Windsor, ON (October 18, 2024) – The WindsorEssex Community Foundation (WECF) is proud to announce the release of its 2024 Vital Signs® Report, a comprehensive overview of the social, economic, and environmental well-being of the Windsor-Essex Region. This year’s Report offers critical insights and data, highlighting both the challenges and opportunities our community faces. This year’s Report reflects a consistency in grades within most areas, it shows our community thinks “we are doing okay” when it comes to the quality of life in Windsor-Essex County.
“This is the eleventh Vital Signs® Report that the WindsorEssex Community Foundation (WECF) has released to the community, enabling us to track trends overtime,” stated Lisa Kolody, Executive Director. “The Vital Signs® Report outlines where the needs and strengths are in Windsor-Essex County, what the community priorities are, and it helps us determine where we can have the greatest impact locally through our grant-making. We hope the 2024 Vital Signs® Report informs and inspires dialogue and collaboration to further our collective efforts to build healthy communities. We encourage everyone to read the Report, engage with the findings, and join us in our commitment to enhancing the quality of life for all residents in Windsor-Essex County.” – Lisa Kolody, Executive Director of the WindsorEssex Community Foundation.
Some of the Priorities identified in Vital Signs® 2024 Report include:
• Increasing opportunities for people to feel included and connected
• Increasing the number of arts & cultural opportunities for those wanting to pursue a career
• Improving the amount of connected green spaces.
This year’s Vital Signs® Survey results showed increased positive feedback from youth aged 24 and younger, who indicated that they felt Windsor & Essex County was doing great or on the right track in the majority of issue areas.
Under the What You Said section in the 2024 Vital Signs® Report:
• 43% of survey respondents said that we’re on the right track / we’re great when it comes to people in Windsor-Essex actively volunteering and / or donating to charities.
• 64% of survey respondents said that we’re on the right track / we’re great when asked if arts and cultural events are accessible to youth in Windsor-Essex.
• 57% of survey respondents believe that we’re on the right track/we’re doing okay when asked if there are educational opportunities readily available in Windsor-Essex including access to libraries, tutoring, literacy programs, and workforce development programs.
• 94% of respondents said that Lake Erie’s health is extremely important / moderately important; and
• 76% of respondents said that in general, they are happy in life always or most of the time.
The Report launch took place at the Ojibway Nature Centre. Tim Byrne, CEO of ERCA, joined the WECF to speak about the impact of Vital Signs® and the way that ERCA is using the Report, and addressing the priority area Environment. Patti Lauzon, Executive Director of the WSO and Jennifer Matotek, Executive Director of AWE, also joined the WECF to speak about the impact of Vital Signs® and the way that the WSO and AWE have used the report to help shape their programming, using the data within the Report to offer what’s needed and wanted. Patti and Jennifer went on to share how WSO and AWE are collaborating in community to meet the goal of revitalizing our downtown core, while addressing priority areas of Arts & Culture and Belonging and Leadership.
Vital Signs® is a community resource that builds knowledge, informs grant making, and identifies strategic priorities. The report is available online for download at the WECF website www.wecf.ca. Read it online today to find out what makes Windsor-Essex a great place to live, work, play and grow!
About the Vital Signs® Program
Vital Signs® is a national program led by community foundations and coordinated by Community Foundations of Canada that leverages local knowledge to measure the vitality of our communities and supports action towards improving our quality of life. Started by the Toronto Community Foundation in 2001, Communities across Canada and around the world use Vital Signs® to mobilize the power of community knowledge for local impact.
About the WECF
The WindsorEssex Community Foundation is a perpetual community trust for philanthropic purposes. It exists to manage donors’ legacy funds and make grants to support local community programs. Through grant making activities, the WECF is able to establish partnerships to assist a broad range of community organizations. Learn more here: www.wecf.ca.
READ THE REPORT:
