When the Community Foundation for Lennox & Addington began the research for Lennox & Addington’s Vital Signs Connecting Communities 2019 we knew that the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals needed to be an integral part of the process. We also suspected that the issues of Poverty, Hunger and Sustainable Communities would resonate with members of our communities.

According to the 2016 Census of Canada, Lennox and Addington County has a lower poverty rate, based on the Low Income Measure, than the Province of Ontario as a whole. The distribution of people who are experiencing poverty throughout our County is uneven. People in the north and people in the west of the County are more likely to experience poverty. The northern portion of Lennox and Addington is sparsely populated creating a challenge for the delivery of social services and poverty mitigating strategies.

Poverty has many dimensions including unemployment, social exclusion, food insecurity, inadequate housing, access to education and a wide assortment of wellness issues. Raising individuals and families out of poverty requires time and collaborative efforts. Most often, an individual working to raise themselves out of poverty will be attempting to resolve multiple causes of their poverty for which the solutions have differing timelines.

At the time of the last census, in Lennox and Addington, one child in ten was living in a household that falls into the Low-Income Measure.

A Local Target for `No Poverty’ developed by the United Nations is: by 2030, reduce at least by half the proportion of men, women and children of all ages living in poverty in all its dimensions according to national definitions. The Community Foundation for Lennox & Addington will be tracking progress on this issue as we conduct future Vital Signs Projects. We aim is to produce a Vital Signs report every two years.

If you are interested in helping to establish a Poverty Mitigation Endowment fund that will put anti-poverty money to work in perpetuity, give us a call.

Your support helps to ensure that the Foundation can continue to materially advance the quality of life and opportunity throughout Lennox and Addington by creating, investing, managing and growing our portfolio of endowed funds, gifted in perpetuity, and distributing the investment earnings in support of everyone living in the County.

Since 1987, the foundation has distributed more than $1,000,000 in grants and scholarships to community groups and students and your generosity  ensures that we can continue to do so.

We wish you a Happy Holiday Season and much success in the New Year.

In our Multi-Sector meeting held on October 25th, 2019 as part of our ‘Lennox & Addington’s Vital Signs Connecting Communities 2019’ Good Health and Well-Being has been identified as the most relevant Sustainable Development Goal for our residents.

Local targets and indicators include the recruitment of health care practitioners, halving the number of deaths from road traffic accidents, strengthening the prevention and treatment of substance abuse, including narcotic drug abuse and harmful use of alcohol, and reducing by one third premature mortality from non-communicable diseases through prevention and treatment and promote mental health and well-being.

Participants were asked to develop envisioning statements of what good health and well-being would look like in the year 2030.

Here is one of the envisioning statements… “Good health and well-being is a state of preventable healthcare leading to a reduction in chronic illness, an increase in social engagement and accessibility to the resources to achieve this.”

Another envisioning statement is “Our community excels in offering equal opportunity with a healthy, connected and sustainable lifestyle under a natural umbrella and pristine environment.”

To achieve these visions, we need your support. We are looking for donors who are interested in establishing a ‘Good Health and Well-Being Endowment Fund’ that will be used to set in motion sustainable funding, in perpetuity for community initiatives that will ensure improved health and well-being outcomes long into the future.

If you can help with a monthly, quarterly, or annual gift, we would like to hear from you.

Our full Vital Signs report can be read at https://www.cffla.ca/2019/12/03/lennox-addingtons-vital-signs-connecting-communities-2019/

Our Vital Signs initiative is a work in progress. Our aim is to undergo Vital Signs research and reporting every two years. We invite you to read our 2019 Vital Signs report and we encourage you to get involved in advancing community issues that will improve the lives of all in Lennox and Addington County. We look forward to working with you on our next report!