Where did the idea for Vital Signs come from?
In the late 1990s a small group of civic leaders began discussing a new way to engage Torontonians in understanding and monitoring the health and vitality of their newly amalgamated city on an ongoing basis. After a series of meetings and public consultations, the decision was made to develop a Toronto report card. With the support of the Maytree Foundation, the Laidlaw Foundation and a number of other partners with diverse perspectives from community, academia, business, media and philanthropy, the Toronto Community Foundation first published Toronto’s Vital Signs in 2001. Vital Signs has become a respected and widely-read reference on quality of life in Toronto. This reader-friendly report is used by local decision-makers and community organizations in research and planning and informs the foundation’s own donors and granting. Visit www.tcf.ca for more information.
