For Immediate Release | October 21, 2026
WATERLOO REGION, ON — Black communities have been part of Waterloo Region since the 1830s. Over nearly two centuries, they have built their own networks of care, culture, and support. Today, Waterloo Region Community Foundation (WRCF) releases Vital Ideas®: Social Infrastructure and Black Communities, a new report that asks how our region can build and sustain the social infrastructure Black communities need to heal and thrive.
This is the second report in WRCF’s Vital Ideas® series, which takes ideas raised by the 2025 Waterloo Region Vital Signs® Report and examines them in greater depth through new lenses, voices, and perspectives. Lead author and researcher Teneile Warren, a Black and Queer Community Advocate, Playwright & Educator, gathered data and input from community organizers and youth to understand what Black-affirming social infrastructure looks like here.
The report illustrates that systemic barriers, ongoing displacement, and discrimination continue to shape belonging, safety, and opportunity. It also shows that strong community connection makes a measurable difference. Many community leaders describe this as a pivotal moment.
Highlights include:
Black respondents with a strong connection to a community group reported more positive well-being and a greater sense of safety in public spaces
Locally, the unemployment rate for young Black residents is 20%, nearly nine percentage points higher than for non-racialized peers.
Black youth were much more likely than non-Black youth to report discrimination because of race or colour (43.3% vs. 13.1%).
Waterloo Region’s Black communities more than doubled in size between 2010 and 2021, matched by a growth in grassroots organizations, Black-owned businesses, festivals, and events.
Effective social infrastructure for Black communities needs both a permanent home and the flexibility to reach people across the region’s cities and townships.
“Black-affirming infrastructure cannot be reduced to a single physical building or rigid framework,” says Teneile Warren. “To support true thriving, it must be flexible, responsive, relational, and present. It must honour the reality that experiences, barriers, and aspirations within Black communities are deeply varied rather than universal.”
“Many conversations I’ve had about social infrastructure in this region lead back to the same question: who gets left out when we build?” says Eric Avner, President & CEO, Waterloo Region Community Foundation. “What comes through in this report is that Black communities here are not waiting for permission to build. Waterloo Region is growing quickly, and how we invest now will shape whether that growth includes everyone or leaves gaps that widen over time.”
The report includes community stories, local resources, and practical actions anyone can take, from supporting Black-owned businesses and grassroots Black-led organizations to showing up at Black-led cultural events as participants, not spectators. It is available at wrcf.ca/vital-signs.
Waterloo Region’s Vital Ideas® Report on Social Infrastructure and Black Communities would not have been possible without the funding provided by our sponsors, Caldwell Group at Richardson Wealth, Equitable, and HIP Developments.
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About Waterloo Region Community Foundation
Waterloo Region Community Foundation (WRCF) is focused on making it easy for people to do more good. WRCF collaborates with partners to ensure communities across Waterloo Region are equitable, connected, and sustainable; and people are thriving. We work with individuals, families and organizations to support the nonprofit organizations and issues they care about.
WRCF drives measurable and sustainable impacts through Granting, Investing, Advising, and Mobilizing. Gifts are directed endowment funds, with the income generated being distributed in partnership with Fundholders through grants and investments that support a wide range of charitable causes that drive positive change within our community.We are growing our assets in a socially-responsible way and transitioning to a 100% mission-aligned portfolio. These investments include directing at least 10% of our portfolio to impact investments. WRCF advises Fundholders and donors, helping them design a customized giving plan built around their goals. With deep local knowledge built over more than 40 years, our team helps Fundholders and donors make informed, impactful decisions about their giving. As a leading community-building organization, we also work to amplify voices and issues of importance by mobilizing conversations and sharing information, which leads people to action, while approaching our work with an equity mindset.
In 2026, WRCF continues to prioritize improving Waterloo Region’s social infrastructure. www.wrcf.ca
About Vital Signs
Vital Signs® is a community check-up conducted by community foundations across Canada that measures the vitality of our communities and identifies significant trends in a range of areas critical to quality of life. Vital Signs® is coordinated nationally by Community Foundations of Canada.
For additional information about this release or to schedule an interview, please contact:
Lynne Short
Vice President, Waterloo Region Community Foundation
519-725-1806 x 204
lynne@wrcf.ca
