The South Saskatchewan Community Foundation (SSCF) today released the report that kickstarted its 50th anniversary and is called – 50 Vital Community Conversations.
The Conversations embraced widespread interest involving nearly 2000 individuals in 56 unique community-based conversations, led by 47 registered charities across southern Saskatchewan in early 2019.
SSCF Executive Director, Donna Ziegler, says the response to the program has been truly inspiring.
“Our summary report speaks to uncovering the challenges, understanding the community needs and planning for change together,” says Ziegler. “In so many ways, the report underscores the hopes and dreams of the SSCF which is to support a thriving community with a culture of sharing, generosity, and inclusivity at its core.”
The research analysis of the reports submitted by the host organizations was conducted by Dr. Iryna Khovrenkov, an economist with research interests in philanthropic foundations and charitable giving, social finance and applied microeconomics, from the University of Regina. Khovrenkov’s review of the final reports from the conversations shares evidence to support the issues identified by communities. The report also includes some inspiring examples of programs in action.
Khovrenkov highlighted the top community indicator was “Belonging” and summarized these five key issues which emerged:
- Sustaining rural communities;
- Drug abuse and addiction;
- Safety in communities;
- Racism towards new immigrants and Indigenous peoples; and
- Homelessness and affordable housing.
The 50 Vital Community Conversations report underscores the vast complexity to the challenges that exist within and across communities and the need for collaboration at a grassroots level.
“Solutions start with a holistic, innovative and flexible approach focused on achieving results together over the long term,” Ziegler notes.
As next steps, SSCF will use this local knowledge to work collaboratively with others and support actions towards improving the quality of life in southern Saskatchewan together. For a copy of the report, please click here.