By Kim Pemberton, Vancouver Sun
Fifty per cent of children entering kindergarten in Newton East in Surrey are considered vulnerable, meaning they are at a higher risk of encountering difficulties in the school years and beyond, according to University of B.C. researchers.
By Kim Pemberton, Vancouver Sun
Fifty per cent of children entering kindergarten in Newton East in Surrey are considered vulnerable, meaning they are at a higher risk of encountering difficulties in the school years and beyond, according to University of B.C. researchers.
The researchers measured factors such as physical health and well-being, social competence, emotional maturity, language and cognitive skills and communication skills.
Guildford West also fared poorly with 43 per cent of kindergarten children considered vulnerable. Whalley southwest was at 45 per cent, compared to Whalley southeast at 29 per cent. (The B.C. average is 33 per cent.)
These findings were contained in a community profile on Surrey and White Rock, released today by United Way. The report is the first in a series of social-demographic profiles to be done by United Way. The hope is for the information to help decision makers plan social services specific to the needs of the communities profiled, said United Way president and CEO Michael McKnight.
“One of the things that led us to pick Surrey/White Rock (for a profile) was knowing levels of child vulnerabilities are higher there than other areas of the Lower Mainland,” he said. “We see opportunities here like how can we prevent kids from going down a wrong path.”
He said the United Way annually invests $2.9 million into Surrey and White Rock and is focusing on young children and seniors, noting 90,000 seniors will be retiring within the next five years.
McKnight said the next report will be on Richmond, and will be completed in two to three months.
The United Way report looked at three indicators of a community — population, economic and social.
Population indicators:
• Surrey is one of the fastest growing cities in Metro Vancouver with its population nearly doubling between 1991 and 2011. Surrey is expected to grow by another quarter of a million people over the next 30 years, which means one in five residents of Metro Vancouver will live in the area. South Surrey will see the largest number of new residents by 2041 (58,410) while the community of Fleetwood will see little change.
• Population growth is attributed to Surrey having higher birthrates compared to other cities in the Lower Mainland, and mortality rates are slightly lower compared to the rest of B.C. As well, immigrants make up 40.5 per cent of Surrey’s population, with almost 36 per cent having arrived in the last 10 years.
• In 2011, there were 187,845 immigrants living in Surrey.
Economic Indicators:
• Surrey and White Rock have median family incomes slightly lower than Metro Vancouver, but higher than Burnaby, Richmond and Vancouver. Research has shown that higher incomes mean better health and social well being for individuals and when people are less stressed they are able to help contribute to the local communities more. The median family income for all families in Surrey in 2010 was $78,283 and in White Rock it was $79,174.
• South Surrey had the highest family income for Surrey’s six communities at $96,838 and Whalley had the lowest at $64,842.
• In 2011, Surrey had the highest unemployment rate for the total population and White Rock had the lowest unemployment rate for the total population when compared to Burnaby, Richmond, Vancouver and Metro Vancouver.
• In terms of occupations, Surrey residents work mostly in sales and service related jobs, while in White Rock the top occupations were business, finance, administration or management.
Social Indicators:
• In Surrey, 85 per cent of children live in two-parent families and the remainder in one-parent families. In the latter case, 16,000 one-parent families were headed by women and 4,000 by men. Most of the single-parent families lived in Whalley and Guildford.
• Surrey residents aged 24 to 65 with a university certificate, diploma or degree made up 23.7 per cent of the population, far below Vancouver’s 43.5 per cent and Metro Vancouver’s 34.1 per cent.
• In 2011, among the six communities that make up Surrey, South Surrey had the lowest rate of people with a high school diploma at 22.9 per cent while Newton had the highest rate at 31.6 per cent.
• The percentage of the population with an apprenticeship or trade certificate was 9.2 per cent in Surrey, compared with 11.6 per cent in White Rock.
• When it comes to crime, Surrey’s violent, property, motor vehicle and theft crime rates are higher than the rest of B.C. The city also had the second-highest alcohol related deaths and second-highest drug related deaths from 2007 and 2011.