Seeking a way to further support organizations that provide for those in need in the city, the Prince George Community Foundation (PGCF) took on a year-long project that focused on four major components and presented the results to the public on Friday at the Coast Inn of the North.
Vital Signs Prince George: Telling Our Story provides a snapshot of people and work, health and well being, the gap between rich and poor and housing.
This coincided with Community Foundations of Canada releasing its national Vital Signs report.
There were 40 communities in Canada in total that did their own report, where information was collated from public data.
The Vital Signs report offers insight into specific characteristics of the Prince George community.
"As an organization that is focused on giving back to our community it is important that we seek to understand where the areas of greatest need are," Teresa Saunders, Prince George Community Foundation president, said. "We are pleased to present our first Vital Signs Report, a community checkup that measures the vitality of our city, identifies concerns, and supports action on issues that are critical to our quality of life."
Catherine Pennington, board member of the local foundation and Vital Signs project lead, talked about the fact that the average family income is more than $90,000, which is higher than the provincial and national average, but the female median income in Prince George still sits at only 60 per cent of the male median income.
In the health and well being category of the report, the report found that while people say they have less stress, mental health issues are still on the rise.
The gap between rich and poor report found that 18 per cent of children are members of low income families, which means they are vulnerable in several ways, including low education, reduced employability and experience lower health outcomes.
Housing sees 90 beds in homeless shelters able to accommodate those in need with a program in place called the Homeless Prevention Program to connect the vulnerable population with organizations to help them get into a permanent home. Housing starts have increased by 126 per cent since 2000 and in the private rental market there is only a 4.2 per cent vacancy rate, making it difficult for people to rent.
Prince George houses are larger than the provincial average with more than 70 per cent having at least three bedrooms and are generally in good condition despite being more than 35 years old.
"As a philanthropic organization our role in the community is not to solve problems, it's really to work with funders and organizations who do the work to support those in the community," said Pennington.
During the question and answer period of the report launch, two community organizations offered to help the foundation.
Sean Farrell, executive director of the Prince George Community Arts Council, offered support through targeted programming while Nancy Harris of the local branch of Spinal Cord Injury BC offered seminars for those interested in how to make Prince George more accessible for those with a disability.
Saunders said this is just one of many meetings and reports to come and that the community foundation is eager to hear any and all input from residents of Prince George. The next meeting is scheduled for December which will gather organizations that offer assistance to the community in a variety of ways to get the conversation started about how the foundation can come to their aid.
For more information visit pgcf.ca and to read the report visit pgc.cc/2gx4uAy.
