A National Movement: Cities Reducing Poverty

In the late 1990s key leaders in Waterloo Region began dreaming of a different future for their community. They came together to create Opportunities 2000 with the bold aim of moving 2000 individuals out of poverty by the year 2000. The leaders represented many different sectors and wanted to work differently together. Little did they realize that their bold vision would not only change the lives of citizens in Waterloo Region, it would also spark a national movement of cities reducing poverty.

Opportunities 2000 inspired a further thirteen Canadian cities to meet the challenge of reducing poverty. In each city, collaborative roundtables with leaders from business, government, community organizations and citizens began working together to tackle this complex issue. Each city adopted a unique strategy but were joined together in a pan­Canadian learning network. This was a bold experiment that was supported by the deep engagement of Tamarack ­ An Institute for Community Engagement, Caledon Institute of Social Policy and the J.W. McConnell Family Foundation.

Over the course of the next ten years, these cities began to witness real changes for their citizens. Affordable transit passes, housing subsidies, neighbourhood revitalization programs, and increased access to affordable childcare are just some of the many successes they collectively generated. At the same time, provincial and territorial governments across Canada also began taking up the challenge of reducing poverty by adopting their own strategies.

After nearly fifteen years of collaboration and collective effort, Vibrant Communities is pausing to reflect on this unique point in Canada’s history and hosting a Poverty Reduction Summit, May 6-8, 2015 in Ottawa, Ontario Canada.

The Poverty Reduction Summit: Every City, Province and Territory Working Together will bring together people from across Canada to align their efforts and merge their passion for poverty reduction. This unprecedented gathering ­happening in Ottawa, ON, May 6­-8, 2015 ­will strengthen communication, increase the alignment of poverty reduction activities and will motivate collective action leading to poverty reduction for 1 million Canadians.

The Summit will highlight what's working in poverty reduction activities, celebrate strong community examples and provincial/territorial strategies, and will outline what each holds in common so that we can clearly see the points of alignment that already exists. The Summit’s learning agenda will focus on:

• Key poverty reduction strategies and those that are having the best results
• Policy changes in cities and in provinces that are making a huge difference in reducing poverty
• The role of business in poverty reduction and stories of great success High impact strategies for organizing for impact ­
• Governance models for success
• How the idea of Collective Impact is permeating the poverty reduction efforts of cities with amazing results
• How provinces and cities are supporting each other toward common success

We invite you to join us in this unique three day learning event.