The Winkler Community Foundation presented its 2024 Vital Signs report yesterday, a community check-up aimed at assessing local well-being and encouraging collective action.
The Purpose
The Vital Signs report serves to measure community vitality, find places to grow, and support critical issues.
Corey Hildebrand, chair of the Vital Signs Committee, stated, “We measure what matters here, and our community really matters to us... That means doing the hard work of collecting data, because you have to measure if you want to know what matters.”
Key Features of the Report
Hildebrand noted that the report highlighted Winkler’s impressive commitment to civic engagement, showing that 73% of residents aged 65 to 74 volunteer regularly. A level of engagement that isn’t seen anywhere else in Canada.
“In terms of our generosity, we give far more than the national average. Winkler and Steinbach give at a rate that is higher than every other community in our country, and that says something about our resilience as a community.”
Kara Gray from Gray Matter Insights reinforced the point, mentioning that “Especially in terms of donations to charity, Steinbach and Winkler are the two most generous cities of 10,000 in the entire country.”
Hildebrand also highlighted a key concern from people revealed in the report: many residents feel that affordable housing is a pressing issue. Currently, 32% of tenants are spending 30% or more of their income on shelter costs, with less than 1% of available rental properties being vacant.
“When we talk about affordable housing and healthcare, you can’t divorce that from other domains that we have around poverty levels and education... it really does take partnerships in nonprofits and churches and businesses and the city to make movement here.”
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Community Impact
Executive Director of the Winkler Community Foundation — Myra Peters shared the meaning of gathering community members together to discuss the city’s Vital Signs.
“I truly hope people look at partnerships working together to make a difference, I think that’s so important.”
The importance of those conversations is heavily displayed through initiatives spawned from them, such as the Mend the Gap fund established after the last Vital Signs report in 2018: A fund dedicated to supporting initiatives, programs and services that tackle poverty in creative ways.
To help stir and focus talks, Gray emphasized the importance of effectively presenting all of the data.
“If you have a well-presented graph or chart... it lends understanding.”
Next Time Around
Looking to the future, Peters expressed optimism for continued improvements thanks to the data collected.
“I’m looking forward to trying to work together to see improvements so that when we do our next Vital Signs, we can see our community becoming a place that people feel they belong.”
View the full Winkler Vital Signs report below.
To listen to the full interviews with Corey Hildebrand, Myra Peters, and Kara Gray, click below.