〉 WHO  WE ARE

Vibrant Communities Calgary (VCC) is Calgary’s sole non-profit dedicated to poverty reduction through systems change. As the steward of Calgary's poverty reduction strategy, Enough for All, VCC works with government, community, and partners to improve the economic and social well-being of Calgarians.

〉 WHAT WE DO

Unlike direct service providers, VCC exclusively focuses on long-term, sustainable solutions to poverty rather than short-term relief. We help reduce poverty by:

• Driving research and data: VCC empowers organizations and policymakers with timely, relevant, and reliable evidence to inform decision-making.
• Shaping pragmatic policy ideas: VCC influences and advances policies through evidence-based recommendations and strategic cross-sectoral partnerships.
• Building public awareness and driving advocacy: VCC reshapes how Calgarians view and understand poverty to foster a more compassionate and informed public discourse, and inspire collective change.

We also work to inform the development and implementation of public policy that improves the economic and social well-being of Albertans through the Calgary  Social Policy Collaborative

〉 OUR PROJECTS:

See below for a few examples of our work. To explore our latest research, visit: VCC Research

• Enough Well-Being Dashboard: Tracks key indicators demonstrating Calgary’s progress toward achieving its poverty-reduction goals.
• Calgary's Living Wage: VCC has been calculating and publishing Calgary's living wage since 2008, helping employers, government, and community understand the true cost of living in our city.
• Calgary Ward Poverty Profiles: An interactive tool highlighting how poverty affects communities across Calgary, supporting targeted and effective solutions to poverty reduction. Learn more about poverty in your ward.
• Let's Talk Poverty Podcast: Let's Talk Poverty helps explain poverty in Calgary through the lens of Enough for All. From the voices of lived experience to community members to highlighting raw data, VCC speaks with subject matter and policy experts and community leaders to explore the root causes of poverty in our city.

〉 OUR IMPACT

VCC's community- and evidence-driven approach ensures that poverty-reduction efforts lead to impactful policy change. A few of our recent achievements include:

• Housing: VCC led comunity-based research and advocacy efforts for Calgary's Home is Here housing strategy. Since the implementation of Home is Here, rental market vacancy has increased, median home prices in all housing categories have decreased, and average rents have decreased across most housing types.
• Transit (Low Income Transit Pass): Advocating for the creation and ongoing funding of the Low Income Transit Pass (LITP). Recently, VCC-led advocacy led to the rapid reinstatement of provincial funding for the LITP in 2024, supporting thousands of Calgarians in continuing to access low-cost transit for work, medical appointments, and other essential daily trips.
• Community safety and well-being: In 2024, VCC published the No Place to Go research report, which included recommendations to improve ‘social disorder’ in and around public transit. This report dovetailed the recommendations tabled by the Downtown Safety Leadership Table and led to the successful RFP and creation of two day-time spaces for people experiencing homelessness in 2025, as well as an expansion of the day-time spaces funding in 2026.