The Latest

The Success of Benefits Program Reflects the Importance of Tax Clinics

The release of the Canadian Income Survey for 2017 came with a welcome piece of news for those working in poverty reduction: fewer Canadians and especially fewer children were living below the official poverty line and the low-income measure in 2017. In fact, Canada has already reached its 2020 target of a 20% reduction in poverty. While there is still significant work to be done to reach a 50% reduction in poverty by 2030, and to ultimately eliminate poverty, it is clear that the work being done by every level of government and by community-based roundtables is having an impact.

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The Cascading Effects of Childcare

The cost of childcare accounts for a significant expense in families. It is a barrier to employment and a barrier to prosperity for many households. Families are faced with the decision of whether it is truly worth it to work. Some opt to not work at all due to the cost cancelling out or even making them worse off financially. This takes them out of the workforce for longer which can make it more challenging in getting back into it. It can take them out of higher education opportunities because of the sheer double cost associated with fees on top of fees. And some are faced with less than ideal childcare arrangements. It trickles out to whether they can pay the rent, it affects the quality of food they eat, whether they go deeper in debt or can save for the future, to having negative consequences on the country’s economic growth.

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Turning the Narrative on Community Engagement

This past month the Tamarack Institute was joined by Max Hardy, a citizen engagement expert from Australia. During his webinar Max outlined some principles and practical steps we can take to ensure that we are meaningfully engaging and empower ordinary citizens in our community change work.

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12 Bold Ideas to Eliminate Poverty in Saskatoon

On February 7, 2019, the Saskatoon Poverty Reduction Partnership (SPRP) launched 12 Bold Ideas to Eliminate Poverty in Saskatoon. Applying an equity and human-rights based approach, the strategy presents 12 intersectoral and interconnected ideas that the group believes could have the biggest impact towards eliminating poverty in Saskatoon. It looks to policies and practices that could be adapted, keeping in mind jurisdictions, mandates and funding structures, but also encourages readers to think differently in order to challenge and disrupt systemic barriers.

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Informing the Renewal Process with Lessons from the Past

Getting all parties to commit to a strategy targeted at reducing poverty is a challenging task.  Many poverty reduction strategies are limited to a period of a few years.  So, what happens when that time is up but poverty persists? How can your collaborative use their learnings from the first cycle to better inform the next iteration?

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Conserving our Natural Environments: A Capacity Challenge

From time to time, the Tamarack Institute is contacted to be a key informant in different studies.  Last Fall, the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy and its partners were interested in understanding how capacity building could improve sustainability and outcomes for the California Landscape Stewardship Network. 

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