So how are these organizations doing one year into this situation? The short answer is they are still at great risk. Released this month, the Unraveling report, produced by the Victoria Foundation in partnership with the Vancouver Foundation and Vantage Point, revealed the precarious position these organizations find themselves in. A survey taken by over 900 non-profits in our province tells us 48 per cent face closure should the pandemic continue and 20 per cent say they will likely have to shut down within a year if conditions don’t improve. That is a staggering figure. This during a time when 59 per cent report an increase in demand for services while 64 per cent report a decreased ability to deliver those services. Even if they survive, 71 per cent of organizations are expecting a budget shortfall this year.
A Vancouver Island community has seen a dramatic shift in how it approaches food insecurity and hopes the change is here to stay.
Maurita Prato, executive director of LUSH Valley Food Action Society and co-ordinator of the Comox Valley Food Policy Council, lives and works in the Comox Valley.
Prato and her team, with help from other community members, organizations and funders, were able to start a Good Food Box program, where healthy, free boxes were delivered directly to people’s homes at the beginning of the pandemic.
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Publishing date: Feb 18, 2021  â¢Â March 3, 2021  â¢Â 14 minute read Douglas College employees, who started as international students at the school, take a break at the campus. Photo by SUPPLIED
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BCâs Top Employers for 2021 (employee count refers to full-time staff):
Amazon Canada, Vancouver. Online marketplaces; 19,182 employees. Increased hourly pay rates by $2 per hour and doubled regular hourly overtime pay rates during the pandemic.
Aquatic Informatics Inc., Vancouver. Computer software; 74 employees. All employees receive an additional five days off for their fifth and tenth anniversaries with the company.
Arrow Transportation Systems Inc., Vancouver. Transportation, shipping and logistics; 1,034 employees. Helps employees save for the future with defined benefit or defined contribution pension plans, depending on their group.
In addition to government and private business, this sector is a vital contributor to our local economy, our well-being and our community’s vibrancy. It is imperative that we consider the contributions of this sector and the incredible strain that it is under, just like all other sectors, as we move through the dark days of the pandemic together. Charities are all around us they are the youth sports programs, community centres, resettlement programs for new immigrants and refugees, social justice and activist organizations, arts groups, environmental stewardship programs, religious and church groups, and cultural clubs and together form the social and cultural fabric of our lives.
Today, that same research technique has been endorsed by the United Nations and is being used by Thompson Rivers University researchers working with the City of Kamloops as a way to gain a deeper understanding of the opioid crisis as overdose deaths continue to rise in the city and throughout British Columbia. “I think what we’ll have is a much clearer view, a much clearer definition of the issues at stake in our local community,” said Will Garrett-Petts, TRU’s associate vice president of research and graduate studies and project lead. Garrett-Petts said the city approached the university about the project about a year ago, after the university had been consulting with Urban Systems for the City of Vernon on a similar project.