Our Research

The CDI maintains a clear focus on research and on providing access to valuable resources toward the goal of increasing knowledge and understanding and building capacity around community, regional, and economic development. Our goal is to balance both applied and basic work so as to maintain academic credibility and to be of practical relevance to communities.

The information in this section is organized by topic. Please contact us if you need help finding information or have a question about any of the research or resources included here.

  • Fort St. John Community Indicators Program

    • Community Services Provision
    • Community and Economic Development and Transformation
    • Major Project Development

    Community indicators are used to measure and track the social, economic, and environmental issues that are significant to citizens living in a particular geographic area. Community Indicator Programs (CIPs) fulfill multiple roles as:
    • democratic tools that engage citizens through dialogue and debate about community values, needs, and priorities;
    • reporting tools that track and communicate progress towards community goals; and
    • policy tools that identify local issues and inform evidence-based policy making (Dluhy and Swartz 2006; Cox et al. 2010).
    Such evidence-based information is also often needed for developing programs and plans, setting priorities, pursuing senior government funding and industry contribution agreements, as well as to support participation in environmental impact assessment processes.

  • Fort St. John Age Friendly Assessment and Action Plan

    • Age-friendly Communities
    • Community Services Provision
    • Community and Economic Development and Transformation
    • Major Project Development
    The City of Fort St. John has taken a proactive approach to “age-friendly planning” which means ensuring that the community has the social and physical infrastructure necessary to accommodate this growing number of Fort St. John seniors, and that steps are taken to address barriers to healthy and active aging.
    This Report contains the results of an Age-Friendly Assessment and Action Plan (AFAAP) project that was carried out in Fort St. John from September to November 2018. This Report fulfills a strategy set out in the Official Community Plan (City of Fort St. John 2018: 105). The Report follows the framework set out by the World Health Organization (WHO) in its 2007 Global Age-friendly Cities Guide. As a result, the assessment is organized according to the eight dimensions of the WHO age-friendly communities, and an analysis is made in each dimension of Fort St. John’s age-friendly “assets” and “barriers.”

  • Northern BC Agriculture Industry Needs Assessment and Supports

    • Community Services Provision
    • Major Project Development

    The BC Ministry of Agriculture and the Community Development Institute (CDI) at the University of Northern British Columbia (UNBC) share a common interest in facilitating the growth and development of the agricultural sector in northern BC. Agriculture has always been an important economic contributor to the region and, with increased demand for food, both at home and abroad, the sector is now entering a new phase of opportunity. Through working together on this project, the Ministry of Agriculture and the CDI hope to facilitate opportunities for growth.

    The project, entitled the Northern BC Agrifood Industry Needs Assessment and Supports was developed to identify and assess current and future business and market development opportunities, challenges, and barriers faced by northern BC’s agrifood industry. Particular attention was focused on marketing agrifoods products to the Lower Mainland and other metropolitan areas of the province.

    The project consists of two phases and three reports: 

  • Fort St. John Program and Service Inventory

    • Community Services Provision
    • Community and Economic Development and Transformation
    • Major Project Development
    The online Fort St. John Community Program and Service Inventory Survey was a part of the work being undertaken in Fort St. John by the University of Northern British Columbia’s (UNBC) Community Development Institute (CDI) via The Forge. In consecutive phases, The Forge aims to gather, process, and present data and information about the community of Fort St. John as a way of meaningfully informing local and regional decision-making. The Fort St. John Community Profile constituted Phase One of this effort. The program and service inventory, together with a community indicators program as well as a community survey, is a part of Phase Two. The Community Program and Service Inventory is a living document which will be updated regularly.
    The aim of the program and service inventory was to compile a comprehensive list of available programs and services and create an opportunity to identify possible gaps and overlaps. In combination with the community profile, this information can help service providers determine community needs and allocate resources effectively. As it is based on a voluntary survey, the inventory cannot be a complete representation of all programs and services offered in Fort St. John. The weakness of our data collection was the limited ability of service providers to find time to participate.
    Despite some gaps in service representation, the data collected in the survey created a snapshot of the type and number of available services and the population they serve. This information was used to create a service delivery map, which identifies:
    • The number of programs and services by type;
    • The numbers and types of services by target age group;
    • The numbers and types of services and their enrolment capacity by target population group;
    • The service types facing unmet demands as expressed by enrolment compared to available spaces;
    • The cost associated with services for certain target groups;
    • Program delivery and opportunities for volunteer involvement by target groups; and
    • Funding sources for programs and services.
    Fort St. John Program and Service Inventory

  • Fort St. John Community Profile

    • Community and Economic Development and Transformation
    To build an understanding of the assets, opportunities, and challenges in Fort St. John, a first step is to complete a profile of the community. By highlighting demographic and socio-economic trends, the community profile can provide insights into the dynamics of the population and local economy. The community profile can also be used as a baseline and reference point for future planning initiatives.
    Data for the community profile are primarily collected from Statistics Canada. Data are also collected from provincial agencies such as BC Stats, BC Ministry of Education, and BC’s Provincial Health Services Authority. Unless otherwise noted, data refer to the Fort St. John Census Subdivision (CSD). Since the community profile draws primarily from census data produced by Statistics Canada, it should be noted that, in 2011, the mandatory long-form census was temporarily replaced by the voluntary National Household Survey (NHS). The change to a voluntary survey had the effect of decreasing the response rate as compared to previous censuses. In anticipation of this decrease, Statistics Canada took several precautions to mitigate the risks to the NHS data quality.3 Further, the NHS non-response rate for the City of Fort St. John was 16.8%. This is low when compared with the NHS non-response rates for BC (26.1%) and Canada (31.4%). As Statistics Canada maintains that NHS data is reliable and the non-response rate in Fort St. John was relatively low, NHS data is used in this profile.

    Fort St. John Community Profile

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