or a dream, they have made it a living, breathing reality.

Joined by the Vibrant Communities initiative, citizens of all income levels, community workers, business people and representatives from all levels of government are clarifying needs, identifying community assets and developing tangible strategies for tackling poverty.

Our experience is proving an important role for place-based strategies when it comes to reducing poverty. Community collaboration is showing promising and powerful results. Community Foundations have played a critical role in many cities, including Hamilton Community Foundation, which has played a leadership role in convening and leading the award-winning coalition in Hamilton.

The Edmonton Community Foundation sits on the leadership body and contributes broadly to the work in that city. The Kitchener and Waterloo Community Foundation was involved with the leadership roundtable for Opportunities Waterloo Region. The Niagara Community Foundation was also involved with Opportunities Niagara.

Launched in 2002, Vibrant Communities Canada builds on learning generated by Opportunities 2000, a millennium campaign to reduce poverty in Waterloo Region to the lowest in Canada, which earned a place in the United Nations Top 40 Projects Worldwide.

The Vibrant Communities approach emphasizes collaboration and consensus building across sectors; comprehensive thinking and action; building community assets; and a commitment to long-term learning and change. It is a self-fuelling change model where progress creates greater capacity, leading to new programs and more systematic interventions. The end result is improved lives and less people living in poverty.

Together, Vibrant Communities partners have:

• Launched 164 poverty reduction initiatives
• Reduced poverty for more than 170,000 households in Canada
• Raised $19.5 million, most of it in local communities
• Engaged 1,690 organizations as partners, including more than 500 businesses
• Mobilized 1,080 individuals as partners, including 573 people living in poverty
• Driven 35 substantive government policy changes

We invite you to read the report, read the executive summary of the report, visit the VC Evaluation webpage and learn about the Vibrant Communities experience.

Paul Born directs Tamarack – An Institute for Community Engagement, a ten year journey and partnership with Alan Broadbent of the Avana Capital Corporation and Maytree Foundation to advance place based solutions to entrenched problems like poverty.

Connecting philanthropists to community needs

Identifying projects that improve the quality of life in our community and supporting those initiatives is high on the list of priorities for The Kitchener and Waterloo Community Foundation (KWCF).

Recently, donors, stakeholders, sponsors, and media partners of The KWCF attended the inaugural launch of “Vital Ideas” – a tool designed to connect donors and philanthropists to community needs and educate them about funding opportunities.

Meant as a companion publication to Waterloo Region’s Vital Signs, a report on quality of life in the Region, Vital Ideas highlights the important work being done by charities in Kitchener, Waterloo and area – work that is making a real difference in our community.

“The programs and organizations profiled in our newest publication Vital Ideas align with the knowledge we gather from our work on Vital Signs,” says Rosemary Smith, CEO of The KWCF.

The initiatives outlined in the publication provide unique and innovative approaches to dealing with root causes of issues such as: health and wellness, learning, and safety, to name a few.

At the launch, The Working Centre’s Director, Joe Mancini was on-hand to talk about one of the Centre’s projects.

“The Psychiatric Outreach Project, rooted at St. John’s Kitchen, is a creative, cost efficient, and integrated approach that meets the most vulnerable where they spend their time,” he said.

“This project demonstrates that deinstitutionalization must be complemented with effective community-based services accessible to those dealing with the fog of mental illness.”

Another organization speaking at the event was Strong Start. New Executive Director Machelle Denison shared that “Strong Start’s Get Ready for School Program helps ensure children enter Junior Kindergarten feeling confident, comfortable, and prepared to learn.”

“The work of these organizations and the others featured in Vital Ideas and the positive impact their programs and initiatives bring about is what truly makes our community the vital, creative, and innovative place that it is,” adds Smith.

“By working together and tackling issues where they begin, we can make our community an even better place to live, work, and raise a family.”

The Kitchener and Waterloo Community Foundation improves the quality of life in Kitchener-Waterloo and the surrounding area, now and for generations to come, by building community assets, addressing needs through grant making, and providing leadership on key community issues.

Vital Ideas is funded by the Ontario Trillium Foundation.

KWCF launches Vital Ideas

Waterloo (June 9, 2010) – Donors, stakeholders, sponsors, and media partners of The Kitchener and Waterloo Community Foundation (KWCF) are invited to attend the inaugural launch of “Vital Ideas” – a tool designed to connect philanthropists to community needs.

Meant as a companion publication to Waterloo Region’s Vital Signs, a report on quality of life in the Region, Vital Ideas highlights the important work being done by charities in Kitchener, Waterloo and area – work that is making a real difference in our community.

“The programs and organizations profiled in our newest publication Vital Ideas align with the knowledge we gather from our work on Vital Signs,” shares Rosemary Smith, CEO of The KWCF.

The initiatives outlined in the publication are providing unique and innovative approaches to dealing with root causes of issues and helping individuals in our community.  Issues such as: health and wellness, learning, and safety, to name a few.

“The work of these featured organizations and the positive impact their programs and initiatives bring about is what truly makes our community the vital, creative, and innovative place that it is,” adds Smith. “By working together and tackling issues where they begin, we can make our community an even better place to live, work, and raise a family.”

When: Thursday, June 24, 2010
Time: 9:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m. (Registration: 8:45 a.m.)
Location: K-W Counselling Services, 480 Charles Street East, Kitchener
RSVP: tracy@kwcf.ca or (519) 725-1806 ext. 6
For more information on the launch of Vital Ideas please contact (519) 725-1806.

The Kitchener and Waterloo Community Foundation improves the quality of life in Kitchener-Waterloo and the surrounding area, now and for generations to come, by building community assets, addressing needs through grant making, and providing leadership on key community issues.

Vital Ideas is funded by the Ontario Trillium Foundation.

Vital Signs determines key priorities in Waterloo Region

CFC’s Vital Signs Canada blog is featuring guest bloggers who are experts on various aspects of community vitality. Today’s contributor is Rosemary Smith, CEO of The Kitchener and Waterloo Community Foundation

 What are the people of Waterloo Region most concerned about?  Where do we need to improve and what are we doing well?  Where should we, as a community, devote time and energy if we want to ensure that our Region is a healthy, vital place to live, work, play, and grow?

These are some of the questions that The Kitchener and Waterloo Community Foundation (KWCF) in partnership with the Cambridge & North Dumfries Community Foundation attempt to answer with the third Waterloo Region’s Vital Signs report.  Providing us with reliable and valid data, this learning tool has helped us identify key priorities important to the overall health of our Region.

For instance; low literacy and learning findings from the first two reports were behind The KWCF’s decision to make a $100,000 four-year commitment to the Pathways to Education program.  They were also behind this year’s strategic grant of supporting intergenerational family literacy with Project READ’s Get Set Learn 2 program.  In fact, in 2008, the largest grants made by The KWCF’s Community Fund went to support the top four priority areas outlined in the 2007 Vital Signs report: Arts & Culture, Housing, Health & Wellness, and Learning.

As community foundations, it is essential that we have a good understanding of the needs and trends of the communities we serve.  Whether it’s connecting donors to opportunities, making impactful grants, or providing leadership on issues of importance, we need to know what makes our community tick.

With each Vital Signs report we have gained a better understanding of the every day enjoyment and satisfaction experienced by those living in the Region of Waterloo.  In addition, each report has shown us that many of the quality of life issues being faced by our communities are interrelated.  For example: finding affordable housing can impact the number of people being forced to move further away and therefore effects both transportation and the environment by the number of cars on the road.  Having a vibrant arts community entices people to move to a city and directly impacts the health of the local economy.  Helping those less fortunate can lead to a decrease in health concerns and provide a stronger sense of belonging.

Waterloo Region’s Vital Signs is both a celebration and an important reality check. It provides us with an opportunity to keep an eye on the future. Using Vital Signs as a tool for learning, each year we highlight a few areas on which we think a closer look must be taken.  These areas help us to focus our grant making and support others in the work that they are doing.  This year’s areas included: a lack of spending from our regional, provincial, national, and private sectors in arts and culture, concerns over the fact that many of our residents do not eat the suggested five to 10 servings of fruits and vegetables a day, a declining elder poverty rate, that we have fewer child care spaces available for our families and that we lag behind the province with our investment in child care overall.

In conclusion, recognizing and understanding all of these connections is vital to everyone living and working in Waterloo Region.  Only by working together do we have the ability to create positive change where it’s needed most.