A report on Powell River that measures quality of life, identifies trends and shares opportunities for action will be released next week.
Powell River Community Foundation will unveil Powell River’s Vital Signs® on Tuesday, October 4. The 36-page report is a comprehensive checkup on the health of the community, which includes results from a community survey taken in July and August. Over 650 Powell River residents responded to the survey.
“Powell River’s Vital Signs® brings together verifiable research data from the most trustworthy sources in key areas including employment, learning, environment, housing, transportation, safety, arts, recreation and more,” said Real Sigouin, foundation president. “The numbers help tell the story of our community, but what makes the analysis particularly interesting and useful is that the report puts the research side-by-side with the residents’ own experiences and assessment of the community’s conditions and needs.”
The report covers 12 areas that measure the vitality and resilience of the region. Over 40 community advisors from non-profit and charitable organizations, businesses, community groups and government decided on the issue areas for Powell River.
The foundation is presenting the report to representatives of City of Powell River, Powell River Regional District, Tla’Amin (Sliammon) First Nation and non-profit and charitable organizations at noon on Tuesday, October 4. Then, on October 5, the foundation is distributing the report as a special insert in the Peak. Paul Schachter, the foundation’s vice-president who has overseen the survey and the report, said it will also be available to anyone free of charge at businesses and public locations throughout Powell River. “The entire community will have the opportunity to see the areas in which Powell River excels and where we are facing tough challenges,” Schachter said.
On October 4, Powell River’s Vital Signs® report, including the complete survey results plus information not included in the printed report, will be available online. Information about the community foundation is available online.
This is the first Vital Signs report for Powell River and is part of a Canada-wide program coordinated by Community Foundations of Canada. This year 22 diverse communities, including St. John, Montreal, Medicine Hat, Red Deer, Grand Prairie and Calgary, are preparing Vital Signs reports. In BC, reports are being prepared in Golden, the Okanagan, Squamish, Victoria, the lower Sunshine Coast and Powell River.
The community foundation is a trusted place where donors go to give and charitable groups go for support for programs that improve the community now and into the future, Schachter explained. The community foundation works with private donors, businesses, and community organizations to build permanent endowment funds for perpetual support of charitable initiatives.
