Identifying trends from five years of Greater Saint John’s Vital Signs

Sara Mudge

By Sara Mudge

This year The Greater Saint John Community Foundation published its 6th annual check-up and 5th Vital Signs report.

Being at the mid-point of a 10-year commitment to Vital Signs, we decided to take a look back on data reported in past reports and identify trends that have emerged. Here are some of the highlights:

-          The overall poverty rate in the Saint John CMA has declined from 23% to 20.6%

-          Violent crime has remained fairly constant, averaging 2,120 incidents per year

-          The obesity rate has remained constant: 24.9% in 2005 and 24.2% in 2010

-          The percentage of population with post-secondary education has risen slightly from 45.1% to 46.3%

-          The rental vacancy rate has declined from 5.1% to 3.4%

-          The unemployment rate has remained constant: 7.1% in 2005 and 7.6% in 2010

-          The youth unemployment rate has risen slightly from 12.4% in 2005 and 13.7% in 2010

-          The number of tax filers making charitable donations has decreased from 25.3% to 22.9%

-          Household spending in arts and culture has remained constant, averaging $940 per household

-          Household compost rates have increased from 59% to 70%

The GSJCF has been using Vital Signs data to influence our granting and has created a $30,000 Anniversary Grant, awarded annually to those organizations that help address Vital Signs priorities.

Past projects include the creation of a school where teenage mothers can obtain their high school diploma, the expansion of a homeless shelter to include 42 additional beds, a new playground in a poverty-stricken neighbourhood, a physical activity program for children, a youth-oriented environmental program to improve the health and integrity of the harbour and estuaries, the production of a musical to commemorate Saint John’s 225th Anniversary, and the creation of a teen pregnancy prevention program.

Sara Mudge is Secretary for The Greater Saint John Community Foundation

Social marketing campaign will help tackle longstanding teen pregnancy issue in Greater Saint John

Teen parents often face a lifetime of extraordinary challenges. In Saint John, NB, the last five Vital Signs reports have pegged the rate of teen pregnancies at almost double the provincial average.

In 2009-10, 132 of the 1,706 babies (7.7 per cent) born in the city were born to teens – and one third of those were birthed by mothers under the age of 18. Failing to complete high school, living in poverty, and single parenting are all potential results.

“Teen pregnancy has a profound impact on the lives of teen parents and their families,” says public health nurse Penny Higdon, who heads up the Greater Saint John Teen Pregnancy Committee, an awareness and advocacy group.

Teens with children face many challenges, but advocates in Saint John are making a difference.

“It’s difficult to measure the cause and effect, but it makes all kinds of sense to have people from various areas of interest coming together and working on this issue,” says Greater Saint John Community Foundation Executive Director Jane Barry.

“And it’s an issue that requires a multi-pronged approach.”

Now, thanks in part to a $30,000 grant from the Community Foundation, the committee will be embarking on an extensive, multi-faceted social marketing campaign, with help from corporate partners Revolution Strategy and Hemmings House Pictures.

Higdon says it will be influenced by local youth and target those at greatest risk.