Resources prepared by the Community Council

 

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The Indicator newsletter, a joint publication of the Community Council and Quality of Life CHALLENGE, that shares information on trends, indicators and other factors affecting quality of life in BC's Capital Region.

Making Food Matter, a quarterly publication of CR-FAIR and the CRD Roundtable on the Environment, Food and Agriculture Subcommittee, this newsletter is all about food security in BC's Capital Region.

AFSA News, a twice yearly publication of the Association of Family Serving Agencies to share information and resources with family serving agencies and others in BC's Capital Region.

the employer CHALLENGE, a monthly e-newsletter that profiles exemplary HR practices of employers in BC's Capital Region. Published by the Quality of Life CHALLENGE

Youth Housing Needs Report for BC's Capital Region (2008)
A variety of organizations and agencies have been working for years to provide access to housing and related supports for youth in BC's Capital Region. A consensus has emerged among youth service providers that there is a need for further action on youth housing.
Prepared by the Community Council for the Greater Victoria Child and Families Counselling Association (CAFCA) and Threshold Housing Society

Housing Low-Income People in BC's Capital Region (2008)
Purchasing a home is now out of the reach of many mid-income households, and renting an affordable place to live is almost as difficult. People who are homeless or at risk of homelessness have little chance of finding a place to live.
Prepared by the Community Council for the United Way of Greater Victoria

What Are Women Saying? (2007)
A comprehensive picture of homeless women in British Columbia’s Capital Region, the struggles they face, and the housing needed to help them move towards stability.
Prepared by the Community Council for the Victoria Real Estate Board

Homeless Needs Survey: A Pathway Home (2007)
More than 1,242 of our neighbours are homeless or nearly homeless. They need more than 1,242 housing units: affordable housing is needed, health and housing support workers are needed, and income supports need improvement.
Prepared by the Community Council for the Victoria Cool Aid Society

Housing Options for Action (2005)
Five ways to support affordable housing in BC's Capital Region; Affordable housing - what are the realities?; Regional Housing Trust Fund - what is it?.
Prepared by the Community Council and Quality of Life CHALLENGE

Making Room: The Human Face of Housing Affordability in BC's Capital Region (2003)
Giving voice and strength to the many people in BC’s Capital Region living on low income. Many shared very personal stories of their housing realities. The information in this booklet is for those who want to find solutions to these housing challenges.
Prepared by the Community Council

Who Works in Victoria’s Small Businesses? (2010)
A SkillsPlus Socioeconomic Report. The first in a series of four socio-economic reports prepared by SkillsPlus. The purpose of these reports is to provide relevant labour market information for small businesses in the Retail/Wholesale/Grocery and the Tourism/Hospitality industries.

Ten Ways to Keep and Attract Your Staff (2009)
The labour market continues to challenge employers in British Columbia’s Capital Region. This booklet documents the successful hiring and retention strategies of 10 employers of choice in BC's Capital Region, in order to understand their successes and share their stories with other employers.

Legislation Affecting the Hiring and Retention of People with Barriers to Employment: A Guide for Employers (2008)
Employers told the LMD that they need information about the provincial and federal laws that can affect their efforts to hire and retain employees facing barriers to employment. This guide helps meet this need.
Prepared by the Labour Market Dialogues Project

Employer Quick Reference Card (2008)
Employers: Tap into hidden labour markets by rethinking the way you hire and train staff.
Prepared by the Labour Market Dialogues Project

Labour Market Dialogues: Tapping into the Hidden Labour Market, Phase II Final Report (2008)
Phase II of the Labour Market Dialogues explored nine labour market issues more deeply and focused on how to best engage employers in discussions on these topics. (Click here for the summary report)
Prepared by the Labour Market Dialogues Project

Looking Beyond the Want Ads: Labour Market Dialogues, Phase I Final Report (2007)
Employers indicated that they were interested in addressing quality of life for their entry level employees but were not sure how to do that. Phase I of the LMD was a research planning process to determine interest and design a methodology for supporting employers addressing employee quality of life.
(Click here for the summary report)
Prepared by the Labour Market Dialogues Project

Working for a Living Wage
Making Paid Work Meet Basic Family Needs in Vancouver and Victoria SUMMARY (2008)
The living wage is one of the most powerful tools available to address the troubling state of poverty amid plenty in BC. It allows us to get serious about reducing child poverty, and ensures that families who are working hard get what they deserve - a fair shake, and a life that’s about more than a constant struggle to get by.
Prepared by the Community Council, first call, and the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives

The 2008 Living Wage (2008)
The Living Wage is a tool developed in BC's Capital Region and well recognized across Canada. It is a way to understand what it costs to live here and helps frame the important conversations around how to take action to prevent and reduce poverty.
Prepared by the Quality of Life CHALLENGE

The Living Wage: Dialogue on the Real Costs of Living (2006)
What does it cost to live in BC's Capital Region? This report examines what the hourly rate of pay that allows a family to enjoy a basic, modest quality of life is. (Click here for the summary report)
Prepared by the Community Council and Quality of Life CHALLENGE

The Economics of Happiness Report (2009)
On Thursday, November 12, 2009, Colwood Community Place and the Community Council hosted a suite of three separate and related events. This is the companion report to the Colwood Genuine Wealth Report (see below).
Written by Doug West and designed by Cindy Moyer

Colwood Genuine Wealth Report (2009)
Increasingly, governments and citizens are working to develop and implement systematic measurements of those things that, in our hearts and minds, contribute most to our quality of life at home, in our communities and at work. Different frameworks exist to measure these important things.
Prepared by the Community Council

Service Continuity Planning Guide for Community-Based Organizations (2009) (
How would your Community-Based Organization continue to deliver critical services if normal operations were interrupted? A new resource to assist agencies to develop a plan to maintain or quickly resume operations after a disruption caused by a pandemic influenza or other service interrupting hazards.
Click here to download the document in Microsoft Word format (.doc).
Prepared by the Community Council

Quality of Life in BC's Capital Region (2005)
When people are informed about the quality of life in their community, they can make better decisions to preserve and enhance it – for everyone. This report measures various aspects of quality of life using carefully chosen indicators. Monitoring these numbers can show emerging problems, gauge the effectiveness of various programs, document achievements and celebrate what it means to live here.
Prepared by the Community Council through the Quality of Life CHALLENGE

Community Reconstruction - the Caring Community: Accounting for the Impacts of Provincial Government Changes (2005)
A study of the impacts of provincial government changes on vulnerable populations and social services provided by non-profit agencies in British Columbia’s Capital Region from July 2002 to January 2005. (Click here for summary report)
Prepared by the Community Council

Factsheets on Affordability in BC's Capital Region (2004)
Measuring Poverty | The Income Gap | Demographics of Poverty | Two Parent Families | Lone Parents
Child Care | Single People | Food Security | Waged Poor | Housing
Prepared by the Community Council and Quality of Life CHALLENGE

Our Farmlands, Our Foodlands...Our Future Conference Findings report: A Call to Action (2009)
A report summarizing the knowledge and recommendations gained at the November 2008 conference on the challenges of securing farmland, ensuring farmland is accessible to farmers and keeping farming as an economically viable career. The report discusses key strategies, tools, and resources currently being employed, or that could be employed in the CRD to address these critical issues.
Prepared by CR-FAIR

Capital Region Food Resource Directory (2009)
A directory that lists agencies throughout the region who offer food supports (hamper, groceries and meal programs), as well as ways to access food through buying clubs, community kitchens, markets and community gardens. This resource is designed both for the listed agencies to better understand the range of services available in the community as well as for those looking to access supports and services.
Click here to view the interactive online map and directory.
Prepared by CR-FAIR

Making Food Matter e-newsletter
a quarterly publication of CR-FAIR and the CRD Roundtable on the Environment, Food and Agriculture Subcommittee, this newsletter is all about food security in BC's Capital Region.

Capital Region Food Charter (2008)
CR-FAIR has developed a Regional Food Charter, to help work towards the vision of A sustainable and secure local food and agriculture system that provides safe, sufficient, culturally accepted, nutritious food accessible to everyone in the Capital Region through dignified means. The document is designed as a template which individuals, groups, organizations, businesses, local and regional governments are encouraged to "adapt" or "adopt".
Prepared by CR-FAIR

Capital Region Food and Health Action Plan - Phase 2 (2008)
Phase 1 of Putting Food and Food Policy on the Table developed a Regional Food Charter to provide a vision for the regional food system. Phase 2's work was to write a Capital Region Food and Health Action Plan to identify the priority actions needed to realize this vision.
Prepared by CR-FAIR and the CRD Roundtable on the Environment Healthy Communities Sub-Cttee

Food Matters! Annual Regional Food Forum Report (2008)
If we could bump the spending of each CRD resident on local food and farm products by 25%, we would be a model community for food security in North America. But do we have the capacity?

A Snapshot of Food Security Initiatives in BC's Capital Region (2008)
An interactive website connecting the various aspects of food security and who is working on them in BC's Capital Region.

Putting Food and Food Policy on the Table - Phase 1 (2006)
Two working sessions called “Putting Food and Food Policy on the Table” were hosted in 2006 to discuss building food security in BC's Capital Region and to identify key actions that could be taken both at the community and local government levels. This report summarizes these sessions.
Prepared by CR-FAIR and the CRD Roundtable on the Environment Healthy Communities Sub-Cttee

A Baseline Assessment of Food Security in BC's Capital Region (2004)
This baseline assessment examines the state of food security in British Columbia's Capital Region as of January 2004. Food security exists when there is universal access to food that is healthful, nutritious, safe, and culturally acceptable. In addition, in a food-secure community, the growing, processing and distribution of food is regionally-based, socially just and environmentally sustainable.
Prepared by CR-FAIR

Fact Sheet: The Real Cost of Food (2004)
Growing dependencies and shrinking resources call for changes to our food system.

Fact Sheet: Food Decisions Shape our Community (2004)
Planning for healthy food, healthy citizens, a healthy region.

Food Forum Report: Making Food Matter (2003)
The 2003 Food Forum was the second in a series of community discussions on creating and connecting food resources in our community. The Forum's purpose was to create awareness about existing resources and to discuss and generate opportunities for increasing access to nutritious, safe and sustainable food resources in our region.

Report to the Victoria Regional Transit Commission (2009)
Since 1997, the Victoria Regional Transit Commission has provided free bus tickets to the Community Council to distribute to people with urgent transportation needs. The Community Council, through an innovative partnership with social service nonprofit agencies, developed an efficient and effective process to double the number of tickets distributed at no charge to people living on low income in BC’s Capital Region.
Prepared by the Community Council

Report to the Victoria Regional Transit Commission (2006)
Currently up to 50,000 free transit tickets per year are distributed through the BC Transit Ticket Assistance Program. This report documents the recommendations made to the Transit Commission arising from the program's annual meeting.
Prepared by the Community Council

Previous reports to the Victoria Regional Transit Commission by the BC Transit Ticket Assistance Program:
2005 report | 2002 Report

Hot Wheels: Sustainability In Action (2003)
Accessible public transportation is a critical link to mobility for the young, the elderly, and people with disabilities, and it is crucial for people and families on low incomes who are looking for work.
Prepared by the Community Council

Report on Child Care in the Capital Region (2007)
Information from over a dozen child care stakeholders in the Capital Region on the current child care situation in 2007. Three significant barriers to providing care to young children were consistently cited: Recruitment and retention of staff; lack of availability of child care spaces; and, insufficient funding for child care services and programs.
Prepared by the Understanding Early Years Project

 

Read about the Community Council's achievements, finances and projects over the past years:

• Annual Report 2008-09
• Annual Report 2007-08
• Annual Report 2006-07
• Annual Report 2005-06
• Annual Report 2004-05
• Annual Report 2003-04

Mental Health and Addictions: Results of Key Informant Interviews (2008)
This report aims to help understand where current mental health and addictions resources in Greater Victoria are focused, where the gaps are, and where funding can best be focused to have maximum community impact.
Prepared by the Community Council for the United Way of Greater Victoria

Family and Community Well-Being Social Infrastructure Assessment (2008)
One indicator of family and community well-being is the health of the social infrastructure that supports families and communities. One way of assessing that is through the agencies that serve families and community.
Prepared by the Community Council for the United Way of Greater Victoria

People Rate Quality of Life in BC's Capital Region (2005)
In May 2005, the Community Council conducted a telephone survey to determine base-line information about how people in British Columbia’s Capital Region rated their quality of life, and to measure their satisfaction with a selection of recognized factors that contribute to quality of life.
Prepared by the Community Council through the Quality of Life CHALLENGE

Links Between Employment and Quality of Life in BC's Capital Region (2005)
In May 2005, in a Community Coucil telephone survey, people were asked about their participation in paid work. The Community Council wanted to know what aspects of work impacted people’s quality of life. The findings prompt the questions What role can employers play in reducing poverty in the workforce? and With what aspects of work are employees most satisfied and dissatisfied?
Prepared by the Community Council through the Quality of Life CHALLENGE