Vital Signs 2015

Acknowledgements

This report is the result of a team effort, led by the Hamilton Community Foundation. I thank the HCF for its leadership in exploring Hamilton’s social and economic trends through its Vital Signs series. Thank you in particular to Terry Cooke, CEO of the Hamilton Community Foundation, for developing the theme for this report and commissioning the SPRC to complete the work. I am indebted to my many colleagues at the SPRC who have aided in the development this report in large and small ways, especially Don Jaffray, Carla Borstad Klassen, Alison Maxted, Erika Morton, Deirdre Pike and Renee Wetselaar. A special thank you to Trudy Beaulne at the Social Planning Council of Kitchener-Waterloo for her insights.

Almost all the data presented in this report was made accessible to the SPRC through the Canadian Council on Social Development’s Community Data Program supported by the City of Hamilton, with deep gratitude to the United Way of Burlington and Greater Hamilton for the funding support to access this data and remain members of the local data consortium.

I gratefully appreciate the time given by the members of the advisory team that gave for their expert advice and support including:
Jim Dunn, Richard Harris, Gillian Hendrie, Kathleen Kinsella, Wayne Lewchuk, Kerry Lubrick, Donna Melnick, Colin McMullan, Joe-Anne Priel, Leila Ryan, Judy Travis and Colleen VanBerkel.

A special thank you to Wayne Lewchuk’s for access to data from the Poverty and Employment precarity in Southern Ontario (PEPSO) research project.

Without the generous support, careful review and additional writing for this report provided by Jeff Wingard (Structure Consulting) and Grace Diffey (Hamilton Community Foundation), this report would have remained as a draft for many more months. My deep gratitude for your time and efforts poured into this report.

The final product would also not have been possible without the support from Alyssa Lai and Tracy Varcoe at the HCF.

Any errors or omissions remain the sole responsibility of the author.

Sara Mayo
Social Planning and Research Council of Hamilton