20/20 Vision is a project from the Institute for Community Prosperity that takes a deeper dive into the perspectives of students and graduates involved in our programming on what the road ahead looks like for Calgary. It is an obvious understatement to say that Calgary is a city that has fallen on difficult times. The coronavirus pandemic continues to take its toll, but it is merely the latest wave of hardship: Unprecedented low oil prices, spurred by global events, have sent the petroleum industry into a seeming death spiral.

 

We noticed that too often, the voice of youth and post-secondary students are not included. When you look at the data, all demographics in Calgary have grown in recent years, except for people in the 20-24-year-old range. We think this is cause for concern because it points to a larger issue of people's feelings towards Alberta, and an exodus of young people both damages current and future growth prospects.

 

So, what are the problems people in this demographic see with Calgary? How do they envision what the future may hold? Answering these questions is the reason why we reached out to 20 20-somethings about the 2020s.