Who Are We?
The Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Coalition for Report Cards on the Well-Being of Children is a committee of community service providers in Wellington, Dufferin, and Guelph. The Coalition is committed to raising the profile of children in our communities by collecting data, examining trends, and reporting on the state of their well-being.
What Do We Do?
The purpose of the Report Cards is to provide access to a wide range of population-level health and well-being indicators that supports the understanding of the status of child and youth well-being in our community. The hope is that service providers will use this information to stimulate conversations, answer questions that they may have about children and youth, and examine how effective their programs have been in supporting children and their families in the community.
What Is Our Goal?
The WDG Coalition for Report Cards on the Well-Being of Children was formed in 2005. The initial goal of this Coalition was to describe the population of young children and their families living in our community and to better understand the kinds of services and supports that are available for young children and their families.
What Have We Achieved?
Since 2005, the Coalition has achieved significant milestones in order to fulfill our goal, including:
2007 - The Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Children's Charter was developed. It was launched and endorsed by 58 community organizations.
2009 - The first report card, The Well-Being of Children Ages Birth to Six: A Report Card for Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph, was published. This report highlighted various health-related indicators among children in our community.
2011 - The second report card, The Well-Being of Children Ages 7 to 13: A Report Card for Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph, was released to the community. This report was organized by Children's Charter statements, providing data and information related to each of the Rights.
2011-2012 - As the Coalition began working on the third Report Card, we realized there was an absence of local data related to the health and well-being of youth. As a result, the Youth Survey, created by Halton Our Kids Network and grounded in the Search Institute's Developmental Assets, was identified as a tool to fill this data gap. The Youth Survey was completed by local grade 7 and grade 10 students during the 2011/2012 school year. A summary report was created to provide an overview of the data collected in the first round of the survey.
2012 - Youth Engagement workshops were conducted with youth throughout Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph, which were facilitated by the Youth Engagement Working Group of the Coalition. Youth were asked to participate in the creation of a new Youth Charter of Rights, discuss their health priorities, and have a voice in the issues that affect their lives.
2012 - As a means of further engaging youth in the issues that affect their lives, the Coalition invited youth from across our community to participate in a photo voice contest, submitting photos that captured the essence of each Charter Right. These photos are displayed in the third report card.
2013 - The third report card, The Well-Being of Youth Ages 14 to 18: A Report Card for Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph, was published. This report includes results from the 2011/2012 Youth Survey, the Youth Charter of Rights, and Photo Voice submissions.
2014 - The Coalition consulted service providers from the WDG area about the emerging health and well-being issues in an effort to ensure the the next cycle of the WDG Youth Survey captured important health trends among youth. Topics including sleep, gambling, dieting, relationships, and high-energy caffeine drinks were among some of the health and well-being areas identified and added to the 2014-15 WDG Youth Survey.
2014-2015 - The second round of the WDG Youth Survey was completed.
2016 - The Coalition created a Core Indicators Advisory Committee (CIAC) with the goal of creating a comprehensive list of indicators that reflect the well-being of children and youth in Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph. The CIAC developed five domains of well-being, each with its own set of embedded concepts and indicators. Data presented in the Data Portal is categorized by the CIAC's domains of well-being.
2017 - The Report Card Coalition launched their new website, shifting from the creation of report cards to the development of a data portal. Data is updated at regular intervals, providing local service providers, politicians and citizens with current information on the well-being of local children and youth.
2017-2018 - The third round of the WDG Youth Survey was completed. Students in grades 7 and 10 once again completed the survey about a variety of health and well-being topics. Data from this survey, as well as data from other local sources can be found on our Data Portal.