Posted September 2004

North Simcoe CFDC, in an effort to identify those areas that are important and valuable to maintain and increase the quality of life for all citizens in North Simcoe, brought together 26 volunteer facilitators and over 700 people from 79 community groups to consult and gather data. Picture This! Simcoe North 2000-2050, Our Plan for a Healthy Community, became a multi-year project that identified quality of life indicators and became a catalyst for addressing pressing community needs. The final report, available on NSCFDC's website, summarizes the data collected and identifies what community members felt was great about living in North Simcoe, what challenges and issues they faced and what future they wanted to see in the next 50 years.

As a result of the consultations, four Action Teams were established in September 2002 and have been working towards the development and implementation of plans that will address important issues identified in this community strategic plan. NSCFDC committed to facilitating the Action Teams for the following year and acted as a catalyst to bring these community partners together. Four teams tackled the areas of transportation, health, recreation, and youth skills.

Transportation Action Team:

Over 90% of the groups surveyed for Picture This! indicated that transportation was a real concern for access to services for anyone who does not have a vehicle of their own. Seniors, as well as those who cannot afford to operate a vehicle, were identified as particularly vulnerable. A group of 12 community members came together to discuss the problem, to research access locally, and to research models in other communities. The purpose of the team is to develop a centralized call-in service with dispatch, monitoring, and data collection systems with on-line capabilities as an arm of Community Link. Currently, Community Link has agreed to take on a pilot project designed to deliver transportation services using volunteer drivers to shuttle people within and between communities. The work of this group is ongoing and the Transportation Action Team acts in an advisory capacity for Community Link.

Health Action Team:

About 90% of the groups consulted raised the issue of health care and 70% specifically mentioned shortages of doctors. A group of 10 interested individuals volunteered to address this issue. Knowing that a Physician Recruitment Task Force had already been formed through the North Simcoe Hospital Alliance, this group decided to support the work of the Task Force by focusing on employment opportunities for the partners of prospective health care professionals. In an attempt to communicate these goals to the community and collect appropriate data, members of the group have made presentations to the local Human Resources managers' group, the Y's Men's Club, the Midland Rotary Club and have had articles printed in the local newspapers. A system for notification of an upcoming visit by a prospective health care professional and arranging a visit for the partner with the appropriate employment group has been developed and tested. The group is waiting to be assigned another task by the Physician Recruitment Task Force.

Recreation Action Team:

During the consultation phase, 90% of people consulted mentioned recreation in both the positive and negative Quality of Life issues. Participants indicated they wanted interesting, affordable, accessible recreation. Indicators of success included the following:

• a snapshot of the existing programs and services,
• someone to manage the system and provide regular updates,
• an effective communication system to alert the community to what was available, and
• a one-stop registration/information system.

Representatives from Midland, Tay and Tiny recreation staff as well as a representative from the Wye March Wildlife Centre, Askenonnia Seniors Centre, The Villa Care Centre and two interested community volunteers formed the core of the Recreation Action Team - eleven members in all. As a result of the meetings, a format for establishing "Try On" days in the communities will be developed. A "Try On" day is a time when anyone can "try on" an activity to see if they like it and might be interested in participating. The Action Team has developed a database for listings for recreational activities searchable by categories including season, age, cost, etc. and has met with Community Link to put all the recreation information online. The information is now available to the general public.

The North Simcoe Sports and Recreation Centre:

One of the indicators developed was "Persons per community centre by region in North Simcoe". In keeping with the common theme expressed in the consultations that there was a need for a place for youth, parents, their children and seniors to go to access recreational programs that are accessible, affordable and available to the entire population, the data collected from the Picture This! consultations was used in a SuperBuild Fund application by the Town of Midland. The Town received $2.4 million in funding from the two senior levels of government for the construction of the North Simcoe Sports and Recreation Centre. The information was used extensively in the fundraising efforts of the Campaign Committee, forming part of the Case Study, as justification for the need for a community centre in letters to prospective community partners and as a fundraising tool with prospective donors. The North Simcoe Sports and Recreation Centre which celebrated its grand opening in September 2004. It will incorporate a new arena, a youth centre, a seniors' center, a climbing wall and multipurpose community hall and meeting rooms designed to better serve the needs of community organizations as well as community members. It offers something for everyone!

Youth Skills Database Action Team:

The concern expressed for the lack of job opportunities for youth sparked the formation of this Action Team. A group of nine individuals, including one high school student, came together to develop a strategy for linking young people to jobs in the community. After reviewing the results of the Simcoe County Labour Force survey conducted in the fall of 2002 and released in the first quarter of 2003, the group concluded that there will be ample opportunities for employment in the coming years and as the aging, skilled trades workforce begins to retire. The challenge is to make sure that youth are aware of these opportunities and take the necessary steps to become qualified to access these jobs. The Action Team is currently developing a website to provide information about jobs, education, training and volunteer opportunities in the community and has recruited local young people to act as consultants in the website development.

If you are interested in the progress of the above projects or would be interested in addressing any other issues raised during the consultation phase please contact
Mary DiTomaso at mditomaso@nscfdc.on.ca.