Vital Signs® is a community-driven data program that is led nationally by Community Foundations of Canada, and locally by community foundations across Canada – including Waterloo Region Community Foundation (WRCF).

Social infrastructure across Waterloo Region is critical to ensuring our communities are equitable, connected, sustainable, and that people are thriving as we grow to one million residents.

As a result, Waterloo Region Community Foundation (WRCF) has researched and created the 2025 Waterloo Region Vital Signs® Report focused specifically on social infrastructure – the shared spaces, shared experiences, and shared resources that enable people to connect with each other in meaningful ways. This report provides more information about social infrastructure to help people and organizations understand its importance and turn that knowledge into action, so we can all work together to improve it for everyone who lives in Waterloo Region.

The data shows us:

• No other metropolitan area in Canada is growing – and changing – as quickly as Waterloo Region, driven by young adults, racialized groups, and a steady influx of people seeking opportunity and a place to put down roots.

• Waterloo Region has a long tradition of investing in strong social infrastructure – from parks and libraries to cultural institutions and community spaces. This report presents growing evidence that these assets are vital to wellbeing and belonging. It also highlights that the investment in social infrastructure hasn’t fully kept pace with growth, change, or recovery.

• The region’s rapid transformation has created real pressures – but the report points to where investments and action can make the biggest difference.

Check out pages 58 – 70 in the report to find a section that talks about work that is already happening across our region, along with some local, national and international resources focused on social infrastructure that will help you learn from others and take action locally.

To find out more about Vital Signs reports published across Canada, visit www.vitalsignscanada.ca.

If you would like a presentation of Waterloo Region’s Vital Signs®, reach out to info@wrcf.ca, and we can coordinate a time to connect with you.

If you have questions or comments about Waterloo Region’s Vital Signs®, contact info@wrcf.ca.

Waterloo Region’s 2025 Vital Signs® Report would not have been possible without the funding and support provided by:

Vital Signs® 2021 to 2024 – Focused on Affordable Housing

With affordable housing emerging as a critical issue across Waterloo Region, WRCF created a 2021 Vital Signs® Report focused on the state of affordable housing in our communities. It examined affordable housing through a variety of lenses including economic security, gender, immigration, the environment, children and youth, and for those with disabilities. This report was followed by two compendium reports in 2022.

In 2023, once again WRCF created a Vital Signs® Report focusing on Affordable Housing to provide more information about this important community issue. The Waterloo Region 2023 Vital Signs® Report illustrated how the housing crisis continued to hit our most vulnerable hardest – the young, non-homeowner older adults, newcomers and refugees, those who identify as Indigenous, Black or as a person of colour, those with disabilities, and individuals exiting the child welfare system. This report was widely circulated with requests for presentations and additional data analysis. The resources below include 3 additional presentations and a data-rich blog that further examined Waterloo Region’s municipalities.

Background of Waterloo Region Vital Signs®

Prior to 2017
WRCF partnered with community organizations and leaders to gather and interpret research to create Waterloo Region's Vital Signs® Reports and Vital Signs® Priority Scorecard Reports. Data was collected from various trusted and respected sources including Statistics Canada, Ontario Municipal Benchmarking Initiative (OMBI), Municipal Performance Measurement Program (MPMP), Environment Canada, Region of Waterloo, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, Elections Canada, Crime Severity Index, Ontario Education Quality and Accountability, and Industry Canada.

In addition, community members were asked to assign “grades” in 11 key areas critical to Waterloo Region's quality of life: The Gap Between the Rich and Poor, Safety, Health and Wellness, Learning, Housing, Getting Started in Our Community, Arts and Culture, The Environment, Work, Belonging and Leadership, as well as Getting Around. An expert resource panel then provided insight into the data and indicators chosen for the reports. The reports assisted organizations and individuals across Waterloo Region in making connections between issues and trends in different areas, informed WRCF’s strategic direction and actions to support the community.

We also commissioned a study to further understand the state of belonging in our community (pdf).

Between 2017 and 2020
Rather than conduct our own research, we directed our resources to a community-wide initiative called Wellbeing Waterloo Region. We used the information gathered through that work and subsequent learnings to focus our Granting, Impact Investing and Mobilizing towards the three core issues of Affordable Housing, Healthy Children & Youth, and Social Inclusion.

In 2020, we also held a series of Vital Conversations with Youth, and created a summary report (pdf) in partnership with Community Foundations of Canada and the RBC Foundation.