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'We are doing okay': Windsor-Essex’s 2022 Vital Signs Report released

Vital Signs Report 2022. (Source:WECF.ca) Vital Signs Report 2022. (Source:WECF.ca)
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The community thinks “we are doing okay” when it comes to the quality of life, according to the Windsor-Essex’s 2022 Vital Signs Report.

This is the tenth Vital Signs Report that the WindsorEssex Community Foundation (WECF) has released to the community.

Executive director Lisa Kolody said it enabled them to track trends overtime.

“The Vital Signs Report outlines where the needs and strengths are in Windsor-Essex, 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 2022 Vital Signs Report informs and inspires dialogue and collaboration to further our collective efforts to build healthy communities,” Kolody said.

Some of the top priorities identified in Vital Signs 2022 Report include:

  • Improving access to mental health programs and services
  • Increasing opportunities for people to feel included and connected
  • Increasing professional opportunities for those seeking employment in the arts & cultural sector

This year’s Vital Signs Survey results showed increased positive feedback from youth aged 24 and younger, who indicated that they felt Windsor and Essex County was doing great or on the right track in the majority of issue areas.

Under the ‘What You Said’ section in the 2022 Vital Signs Report:

  • 59% of survey respondents said that we’re on the right track / we’re doing okay when it comes to people in Windsor-Essex actively volunteering and / or donating to charities.
  • 70% of survey respondents said that we’re on the right track / we’re doing okay when asked if arts and cultural events are accessible to youth in Windsor-Essex.
  • 58% 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.
  • 96% of respondents said that Lake Erie’s health is extremely important / moderately important; and
  • 83% of respondents said that in general, they are happy in life always or most of the time.

The report launch took place at Art Windsor-Essex (AWE) on Wednesday.

Jennifer Matotek, executive director of AWE, joined the WECF to speak about the impact of Vital Signs and the way that AWE has used the report to help shape their programming, building capacity for artists in the community.

“Art Windsor-Essex appreciates that Vital Signs takes our community’s pulse around arts and culture,” said Matotek. “We use the data to help shape our programs so we can offer what’s needed and wanted, and achieve our mission to inspire growth through the power of art. AWE’s inaugural emerging artist-in-residence program, funded by WECF in 2021, was informed in part by the data we saw in Vital Signs.”

The report is available online for download at the WECF website www.wecf.ca.

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