Pearson College UWC in Metchosin was one of many organizations that received a grant from the Victoria Foundation last year for their work here on the West Shore. The school’s work was instrumental in it receiving the grant, but also important were people from throughout Greater Victoria who took the time to share their views of life and livability in the region through the annual Vital Signs survey.
The school’s innovative Climate Action Leadership Diploma program is designed to help students aged 16 to 19 build skills to successfully engage in climate leadership. With more than 600 hours of instruction across two years, students learn from Indigenous Elders, external speakers, and guest lecturers.
“Young persons interested in creating a career that supports climate action can practice using the tools they will need to take individual and collective action while gaining university-level credits and micro-credentials,” Brian Geary, Pearson’s Director of Communications, explains in this year’s Vital Signs report. “By connecting with them early in their educational journey, we can help them be effective in climate action — in careers around the world as engineers, financial professionals, science and health researchers and more: changemakers across a variety of areas and industries. They’re the ones who will be working steadily to make the shifts necessary to fight climate change in the longer term.”
Pearson’s program, and the grant they received to help make it happen, speak to the Victoria Foundation’s goals around environmental sustainability – a key issue area highlighted in Victoria’s Vital Signs report, and in the Vital Signs survey which helps inform it. It is just one of a dozen areas of focus this year, and your input is needed.
Have your say about life on the West Shore and around the region
The Victoria Foundation’s 18th annual Vital Signs Survey is underway now and open until June 2. Your chance to weigh in on what’s working and where we need to do better, survey results will be incorporated with local statistics to create a snapshot of the region today, in 12 key issue areas, such as the environment, transportation, housing, wellness and the arts.
The results are published in Victoria’s Vital Signs, which helps guide the Foundation, donors and local leaders as to where resources are needed.
To participate:
- You can choose to fill out a short or long version of the survey – find a link to the survey on the Victoria Foundation website at victoriafoundation.ca, or click here to take the survey now.
- Fill out the survey before June 2 and you could win one of three $100 gift cards to Country Grocer!
With Coast Capital the 2023 presenting sponsor here in Victoria, the broader Vital Signs initiative is conducted by community foundations across Canada. Coordinated nationally by Community Foundations of Canada, Vital Signs measures the vitality of our communities and identifies significant trends in a range of areas critical to quality of life.