Community Social Assessments

A Community Social Assessment aims to create a snapshot in time of a community's social well-being and vitality - our strengths, assets and opportunities, along with our issues and challenges. This picture helps us to determine how to best direct support and close existing gaps. It also serves as an incentive to encourage new thinking and action to respond to opportunities and issues alike.

The compilation of the 2018 Community Social Assessment has been close to a year-long project. This is the third iteration of the Assessment, with the first being published in late 2006 and the second in 2014. These past two documents have helped to guide decisions related to policy, programs and services in the municipality, and community at large, and have also created a baseline on which to analyze change in the community over time.

In order to support community well-being, it is crucial to have a detailed understanding of the social picture of one's community.

Cover of Social Assessment Report

2018 Community Social Assessment

 Top 5 strength/asset themes identified in the 2018 Community Social Assessment

  • Small Town Community Feel
  • Appreciation of Nature and Environmental Stewardship
  • Quality and Variety of Services, Amenities and Programs
  • Abundant Work Availability
  • Population Diversity

 Top 5 challenge themes identified in the 2018 Community Social Assessment

  • Cost of Living
  • Living Where the World Visits
  • Community Wellness
  • Places and Spaces for Socialization and Recreation
  • Shared Understanding

 Reports: 

Next Steps
Within each of the challenge themes identified in the report, while the report has provided some high level areas of focus, further recommendations and specific approaches and plans of action can be developed either annually or by topic and can be adopted by various organizations, groups, and members of the business community as well.

There are many positive things happening in Banff on which to leverage. It is expected that the strengths that were identified by residents will continue to be fostered and supported through the array of existing programs, services, supports delivered by the Town, and numerous local organizations and partners.

As with the previous assessment, time will be spent sharing the findings of the report with community groups and organizations and an executive summary document highlighting the primary findings will be produced and distributed to a wider audience than perhaps the document itself would be. Previous years reports have acted as a catalyst for a series of actions that have benefited the community, and it is anticipated that this report will function in the same manner. It is the hope of the authors of this report that positive changes will occur in the community as a result.

The next federal census will be conducted in 2021, with the expectation that most data would be released by the fall of 2023. It is suggested that the next iteration of the Banff Social Assessment be conducted to once again, coincide with the release of this data. The proposed completion date for the next community social assessment would be during the first quarter of 2024, five years from now.

 Past Assessments