Seniors

Surrey Intercultural Seniors Social Inclusion Partnership Network – Phase 2

The SISSIP Network is a collective impact initiative funded by Employment and Social Development Canada’s New Horizons for Seniors Program. This community-based initiative is being implemented by six collaborating partners. Collectively, the Partners are committed to develop and implement culturally sensitive pilot initiatives to address social isolation issues in order to better integrate all seniors 55+ living in Surrey’s six town centres, one of Canada’s most diverse communities, with a particular focus on immigrant, seniors with disabilities, and Indigenous populations. More specifically, this collective impact strategy will address systemic barriers to social inclusion of vulnerable multicultural seniors. SRDC is conducting the evaluation of this initiative.

Start-end date: April 2020 - August 2024
Sponsor: Progressive Intercultural Community Services Society

Surrey Intercultural Seniors Social Inclusion Partnership Network

This Network is a collective impact initiative developed by the Progressive Intercultural Community Services Society (PICS) in collaboration with the City of Surrey’s Seniors Advisory and Accessibility Committee and its five collaboration partners. Collectively, the partners are committed to develop and implement culturally sensitive pilot initiatives to address social isolation issues in order to better integrate all seniors 55+ living in the Cities of Surrey and White Rock, with a particular focus on immigrant, seniors with disabilities, and Indigenous populations. As a first step in the process to better understand and address these issues, PICS is commissioning an environmental scan in order to obtain information for the needs assessment, and identify areas or gaps that are promising for developing new initiatives to address systemic barriers to social inclusion of vulnerable multicultural seniors 55+ across Surrey’s seven neighbourhoods in BC.

Start-end date: October 2019 - December 2019
Sponsor: Progressive Intercultural Community Services Society

A Canadian roadmap for an aging society

The number and proportion of older adults in Canada’s population has rapidly increased, and will continue to do so for the next 40 years. Moreover, seniors are living longer and more active lives – whether in work, volunteering, or social activities, – if not always in the absence of illness or disability. The implications of this demographic shift for society as a whole are profound, and represent both challenges and opportunities in such diverse areas as employment, housing, and health. To develop a broad understanding of the social policy landscape related to aging and the extent to which standards could prove useful, CSA Group has engaged SRDC to develop a Canadian roadmap for an aging society. Using an environmental scan, literature review, and interviews with a wide range of key informants, SRDC is identifying leading policies, practices, guidelines, and government programs in priority topic areas both nationally and internationally, as well as conducting an analysis of needs, gaps, and opportunities, and recommendations to guide future standards development.

Start-end date: December 2018 - August 2019
Sponsor: Canadian Standards Association (CSA Group)

Community Hypertension Prevention Initiative

The Heart and Stroke Foundation, the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC), and MaRS Centre for Impact Investing (MCII) have partnered to launch a community‐based intervention to prevent cardiovascular disease, using a social impact bond as a financing vehicle. This intervention builds off of an evidence-based program called CHAP, and integrates local community partnerships, best-in-class lifestyle management resources, coaching, and digital technology to support participants in engaging in and maintaining healthy behaviours. The intervention aims to increase awareness of the risks associated with high blood pressure and to modify participant behaviour (e.g., physical activity, weight loss, smoking cessation) among pre-hypertensive Canadians 60 years of age or older. As the external validator, SRDC will be responsible for confirming the extent to which specified outcomes have been achieved – specifically in terms of volume and blood pressure outcomes – and the extent to which the risk-based funding contracts should be paid out to partners and investors. To our knowledge, this project represents the first time social finance has been used to support a population health intervention in Canada.

Heart and Stroke notice

Government of Canada news release

thestar.com notice

National Post notice

Start-end date: December 2016 - November 2020
Sponsor: The Heart and Stroke Foundation

The role of financial literacy on financial decisions and retirement preparedness among seniors and older adults

Recent evidence suggests that many seniors and older adults may struggle to manage their finances. On assessments of financial capability, Canadian seniors and older adults fared poorly on objective measures of financial knowledge including those with high self-rated skills. These gaps may have serious consequences for financial decision-making, particularly among those heading into retirement. This project analyzes the 2014 Canadian Financial Capability Survey (CFCS) to understand the challenges that Canadian seniors and older adults face with financial literacy, how these relate to financial outcomes, and retirement preparedness.

Start-end date: September 2015 - March 2016
Sponsor: Financial Consumer Agency of Canada

The role of subjective attitudes and beliefs in financial decision-making of Canadians

While many Canadians lack basic financial literacy, mounting evidence from behavioural economics suggests that financial decisions are also frequently undermined by psychological factors. Even with the requisite financial knowledge and literacy skills, people are prone to various kinds of cognitive biases when making financial decisions such as those related to evaluating risk and uncertainty or the time value of money. This project undertakes an analysis of the 2014 Canadian Financial Capability Survey (CFCS) with the aim of understanding the role of cognitive biases in the financial decision-making of Canadians, with a particular focus on youth, aboriginals, and those with low incomes.

Start-end date: September 2015 - March 2016
Sponsor: Financial Consumer Agency of Canada

Evaluation of the Green Shield Canada Foundation Health Innovation Collaborative

The looming demographic “tsunami” of aging seniors will require a fundamental transformation of the health care system. The Health Innovation Collaborative (HIC) consists of five innovative health care organizations in Toronto working to improve care for seniors with complex medical needs through reinvented processes, shared knowledge, and technology. In collaboration with the Green Shield Canada Foundation and partner organizations, SRDC evaluated the effectiveness of the HIC and its potential impact on the quality of care and access to services and information. SRDC’s evaluation emphasizes systems thinking and the conditions for achieving collective impact in terms of equity, efficiency, and effectiveness.

Start-end date: September 2013 - September 2015
Sponsor: Green Shield Canada Foundation

Community Action for Seniors Independence – Evaluation Framework

Workshop facilitation with government officials to develop a logic model for a project delivering non-medical support and services to frail seniors.

Start-end date: September 2009 - September 2010
Sponsor: United Way of the Lower Mainland