Kingston and Area's Vital Signs Report

About the report:

Our eighth annual Vital Signs® report focuses on the Foundation’s three Smart & Caring priorities with emphasis on supporting children and youth.

Highlights from this year’s report include:

  • The importance of investing in resources for children’s early development, an increase in child and youth mental health visits, and improving efficacy of the transition to adult services.
  • How poverty and food insecurity are closely linked and remain a troubling reality in our community.
  • How engaged are we as a community?
  • Community Dashboard
    The updated Community Dashboard provides a snapshot of the health and wellbeing of KFL&A by reporting on indicators that inform the Foundation’s three Smart & Caring Community Priorities: Getting Started, Food Security, and Community Engagement.

Getting Started

Giving children, youth and newcomers a strong start to life in our communities.

From Infant to Adult: Mental Health

Giving children, youth and newcomers a strong start to life in our communities.

• This section features early childhood development, child and youth mental health, improving the efficacy of the transition to adult services and our communities’ reception of newcomers.

A mental health strategy that starts with children and youth offers significant benefits:

• Early identification and intervention lead to better health outcomes, improved school attendance and achievement, contributions to society and the workforce, and cost-savings to the health care, justice and social service systems

• Unaddressed mental health issues can lead to poor academic achievement and higher drop-out rates, unemployment, poverty and homelessness, and increased risk of criminal behaviour.

Food Security

Ensuring everyone has access to healthy food to fuel their bodies and minds.

Poverty and Food Insecurity Are Closely Linked. Is BIG The Solution?

The City of Kingston was the first elected body in North America to endorse the Basic Income Guarantee! If people had sufficient money to buy their own food, food insecurity would be wiped out. Since Kingston took the lead, over 40 municipalities have endorsed the concept. Food Banks Canada recommends: “Dismantle existing social assistance bureaucracies and create a basic income, administered through the tax system. Ensure that basic income has a logical relationship to the level of earnings offered through work.”

Publication Date: 
2016