Urban Heart @ Toronto
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HEART AN EVIDENCE-BASED STANDARD FOR MEASURING THE WELL-BEING OF TORONTO’S NEIGHBOURHOODS 2 | URBAN HEART @ TORONTO Table of Contents 3 An Introduction to Urban HEART @ Toronto 4 How to Use This Tool 5 Project Background 6 Domain 1: Economic Opportunities 8 Domain 2: Social and Human Development 10 Domain 3: Governance and Civic Engagement 12 Domain 4: Physical Environment and Infrastructure 14 Domain 5: Population Health 16 The Urban HEART @ Toronto Matrix 20 Conclusion 21 Acknowledgements 22 Appendix 1: Domains and Indicators CENTRE FOR RESEARCH ON INNER CITY HEALTH – ST. MICHAEL’S HOSPITAL | 3 An Introduction to Urban HEART @ Toronto Toronto has earned for itself a reputation neighbourhoods are doing in five main Urban HEART @ Toronto is only a diagnosis. as a city of neighbourhoods. categories. A variety of indicators within Solutions to the challenges facing our these domains are presented using a neighbourhoods will need to be developed using From Etobicoke to Scarborough, from coloured dashboard. Green shows us this information as a guide. But for the first North York to Downtown, a network of where local conditions are positive, time ever, there is an evidence-based standard interdependent communities with distinct while yellow and red point to conditions for measuring the well-being of Toronto’s characteristics and unique identities shapes that need a closer examination. neighbourhoods. Now governments, funders, the personality of our city overall. We are and community organizations can use a single, well-known and well-regarded for the strength A quick look at the Urban HEART @ Toronto consistent tool for making smarter decisions and diversity of this impressive mosaic. dashboard tells us that every neighbourhood about local funding and community resources in Toronto has strengths and assets to — and ensuring our city of neighbourhoods In a city as connected as ours, neighbourhoods build on — but there is troubling inequality thrives in every corner of Toronto. matter. They are the foundation of our in our city. Too many neighbourhoods common health and our shared prosperity. are vulnerable and falling behind. This summary profiles some of the key And so, if some neighbourhoods fall behind, information and findings included in Urban the success of our entire city is put at risk. In fact, almost half of all of Toronto’s HEART @ Toronto. For more detailed neighbourhoods are experiencing yellow information, please see the complete technical This isn’t a new revelation. But until caution indicators across all domains. This report at http://www.torontohealthprofiles. now, there hasn’t been a consistent doesn’t necessarily mean these neighbourhoods ca/urbanheartattoronto.php way to check the pulse of our city. are at risk — but they are revealed to be areas that are experiencing some issues of concern, That’s why Urban HEART @ Toronto is and need a closer look to find out why. so timely. It measures how well Toronto’s 4 | URBAN HEART @ TORONTO How to Use This Tool The Urban HEART @ Toronto dashboard, and measured are often complex and inter- For more information on using the all of the indicators and data included within related. This information requires a closer Urban HEART @ Toronto tool, read the domains, provide a simple and user-friendly look — both across all neighbourhoods the complete technical report at tool for showing us what’s working — and and in relation to other local indicators http://www.torontohealthprofiles. what’s not — at a neighbourhood level. — before any conclusions are made. ca/urbanheartattoronto.php It will give multiple partners from across all The reality of community-level health and sectors the opportunity to target resources well-being is more nuanced than what where they’re needed most, coordinate can be presented in a simple report card. efforts, establish long-term action plans, Not all red indicators require immediate and measure their progress over time. attention. Not all yellow indicators suggest a neighbourhood is at risk of falling behind. This will enable collaborative priority- setting, planning, and investment decisions What Urban HEART @ Toronto provides to be made across multiple sectors and is a new resource of critical importance: a among many different partners — all using dashboard of indicators that tells us where strong, consistent, and reliable evidence. we should look first, and what we should look at, in order to make the smartest It’s important to point out that the decisions about priorities and strategies for information contained in Urban HEART strengthening Toronto’s neighbourhood. @ Toronto is presented as a resource for further consideration. Neighbourhoods are not given rankings because the indicators CENTRE FOR RESEARCH ON INNER CITY HEALTH – ST. MICHAEL’S HOSPITAL | 5 Project Background Urban HEART @ Toronto was adapted by types of indicators identified by the experts. choice of benchmarks and targets is very the Centre for Research on Inner City Health Required Indicators best capture inequalities important as they represent the standards (CRICH) of St. Michael’s Hospital from a World within the city. They will be reported every time and goals against which neighbourhoods’ Health Organization tool for measuring health the Urban HEART @ Toronto assessment is progress is measured. The colour of inequities in the developing world. CRICH conducted. Strongly Recommended Indicators each indicator means the following: convened 80 experts from more than 40 augment the information provided by required organizations — including community groups, indicators. They can be selected by stakeholders Red Below the benchmark academics, the private sector, and government based on unique goals at one point in time. Yellow Higher than the benchmark, — to develop a made-in-Toronto tool. but below the target All of the indicators used come from various Green Equal to or above the target Urban HEART @ Toronto measures data sources that are reliable, readily- Benchmarks and targets are established neighbourhood-level indicators of local available, and will be consistently measured for each indicator instead of generating a health and well-being in five main domains: over time. Triangulation — that is, using measure to be used for all indicators. A range economic opportunities; social and human different indicators from different data of strategies for setting benchmarks and development; civic engagement; physical sources — minimizes the risk that a single targets have been reviewed to identify the environment and local infrastructure; data set with associated quality issues most appropriate ones for each indicator. and, physical and mental health. will unfairly classify a neighbourhood. For more information on domains and A set of 15 indicators most relevant to Toronto The original Urban HEART uses Millennium indicators see page 22. For details on across these five domains was identified by Development Goals to establish benchmarks benchmarks and targets, see the complete experts from various sectors through a Delphi and targets. However, in Canada and Toronto Urban HEART @ Toronto technical report technique to assess how each of Toronto’s there are few established benchmarks and at http://www.torontohealthprofiles. 140 neighbourhoods is doing. There are two targets for health and social equity.The ca/urbanheartattoronto.php 6 | URBAN HEART @ TORONTO Domain 1: Economic Opportunities What We Measured experience high unemployment rates and Domain Highlight: Unemployment Rate elevated levels of poverty, the overall health Urban HEART @ Toronto used three indicators Urban HEART @ Toronto looked at individuals outcomes of the community suffer too. to assess economic opportunities across age 15 and over who were unemployed and Toronto’s neighbourhoods. We considered: actively looking for work or who had been • Unemployment rate for What We Found temporarily laid off. In January 2013, the city’s individuals ages 15 and over • Unlike many cities where high rates of Economic and Development Committee • Percentage of the population poverty are found in the urban center, approved the target of eliminating the who are considered “low income” in Toronto affluent neighbourhoods are gap between the city’s unemployment based on income tax data mainly located in the downtown core. rate and the national rate by 2018. • Individuals receiving some • This affluent inner core area is form of social assistance surrounded by a “U-shaped” distribution The map on the right provides a visual of concentrated poverty. picture of unemployment rates across Why It Matters • Unemployment rates are also much higher Toronto’s neighbourhoods. in the inner suburbs of Toronto compared For any community to thrive, the people to both downtown and central Toronto. who live there need to be economically • A lack of economic opportunities — secure. That means having a job and making seen in terms of low income and high enough money that you’re not living in unemployment — is directly related to low income. Supporting the development health outcomes. There is a particularly of job opportunities and investments in strong connection between diabetes human capital won’t eliminate poverty on rates and poor economic outcomes. 1 their own, but they are necessary elements This included Ontario Works recipients (cases and families), ODSP recipients participating in OW employment programs, and non-OW members receiving of any solution. When neighbourhoods special assistance for medical items. CENTRE FOR RESEARCH ON INNER CITY