To address these problems, the plan recommended an asset-building strategy reinforcing youth and community strengths rather than just responding to crises. Last year, the County Commissioners asked its advisory board to provide ongoing information on trends. This profile gives the Sustainable Community Roundtable s perspective on recent trends, focusing on indicators of family well-being, educational quality, and community inclusion of young people. These indicators give clues as to what we as adults need to do to ensure our community s future is in the hands of happy, healthy children and young people. Thurston Regional Planning Council, Profile, September, 1997.
Indicators give clues about the state of the community's health.
They measure the extent of community problems or assets and can help us make better decisions by highlighting trends and pinpointing issues. These indicators were selected to sketch with abstract numbers a picture of the quality of life in South Sound for children, youth, and families from year to year. The many other dimensions needed to create a more complete, full-color portrait are much more difficult to measure, and can only be understood in dialogue. Limited as they are, we hope these indicators will be useful for citizens, school and community groups, social agencies, and local governments. Effective community strategies for nurturing children, youth, and families depend on knowing where we now stand, understanding historical patterns, discovering causes of problems, and valuing community strengths.