Genuine Progress Index for Atlantic CanadaIndice de progrès véritable - Atlantique

Glace Bay Community GPIGlace Bay, 16 May, 2002

How healthy is Glace Bay? What kind of

community are we leaving our children?

What kind of world are we leaving our children?• Canada’s premier quality of life• More possessions, longer lives• But, if we define wellbeing more broadly, there are disturbing signs

Warning Signals: Determinants of Wellbeing•Higher stress rates, obesity, childhood asthma•Insecurity, job loss in Glace Bay & CBRM•Greater inequality and more child poverty•Decline of volunteerism•Natural resource depletion, species loss•Global warming

“The more the economy grows, the better off we are” - Sending the wrong message?

Crime, sickness, pollution, resource depletion make economy grow

GDP can grow even as poverty and inequality increase.

More work hours make economy grow; free time has no value.

GDP ignores work that contributes directly to community health (volunteers, work in home).

We Need Better Indicators of Progress and Wellbeing. In the GPI: Health, livelihood security, free time,

unpaid work, natural resource, & education have value

Sickness, crime, disasters, pollution are costs

Reductions in crime, poverty, greenhouse gas, ecological footprint are progress

Growing equity signals progress

Indicators are Powerful

What we measure: reflects what we value as a

society; determines what makes it onto

the policy agenda; influences behaviour (eg

students)

A good set of indicators can help communities:

foster common vision and purpose; help us learn about ourselves; identify strengths and weaknesses; change public behavior; hold leaders accountable at election time initiate actions to promote wellbeing

Glace Bay Community GPI Partnerships include:

• East Cape Breton Community Health Board, Cape Breton Wellness Centre (UCCB), NS Citizens for Community Development Society, CB DHA, CBCEDA, CB regional police (Sgt Barry Gordon), Glace Bay Citizens Service League, UCCB (Dr. MacIntyre), Dalhousie University, SMU, ACEWH

• Canadian Population Health Initiative, National Crime Prevention Centre, HRDC (Glace Bay), CEIP

The Means:• 1,700 surveys - random, 15+, confidential

• CI 95% +/- 3%; 2 cross-tabulations

• Detailed: 2 hrs; Glace Bay: 82% response

• Survey covers health, care-giving, time use, voluntary work, security, income employment, environmental issues

• Data entry

What’s in the Glace Bay Survey?

1) Demographics & Employment

• Age, sex, household, marital, education, income

• Employment, unemployment, out of work

• Job characteristics - types of jobs (p-t, f-t, etc), benefits, work from home, occupation

• Work schedule, hours, shifts, job security, underemployment, job sharing - work reduction

2) Health and Community• Core values, caregiving, volunteer work,

community service

• Stress, mental health, social supports, children’s health

• Weight, smoking, physical activity, screening (Pap, mammogram, blood pressure)

• Pain, disability, disease, medications, health care use

3) Peace and Security• Victimization and costs of crime

• Neighbourhood safety, fear, self-protection

• Opinions about police, courts, prisons

• Identify Glace Bay problems - drinking? bullying? domestic violence? drugs? Etc.

4) Time Use Diary• Work: Household work, paid work,

voluntary work, caregiving, education

• How we spend free time - TV, reading, socializing, spiritual practice, sport, exercise

• Travel, personal activities, child care

• Window on quality of life

5) Environment• Energy use

• Transportation patterns

• Water quality

• Recycling and waste

• Food consumption - food diary and nutrition

Community Action• Community access to results - special

software packages, news stories, etc.

• Deliberative dialogue, work groups to discuss and analyze results, and identify policy priorities / actions

• Community prioritizes indicators for annual benchmarks of progress

• Community training - adaptations

Emphasis on practical action eg:

• Teenage smoking; overweight; exercise - e.g. promote school-based programs

• Screening rates - mammography, pap smears -- notify health officials of needs

• Identify counselling needs - employment, domestic violence, mental health

• Education - nutrition, recycling, energy use

New directions for the future:• Learn about ourselves, create new

partnerships, experiment with new solutions

• Measure our progress towards shared goals

• Model for other communities - template for adaptation - learn from mistakes

• Improve methodologies, survey tools - never a final product

Genuine Progress Index for Atlantic CanadaIndice de progrès véritable - Atlantique

www.gpiatlantic.org

GPI Glace Bay: Town House gpiglace@istar.ca