The following are all policy briefs released by the Niagara Community Observatory from 2009 to the present day, in chronological order. Click on the title to open the PDF file for each policy brief.
- The Young Are the Restless: Attracting and Retaining Young People in the Niagara Area
(March 5, 2009) - Seniors in Niagara: Creating Age-Friendly Communities
(October 1, 2009) Policy Brief #2 with references - Niagara Food: It’s Nutritious, Delicious, and Available But We’re Not Buying It… Why Not?
(March 18, 2010) Policy Brief #3 with references - Niagara’s Natural Park:The Restoration of the Glenridge Quarry into a Naturalization Site
(August 2010) - The Changing Economic Structure of Niagara
(September 21, 2010) - The Changing Nature of Manufacturing in Niagara
(October 2010) - Jobs in Niagara
(November 2010) - More than Fun and Games: Sport’s Contribution to Niagara’s Economy and Wellbeing
(November 2010) - The Use of Social Media in the 2010 Niagara Municipal Election
(March 2011) - Representation on Municipal Councils in Ontario
(September 2011) - What’s growing in Niagara? Farmers’ Markets in the Niagara Region
(August 2012) with references - Poverty and Education: A Niagara Perspective
(September 2012) Policy Brief #12 with references (please note brief was improperly numbered as #11) - Are the Consequences of Poverty Holding Niagara Back?
(September 2012) Policy Brief #13 with references - The Niagara River Remedial Action Plan: 25 Years of Environmental Restoration
(December 2012) - Niagara’s Beaches: Hidden Gems
(June 2013) - Can Niagara Families Afford Child Care?
(April 2013) with references - Cycle Tourism in Niagara Parks
(November 2013) with references - Niagara’s Interactive Digital Media (IDM) Industry
(May 2014) - Sport Legacy in Niagara: Before and After 2015
(May 2014) - Niagara Votes: Ontario Election 2014 Canadians (not) at the polls: a local, provincial and national story
(May 2014) - Niagara Votes: Municipal Election 2014 Voting Patterns of Municipal Elections in Niagara
(September 2014) - Barriers to Post-Secondary Education: Perspectives from Niagara
(March 2015) - Moving Niagara Towards a Knowledge Economy
(October 2015) - Niagara’s Changing Economic Structure
(October 2015) - Downtown Revitalization in St. Catharines: Building the Vibrant Public Space
(June 2016) Currently unavailable online. Contact the NCO for hard copies. - Growing Niagara: A closer look at Niagara’s aging population
(January 2017) - Is There A Skills Gap? Understanding what Niagara employers are looking for in recent graduates
(February 2017) - Youth Employment in Niagara: Mapping the Opportunities (October 2017)
- Scaling Up Niagara: Issue and Approaches to Improving SME Productivity and Growth (November 2017)
- More Than Money: Leveraging the Benefits of Sport Hosting in Niagara (February 2018, revised from print version)
- The Future of Niagara’s Health: Using a Life-Course Approach to Improve Well-being (March 2018)
- Youth In Niagara: Highly Skilled, Highly Mobile (March 2018)
- Cannabis Legalization: Government choices interact with business realities to help or hinder policy goals (April 2018)
- Filling the Void: Economic Development in Post-Industrial Niagara (June 2018)
- Shifting Gears: Examining the recent upswing of Niagara’s manufacturing sector (September 2018)
- The Brock University Effect: How thousands of students and millions of dollars energize the economy of Niagara communities (October 2018)
- Ohnia:kara – An Aspiring Global Geopark (January 2019)
- Under the Knife & Under the Gun: An overview of regional government in Niagara (April 2019)
- Promoting Pollinators: Niagara bees and how to help them (May 2019)
- Niagara’s Agribusiness Sector: Towards a more resilient innovation cluster (June 2019)
- Measuring Culture in Niagara: A Case for its Role in the Economy and Community (July 2019)
- Cross-Border Innovation Corridors: How to support, strengthen and sustain cross-border innovation ecosystems (September 2019)
- Elusive Quest or Emerging Reality: Niagara’s ICT Innovation Cluster (November 2019)
- Reflections on Amalgamation: Where do we go from here? (November 2019)
- Mood Walks: The role of parks and recreation in mental health promotion (April 2020)
- Niagara’s Transportation and Logistics Sector: Becoming a Global Economic Lynchpin (July 2020)
- Gender Representation and Governance in Niagara (Sept. 2020)
- Looking Ahead and Looking Up: Affordable Housing in Niagara (Oct. 2020)
- Land-Use Planning in Niagara: A Study in Multilevel Governance and Smart Growth (Jan. 2021)
- What’s Art Got To Do With It? The role of arts and culture in a community’s survival during a global pandemic (April 2021)
- Parks and Recreation as an Essential Service: Using a health equity lens to strengthen provision in Niagara (May 2021)
- To be, or not to be, remote? Examining the essential factors needed for ongoing remote work success (October 2021)
- Growing Agri-Innovation: Investigating the barriers and drivers to adoption of automation and robotics in Ontario’s agriculture sector (November 2021)
- Improving Safe and Affordable Housing for Women in Niagara, Before and After COVID-19 (September 2022)
Unhoused in Niagara – Fact Sheet, June 2022 - Systemic Barriers and Drivers to Technology Adoption in Canada: Lessons for Agri-Innovation in Ontario from Stakeholders of Canada’s Global Innovation Clusters (October 2022)
- Municipal Collaboration in Regional Event Hosting Processes: The case of the Niagara 2022 Canada Summer Games (September 2023)
- Managing Complex Relationships and Shared Responsibilities: The case of Lyons Creek East water governance (April 2024)
- Sustaining Food Security in Niagara (April 2024)
- Change in an Evolving Niagara: Navigating the Age-Friendly Communities Movement and Volunteerism (August 2024)
special reports and working papers
SPECIAL REPORT: The Economic Impact of COVID-19 on Niagara Women in the Workforce (Sept. 2020)
Neighbourhood Associations and the Municipality: Supporting Citizen Engagement in the City (Working Paper, July 2021)
WILSON FOUNDATION PARTNERSHIP: Exploring Niagara’s Economic Past and Potential Future
Final Reports
Report #1 – The Next Frontier of Economic Development in Niagara: From Concierge to Orchestrator of Change (September 2024)
Report #2 – Changing the Narrative: Unlocking the Economic Assets of Niagara in a Changing World (September 2024)
Report #3 – ‘Brain Drain’ in Niagara: Evaluating STEM talent retention through a survey of post-secondary graduates (September 2024)
working papers
Historical Trends in Niagara’s Agribusiness Sector, 2001-2022 (September 2023)
Historical Trends in Niagara’s Electric Power Generation Sector, 2001-2022 (September 2023)
Historical Trends in Niagara’s ICT Sector, 2001-2022 (September 2023)
Historical Trends in Niagara’s Manufacturing Sector, 2001-2022 (November 2023)
Historical Trends in Niagara’s Marine Commerce Sector, 2001-2022 (November 2023)
Historical Trends in Niagara’s Tourism Sector, 2001-2022 (September 2023)
Population Changes in Niagara, 1971-2021: Total population patterns (September 2023)
Population Changes in Niagara, 1971-2021: Population patterns interpreted (October 2023)
The Story of Agriculture in Niagara, 1969 to present day (October 2023)
The Story of Hydroelectric Power Generation in Niagara, 1969 to present day (September 2023)
The Story of Manufacturing in Niagara, 1969 to present day (September 2023)
The Story of Marine Transportation in Niagara, 1969 to present day (September 2023)
The Story of Tourism in Niagara, 1969 to present day (October 2023)
OMAFRA 2020-22 Growing Agri-Innovation Research Project
Growing Agri-Innovation: Investigating the barriers and drivers to adoption of automation and robotics in Ontario’s agriculture sector (November 2021)
Watch this space for more information.