Canada’s Vital Signs 2012 digs deep into youth issues

Each fall Community Foundations of Canada releases its national Vital Signs report, and youth issues have consistently been flagged every year since its inception in 2006.

We know education, employment, health and technology are among the huge concerns facing Canada’s young people.

That’s why we’re dedicating Canada’s Vital Signs 2012 to youth, making connections between research in various areas to provide a critical snapshot of the issues facing Canadian youth at this point in our history.

On Oct. 2, we will be releasing our youth research along with a YouTube video promo that encapsulates some of the key findings from our Vital Signs research. Our focus on youth is intended to act as a catalyst for candid and creative conversations that will lead to action among Canada’s community foundations and Canadian communities.

To help move from statistics to solutions, we’re also hosting a Vital Youth Dialogue and Design Workshop on Oct. 3, a day for youth and youth advocates to share and build on a variety of perspectives and strategies on sustainability, entrepreneurship, employment, physical and mental health, accessibility, immigration, engagement, inclusion and more.

This highly interactive, solutions-focused day will serve as a prototype for similar discussions at the CFC 2013 Conference in Winnipeg next June, and in communities nationally.

Stay tuned for more in the coming weeks …

Despite favourable high-school completion rates, youth unemployment still a problem in Canada

By Judith Maxwell

Canadians can rejoice that the high school completion rates for the population over 15 have soared from 62% in 1990 to 79% in 2010, as revealed in Canada’s Vital Signs.  But broad national averages tend to hide the chronic problems faced by young people in Canada in the digital age.

One problem is the chronic underemployment of university graduates and the other is the urban and rural pockets of persistently unemployed young men who did not complete high school.  Both reflect flaws in the capacity of our labour markets to generate clear pathways to a good job.

Economics consultant Judith Maxwell

The chronic underemployment of university graduates was highlighted in a report by CPRN and the OECD in 2005.  Patrice de Broucker found that one-third of 25 to 29-year-old graduates in Canada were working in low-skill occupations in 2002 – a period when the economy was strong and  employment conditions were favourable. Only Spain topped that rate at the time.  The other 22 countries in the study reported less than 20% of graduates in low-skill work, mainly because they graduated with more work-related skills.

Since the recession in 2008, graduates have faced extraordinary competition for jobs.  They count themselves lucky to get any job.  Many are serving in a bar or restaurant, working retail or manning the reception desk for a company or non-profit –not the jobs they were aiming for after university.  We told them that if they played by the rules and got a degree, they would have a ticket to a good life.  But these are not jobs that develop new skills and these are not employers who can promise a promotion to a good job.

Meanwhile, drop-outs face chronic unemployment and life at the margins of society.  These young people are highly concentrated in poor urban neighbourhoods or in rural or remote areas – it’s not unusual to see a neighbourhood population where drop-outs exceed 70%.  And the most likely victims are children of recent immigrants and aboriginal Canadians.  Dr. Paul Cappon, President of the Canadian Council on Learning, points to the dearth of apprenticeship training programs in high schools. But these young people also experience deep poverty, weak community and parental supports and racial bias – all of which erase any hope of a better life

So we too have our lost generation – young men (mostly) who are not in trades, not in school, not working and without hope.  Excellent programs – like Pathways to Education – create hope by overcoming the systemic barriers faced by these young people. And Pathways is now making a difference in 11 communities. Many more communities need to step up to the plate.

 Judith Maxwell is an economics consultant and founding President of Canadian Policy Research Networks

 

Pathways to Education: A social innovation with powerful impact

By Carolyn Acker

The Canadian Council on Learning tells us there will be a major shortfall in post-secondary graduates by 2013, when up to 70% of new and replacement jobs will require post-secondary education. It’s an issue highlighted last month in many Vital Signs reports.

Youth in Canada’s lowest income communities are dropping out of high schools at a rate in excess of 50% and in some communities as high as 60%. Canada’s future depends upon us finding a way to fix this problem. 

That’s where the model Pathways to Education comes in. In 2001, as Executive Director of the Regent Park Community Health Centre, I founded the program withNorman Rowen. Six years later we had reduced the 56% high school drop-out rate to 11% and increased post secondary participation from 20% to 81%.

We have replicated the program in 10 additional low-income communities fromWinnipegtoHalifaxand now more than 3,500 students are getting comparable results.

A participant, at right, in Pathways to Education. She has now graduated high school and is attending university.

Attempts to reduce the drop-out rate in economically disadvantaged communities – through school-based initiatives and reforms alone — have been largely unsuccessful. Why? In large part because the risk factors for dropping out are not limited to the school environment.

Critical factors are found in their home communities. Pathways was designed to focus on these risk factors. Based in the community, Pathways provides four integrated supports over four years of secondary school:

• Tutoring four nights per week in the community
• Transit tickets or lunch vouchers earned through attendance, plus a $4,000 scholarship to be used towards post-secondary costs payable to the college or university
• Group mentoring for grades 9 and 10; specialty/career mentoring for grades 11 and 12
• Student Parent Support Workers, who serve as a bridge between the community, parents, students, high schools and the program
• Students, together with their parent(s), sign agreements to participate and have done so in record numbers

Community Foundations acrossCanadahave invested in Pathways not only because we are changing the lives of thousands of youth, but also because there is good financial reason to invest.

The Boston Consulting Group reports that $1 invested in Pathways generates a $25 return to society in terms of decreased social costs and an increased tax base.

Education really does have the power to change everything.

Carolyn Acker is founder of Pathways to Education Canada

Leverage networked movement to address challenges revealed in Vital Signs, advises CFC leader

By Ian Bird

On October 4th, twenty-two community foundations across Canada launched local Vital Signs reports. Community Foundations of Canada (CFC) also launched our national findings and report, Canada’s Vital Signs.

As in the past, we looked at many issues around quality of life and highlighted a few key findings: youth unemployment is high – much higher than for the workforce overall – but not as high or as disproportionate as in many other comparable countries. Personal bankruptcies are way up, in contrast to business bankruptcies. Obesity rates continue to rise, reaching alarming rates in some parts of the country.

Ian Bird, President and CEO of Community Foundations of Canada

From these three focal points, it would seem Canada is on the edge of some big challenges.

Seeing some of the violence driven by social and economic exclusion that has taken place in the UK over the summer, and looking at the growing signs and effects of declining household income in the US, the time is right to take stock, think systemically, and take action.

Coming from the sporting world, the obesity epidemic is particularly close to my heart. Our principal finding is that obesity rates across Canada are somewhere in the 20-25% range and have gone up steadily in the last 10 years, despite increased attention to the issue and various initiatives, including better food labeling and tax incentives to promote physical activity.

For youth ages 2 to 17, the obesity rate has steadied in the last decade, but at almost triple what it was when I was a kid. There is a huge financial cost to this epidemic in terms of health care and lost productivity, and on the individual level there is an emotional toll: discrimination, bullying and loss of quality of life.

There are no simple solutions to any of these three problems, or many of the others that surfaced in Canada’s Vital Signs. Community foundations alone are not likely to make the greatest impact on turning things around, but there are some great examples of the roles we can play.

As part of a co-ordinated provincial strategy, The Community Foundation of Medicine Hat and Southeastern Alberta has partnered on a series of ads with a local television station and Grande Prairie, which has one of the highest obesity rates in the country, made obesity the main focus of its first Vital Signs report in 2011and is planning an initiative with Alberta Health Services to address obesity in the workplace. Experts agree with a joined up strategy is needed to combat obesity and community foundations are part of that framework-type thinking.

My vision is that community foundations will keep building their impact by leveraging our networked movement to address regional and even national challenges.

Building on Vital Signs and other leadership work, we can connect our knowledge, skills, social and real capital to play an important role in untangling some of these nests and making sure we don’t head further in the wrong direction. This means connecting up CFC’s over 175 members in Canada, and it also means being exceptional at working collaboratively with other partners.

Ian Bird is President and CEO of Community Foundations of Canada

In difficult times, we still need to protect our cultural identity – CIW Director

By Bryan Smale

In the recent research findings released in Canada’s Vital Signs, we see an interesting comparison of the percentage of people attending cultural events in different cities across Canada. Notably, cities such as Victoria, Calgary, Montréal, Toronto, and interestingly, Kelowna, show up consistently as reporting comparatively higher percentages of people taking part in these activities.

Just as notable is the absence in this top group of the many other Canadian cities included in the General Social Survey. Are their residents just not interested in the arts?

The variable patterns of attendance among the cities are frequently explained as a function of differences in the demographic profile of the population. For example, in Victoria, the higher proportion of older residents in that city is pointed to as the reason underlying their higher percentages of attendance to the performing arts. Similarly, the relatively higher attendance at cultural or artistic festivals in some cities is tied to the size of the cities, where larger cities (e.g., Montréal) report higher percentages than smaller cities (e.g., St. John).

However, there is another factor to consider. In a report on Leisure and Culture released last year by the Canadian Index of Wellbeing (CIW), it was reported that “both total and average attendance at performing arts performances have declined steadily since 2001, although average attendance rebounded somewhat in 2006, in part due to the fewer number of performances available.”

So, the patterns of decline we see in attendance among Canadians are just as much a function of the availability of performances, events, and especially the venues where they are presented.

When coupled with the recent cuts in support for the public agencies and non-profit and voluntary groups typically responsible for these activities, this decline in engagement is even more troubling for the wellbeing of Canadians and their communities. Deliberate losses in our capacity to develop and provide meaningful venues and opportunities for the performing arts and cultural activities threaten the wellbeing of individuals, communities, and society at large. We must strengthen our resolve to ensure that our capacity to sustain and further develop such resources is maintained.

We must avoid “blaming ourselves” for declining attendance at arts and cultural performances and events. We must demand more from our elected officials and bureaucrats to protect those places where we celebrate our culture, our humanity, our sense of ourselves. Without those places, we are less well as a nation.

Please visit our website on October 20 to read the first-ever CIW composite index report ‘How are Canadians Really doing?’ and ask yourself what progress means to your wellbeing.

Explore the infographic to see what areas of wellbeing are improving or getting worse, and watch the video to be inspired to start the conversation with your colleagues, with friends and families, and with elected officials.

 Bryan Smale is the Director of the Canadian Index of Wellbeing (CIW) and a Professor in the Department of Recreation and Leisure Studies at the University of Waterloo

 

Canada’s Vital Signs 2011 reveals we’re losing the war on obesity, declaring personal bankruptcy more often – but staving off NEET trend amongst youth

OTTAWA (Oct. 4, 2011) – Canadians are pushing themselves to the brink of their physical and financial health, says Canada’s Vital Signs 2011, the annual report card on quality of life from Community Foundations of Canada.

National obesity rates and personal bankruptcy numbers continue to rise unabated – and although Canada’s youth unemployment rates haven’t reached the epic proportions of some European countries, it’s an issue that communities ignore at their peril.

“When I see these numbers I think about young people in our communities and the future we’re creating for them,” says Ian Bird, President and CEO of Community Foundations of Canada. “We don’t want our legacy to be about more sedentary lifestyles, not enough engagement in the work world and worries about our long-term financial future.”

Rising obesity rates

Although Canada has been battling the bulge for a decade, national obesity rates continue to rise despite better food labelling, healthier food options in schools, reduced amounts of trans fats in our food supply, and tax incentives to promote physical activity. The estimated cost to Canadian communities is $4.6 to $7.1 billion each year.

The most recent statistics (2010) show that 18.1 per cent of Canadian adults describe themselves as obese, an increase of 2.8 percentage points since 2003. The prevalence rate is even higher: about 1 in 4 adults and 1 in 11 children.

The statistics show current efforts by policy-makers, businesses and non-profits are not working. And one of Canada’s foremost obesity experts says it’s because they don’t recognize the irreversible societal changes that have taken place in this country.

“We have nurtured the obesity epidemic – through sedentary work and lifestyles, a constant time crunch, and our fast-food culture – and now we must accept that it is a chronic disease,” said Dr. Arya Sharma, Scientific Director for the Canadian Obesity Network.

Sharma said most anti-obesity programs in Canada offer short-term solutions, which are not effective because, as research shows, most obese people cannot lose weight and keep it off. But a new strategy by Alberta’s provincial healthy authority– the first in Canada to recognize obesity as a chronic progressive condition – offers hope, says Sharma, Professor of Medicine and Chair for Obesity Research and Management at the University of Alberta.

High youth unemployment

Like many countries around the world, unemployment among Canada’s youth is significantly higher than among the population at large. Right now we are faring better than most industrialized countries – the unemployment rate for youth in 2010 was 16 %, better than the average rate of 20 per cent in other OECD countries.

However, the UK riots last spring (attributed largely to the NEET – Not in Education, Employment or Training – phenomenon) show us the impact of disengaged youth.  Our OECD counterparts offer a cautionary tale for Canada – New Zealand, Sweden, and Luxembourg are now facing four-fold gaps between youth and overall unemployment.

Personal bankruptcy on the rise

Businesses are staying in the black, but more consumers are in the red. In the past decade, consumer bankruptcies have increased 23.4%, to a total of 92,694 by 2010, while business bankruptcies have been cut by more than half.

This could be related to the fact that businesses tend to lay off employees during recessionary times (temporary layoffs climbed from 77,300 in 2008 to 117,000 in 2009), thus staving off bankruptcy by cutting costs – and to the fact that household debt in Canada reached a record $1.5 trillion in the first quarter of 2011.

Twenty-two local reports released today

Vital Signs is a national program, run by community foundations across Canada, that measures quality of life in our communities across a range of areas including education, work, and the arts. Today, 22 local Vital Signs report cards are being released by community foundations across Canada and can be found at www.vitalsignscanada.ca.

The reports will be followed up by the Vital Signs Giving Guide, sponsored by Webber Naturals, and published in The Globe and Mail’s Life section on Oct. 11. The Giving Guide shares opportunities for action across the country based on Vital Signs findings.

Community Foundations to release 2011 Vital Signs reports on October 4

Reports shine spotlight on local, national issues

OTTAWA (September 27, 2011) – Community foundations in 22 communities across the country will release their 2011 Vital Signs reports on Tuesday, October 4 – one week from today. The reader-friendly reports offer a comprehensive look at how communities are faring in key quality of life areas such as learning, health, housing, and the environment.

Community Foundations of Canada will also release Canada’s Vital Signs, a national snapshot of issues facing communities from coast to coast.  A list of this year’s participating communities along with local and national media contact information can be found at www.vitalsignscanada.ca.

One week after all 22 reports are released Community Foundations of Canada will also publish the Canada’s Vital Signs Giving Guide in the Life section of the Oct. 11^th Globe and Mail. Sponsored by WN Pharmaceuticals, Giving Guide connects Canadians with community needs and opportunities related to the statistics published as part of Vital Signs.

Community Foundations of Canada is the membership association for Canada’s community foundation movement, represented by more than 175 community foundations from coast to coast. Together, we help Canadians invest in building strong and resilient places to live, work, and play. We are one of the largest supporters of Canadian charities, providing more than $149 million to local organizations in 2010. Find out more at www.cfc-fcc.ca.

REEP House builds community in Kitchener

By Cheryl Evans

REEP House for Sustainable Living has transformed a drafty, 105-year-old energy pig into to a state-of-the art showroom for energy and water efficient upgrades.

Located at 20 Mill Street in downtown Kitchener, REEP House provides free, hands-on tours and do-it-yourself green renovation workshops for the entire community. The website and Green Retrofit Workbook, funded in part by the Kitchener and Waterloo Community Foundation, provide a virtual connection to all things green.

With information in hand, and a growing community of supporters, REEP House demonstrates that in the long term, green renos not only save water and energy, they are also an excellent financial investment.

The Green Retrofit Workbook (GRW) is an innovative piece of software that puts all of the green retrofit decision-making information required into the hands of people on the front lines of green building. Homeowners and contractors input existing data about a home into the GRW to generate a model of its present energy and water consumption rates and associated costs.
It then allows clients to enter their renovation wish list and generates a report that calculates the cost, payback, and resource savings generated by undertaking each item on the list.

By analysing the long-term resource and cost benefits of green renovation, the software aims to inspire renovators across Canada to reduce their energy and water consumption rates by up to 90 per cent and to put thousands of dollars into people’s pockets!

REEP House was built by the community. More than 11,000 hours of labour, 85 contractors, an 11-member design committee, 13 major funders and 28 donors made the transformation possible.

REEP House now builds community. Since we opened our doors only a few short months ago, we have welcomed more than 1,000 visitors. Onsite and on the web these people connect with each other. They are inspired at REEP House and move forward to undertake exciting retrofit projects with the help of local contractors and lenders. Those people then pass on their knowledge
and spread the word about REEP House, and so the REEP House community grows.

Please feel free to book a visit with us at REEP House to use the house as it was intended, as a hands-on learning centre and community meeting place. We are now open for regular tours, workshops and also have meeting rooms available. Or drop by for a virtual visit any time!

For rates and availability please contact Cheryl Evans at info@reephouse.ca or 519-603-0323.

Cheryl Evans is REEP House Outreach Officer

Tough economic times still ahead

By Lynne Slotek

As Canada’s Vital Signs 2010 reported, “the fallout from the global recession is far from over.”

Regrettably, history has taught us that – without extensive government stimulus – it will be many years before Canada returns to unemployment and poverty levels that existed before the recession. After the 1980s recession, for example, it took seven years for Canada’s unemployment rate to return to pre-recession levels, and even then poverty rates kept going up for another three years.

Recessions do not hit all Canadians equally. A report prepared last year for the Canadian Index of Wellbeing (CIW), The Economic Crisis through the Lens of Wellbeing by Jean-François Arsenault and Andrew Sharpe, showed that in each of the previous two recessions, lower and middle income families experienced much larger losses of income than higher income households.

In the 1982-83 recession, the market income of the bottom 20 per cent of households dropped by 38 per cent, while the top 20 per cent of households lost just 3 per cent. In the 1990-93 recession, the bottom 20 per cent lost 74 per cent of income compared to 5.1 per cent for the top 20 per cent.

The situation for the unemployed and Canadians living in poverty has been further complicated by the growing holes in our country’s social safety net. Cuts to EI combined with a weakening of welfare benefits have rendered the climb out of poverty more difficult than in the past.

The climb has been especially steep for historically disadvantaged groups such as recent immigrants, racialized groups, Aboriginal peoples and youth. A second report prepared for the CIW, How are Canadians Really doing? A Closer Look at Select Groups by Caryl Arundel and Associates noted that racialized groups are three times as likely to be poor than other Canadians.

History can be an important predictor of future patterns. But sometimes we need to remind ourselves that it’s there to teach us, not to bind us. History will only repeat itself if we allow it to. We Canadians are an adaptable people and we have the capacity to explore new solutions.

What does this mean in public policy terms? It means there must be two priorities for government action. First, since recessions and their aftermath primarily hit those who lose their jobs, it is vital that governments support such individuals by designing and implementing income supplement and retraining programs that meet their needs by opening up real access to real jobs.

Secondly, governments must offset as much as possible the shortfall in private-sector spending that prevents our economy from operating at full capacity. This is no time to become complacent and assume that just because GDP may be picking up a little, the market economy will take care of everything. It was that kind of thinking that got us into trouble in the first place.

In short, we still need ongoing government stimulus and support for both Canadians hit hardest by the recession and for the economy if we are to avoid the extended periods of high unemployment and even higher poverty rates that have followed previous recessions.

Lynne Slotek is the National Project Director of the Canadian Index of Wellbeing. CIW Reports on the quality of life of Canadians are available at www.ciw.ca.

Taking our communities’ Vital Signs

With just one week to go until the launch of Vital Signs 2009, community foundations across Canada are getting ready to present research findings to their communities.

The launch of 16 local reports and our national Canada’s Vital Signs report on October 6 marks the fourth year of the national Vital Signs program. And although every community puts a lot of effort into their reports, I think some of the most significant contributions that Vital Signs makes to its communities takes place long before and long after, the reports are released.

Months in advance of gathering statistical data for their reports, community foundations meet with a wide range of organizations, often bringing them together to ask ‘What does our community want and/or need to measure?’ In some cases, they discover gaps in research or realize they can pool resources to learn more. These meetings are not the stuff of front-page news, but do they lead to change? You bet.

During community consultations last year, the Community Foundation of Ottawa made an alarming discovery. Although 1,000 women were using shelters to flee domestic abuse, no one knew how many were being turned away because the shelters were full. The research that followed found more than 5,000 women were being turned away, galvanizing the media and the community.

The community is also engaged after the research phase, when citizens are invited to rate their community’s progress. Online surveys take place months before reports are issued. Some community foundations hand out postcards at events to encourage participation; others are using Twitter and Facebook to access growing social networks. In Vancouver youth used text messaging to rate their perception of the community. The goal? Reach as many citizens as possible to build understanding of local issues and offer a concrete way to share their own views.

Launch day brings lots of local and national media attention, but Vital Signs doesn’t end after the 11 o’clock news. Rather, October 6th is meant to act as a springboard to attract Canadians’ attention and engage them in an ongoing discussion.

In the city where Vital Signs was born, the discussion has already spanned a decade – transforming the way the Toronto Community Foundation defines and responds to the strengths and challenges of Canada’s largest city. That’s because the information gathered throughout the Vital Signs process is a goldmine of community insight and understanding. It helps all the participating community foundations set granting priorities, work more effectively with donors, and act as a catalyst within their own community.

For instance, Toronto’s Vital Signs has led to the creation of Vital People, a granting program that supports valued leaders in the non-profit sector. Then there’s Vital Ideas, connecting donors to high-impact community initiatives and providing grants to community groups so they can multiply the impact of their work by sharing their learning with others. The impact stories can be found in every community across the country.

Vital Signs is only one of many important indicator initiatives in Canada, but it’s a powerful formula for building community vitality: engage the community in the gathering and disseminating of local knowledge and then put that knowledge to work via community philanthropy.

Stay tuned, we’ll have much more to share with you in the months and years ahead.We will update this blog regularly, so visit often or subscribe to our RSS feed.

(Monica Patten is the President and CEO of Community Foundations of Canada)