Region scores high for culture; But we get low marks for poverty, graduation rate in annual 'checkup'
Times Colonist (Victoria)
October 2, 2007 
By: Judith Lavoie

Greater Victoria is a generous and cultured city, where residents do volunteer work, donate to charity, bike to work and attend concerts and parades.

But, it is also a city of growing homelessness, where the child abuse rate is 8.4 children per 1,000 people, a welfare cheque doesn't cover bare necessities and an increasing number of 18-year-olds are not graduating from high school.

Victoria's Vital Signs, a not-always-flattering snapshot that pinpoints community shortcomings and successes, has been compiled for the second year by the Victoria Foundation and is being released this morning -- the same day as 10 other community foundations across the country issue their reports.

Existing data are used to look at issues such as economic well-being, education, health, safety and environment. The aim of the annual checkup is to help direct charitable donors to areas that need help, and point to trends and areas that the community should address. "Our donors need facts and statistics," said Sandra Richardson, chief executive officer of the Victoria Foundation….

The low marks include the finding that 953 families and 484 individuals and couples are on the wait-list for social housing; that between 2004 and 2006, 30.5 per cent of 18-year-olds did not graduate from high school compared to the provincial average of 23.2 per cent; and that a family of four on welfare needs $37 more a month than it is now receiving to cover basic housing and food.

It is surprising that in a generally well-educated city, the number of young people not completing Grade 12 is so high, Richardson said.

"The other thing that startled me is the challenge around daycare, both the cost and availability," she said.

The report estimates 11,445 early-learning and child-care spaces are needed, but only 5,377 registered spaces are available.

Jane Worton, Community Council research director, said the report card underlines problems with the social support system and, especially, the inadequacy of welfare rates.

"We need solutions around more affordable housing and greater investment in child care, which is a significant barrier to employment," she said.