Winnipeg community indicator system honoured with international award

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

WINNIPEG—October 9, 2014—The International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) and the United Way of Winnipeg (UWW) are very pleased to announce that their joint Peg project was honoured with a Community Indicators Consortium Impact Award, presented in Washington, D.C. on Sept. 30.

The Community Indicators Consortium Impact Award is an international award administered by the Community Indicators Consortium (CIC), and recognizes projects that best demonstrate the power of indicators to drive positive community change. Peg is Winnipeg’s community indicator system, developed jointly by IISD and UWW, and regularly tracks and presents indicators about the city’s well-being through fact sheets, reports, its website and social media.

“Peg has done a great job of incorporating best practices from the field of community indicators, and adding their own innovations,” said Craig Helmstetter, a CIC board member and chair of the 2014 awards committee. “Not only does Peg do a solid job of tracking important trends, it also provides a great platform for helping people understand those trends and use that information to improve their community. Peg appears poised to contribute to Winnipeg’s relatively high quality of life for years to come.”

 “Peg was a natural fit for United Way because of our focus on moving the needle on some of the biggest challenges Winnipeg is facing,” said Dr. Jodene Baker, a member of UWW’s Board of Trustees. “Through our collaboration with IISD, we’ve been able to create an indicator system that shines a spotlight on our community—letting us know where we are making progress and in what areas we need to focus our collective attention.”

“IISD and the United Way of Winnipeg worked as partners to create Peg, a truly innovative suite of community indicators that provide invaluable information publically, so that we can track how well Winnipeg is doing. We are greatly honoured to receive this award together,” said Scott Vaughan, president and CEO of IISD.

The Community Indicators Consortium (CIC) established the Community Indicators Awards Program in 2005. Winning projects use data to analyze and communicate community conditions and catalyze action for making measurable and sustainable improvements in quality of community life. CIC was established in 2004 as an active, open learning network and global community of practice among persons interested or engaged in the field of indicators development and application.

Past winners include: Minnesota Compass, the Community Foundations of Canada’s Vital Signs initiative, Community Indicators Victoria (Australia), and the Guelph Community Wellbeing Initiative (a partnership between the Canadian Index of Wellbeing and the City of Guelph).

For more information please contact Sumeep Bath, IISD media and communications officer, at sbath@iisd.org or +1 (204) 958 7740.