Vital Signs - theHumm May 2023

By Kris Riendeau

It was standing room only for the Perth and District Community Foundation (PDCF) launch of their Lanark County 2023 Vital Signs Report: Collaboration. Community. Resilience. Over 50 people turned up to the Perth Library on April 4, to hear about the health of their community and to talk about what they can do to make it healthier. theHumm reached out to Victoria Gibb-Carsley, PDCF’s Executive Director, to find out more.

theHumm: What is Vital Signs?

Victoria Gibb-Carsley: Vital Signs is a community-based project that uses local data to measure the vitality of communities and support action for change. Supported by Community Foundations Canada, this is the second Vital Signs Report PDCF has issued. The last was in 2017. PDCF used data from the Statistics Canada 2021 Census as well as surveys conducted by local partners, and conversations with community members to form a picture of the health of Lanark County. The 2023 report covers 10 themes including housing, health and wellbeing, arts and culture, the environment, wealth and income gaps, transportation, and civic engagement.

Who is the intended audience?

The report is meant for local governments, community organizations, and members of the public. Shortly after the launch, I gave a presentation to Tay Valley Township Council and will be doing the same for Lanark County Council as well as Drummond North/Elmsley and Lanark Highlands Councils. I will be meeting with the Perth Chamber of Commerce and also sharing the report with a range of local organizations. We don’t want the report to sit on a shelf. We want it to inspire action.

What are some of the current positive “vital signs” of our community?

Central to what we found was a spirit of collaboration in Lanark County. The report is full of examples that demonstrate that we are a community that volunteers, that wants to protect the environment and that is concerned about the wellbeing of others. Despite the pandemic, we pulled together as individuals, organizations, local governments and businesses to take action. We planted community gardens, launched tool libraries, developed emergency housing and delivered meals. All of this is so encouraging, especially as the pandemic winds down and we look to the future.

Are there some findings that were particularly surprising or distressing?

Though the report demonstrates a strong community response during the pandemic, it also shows that there were and continue to be growing challenges in communities across the County. There is a very worrisome lack of affordable housing, many families face food insecurity, there is a mental health crisis — including among youth — and our local health-care systems are under stress. All of these problems existed before, but the pandemic magnified the issues and more people became aware that there are burdens placed on some far more than on others. Those burdens remain and, in some cases, are getting heavier. We found two areas that need to be addressed most urgently: the lack of affordable housing and poverty.

The report shows that over 700 people are on the waiting list for rent-geared-to-income housing, and the cost of market-price rental housing increased by 15% in Lanark County between 2016-2020. The spike in housing costs during the pandemic has made things even worse. As we know, people who are not adequately housed are more likely to face health challenges and isolation from the community as well as barriers to opportunities. As one survey respondent wrote, “You need safety to be yourself, to be heard, to have a safe place to live. To not have that takes everything out of you. It drains you.”

While income levels across Lanark County vary, there is a shocking percentage of households with income under $40,000 before tax. In Perth, for example, 26% of households earns under $40,000, while in Smiths Falls, it’s closer to 28%. A living wage in Lanark County is estimated to be $19.05 an hour, which equates to just over $40,000. This means that over a quarter of families in Perth and Smiths Falls are having trouble covering basic needs like shelter, food, child care, clothing and transportation. There was a 40% increase in the number of visits to local food banks from 2021-2022 because of insufficient wages, cost of living increases and pandemic-related job losses.

theHumm has a particular interest in arts, culture, the environment, and civic engagement. Are there any specific findings in the report along those themes that you would like our readers to be aware of?

The report shows that Humm readers are not alone in their strong interest in the environment. Preserving the natural world was a major concern for the community. According to the report, addressing climate change and protecting the environment was a priority for 82% of the PDCF community respondents.

Another thing that stood out are high levels of participation in cultural events and visits to libraries. Across Lanark Country, there were 115,000 visits to libraries and over 340,000 materials borrowed. And, though maybe not news to Humm readers, this community loves music and the arts. As part of our community consultations we spoke with James Keelaghan, the Artistic Director of the Stewart Park Festival. He noted that, “After two long years without any summertime music in the park, the community came back stronger than ever, drawing the largest single-day crowd the festival had ever seen.” There is a vibrancy and desire to connect.

In terms of civic engagement, the report reveals that volunteerism has been down across Lanark County. We think that has a lot to do with the pandemic restrictions. Now that things are shifting to a post-pandemic reality, we are hoping that volunteerism will increase again. As one of our community survey respondents wrote, “We have communities with heaps of folks that are ready and willing to support/care for one another.”

Who were the key players who worked on Vital Signs?

The Vital Signs Report Committee was a real team effort. The PDCF Vital Signs Committee was led by board member Liz Sutherland. Support, guidance and labour was provided by the committee members: Jean Dunning, Stephanie Gray, Erika Heesen, Laura Holder, Reid Kilburn, Kara Symbolic and Michael Couchman. I helped coordinate the administrative aspects and we hired Lisa Deacon as our researcher, analyst and author. When it was all ready to go, we asked Jaana Brett of Paaper Studio in Perth to design the report. It was a collaboration from start to finish.

What’s next?

As I mentioned earlier, we don’t want the report to just stay on a shelf. We want it to inspire action for change. So, PDCF is going to host a series of Vital Conversations related to the report’s themes in the months ahead. We hope that community organizations, local government staff, council members, other decision makers and members of the community will attend and work together to find ways to improve the community.

We held our first Vital Conversation on April 20 when we partnered with the newly created Hospice Hub. Hospice Hub put together an excellent presentation and then I facilitated the conversation about the way forward for the communtity-centred and comprehensive hospice care that is so desperately needed.

Readers interested in learning more about Vital Signs, upcoming Vital Conversations or PDCF are welcome to visit pdcf.ca or contact me by email at info@pdcf.ca .

Gillian Marston — Don’t Fence Me In - theHumm May 2023

By Sally Hansen

Art… and Soul

Her paintings and her photography are as wide-ranging as her interests, her travels and her accomplishments. Marston is open to life, to new experiences and new challenges. This intrepid retiree has reinvented herself as an accomplished acrylics painter and fine art photographer. As she puts it, “Art is a way to explore all of the creative ideas that occur to me. For me art is like travel — I love change; I love exploring and trying new things.”

An avid photographer ......

Vital Signs - theHumm May 2023