Vibrant Communities’ Communities Ending Poverty (CEP) has grown to host 90 members representing more than 350 cities and communities across Canada. Through 20 years of tireless work, our network has contributed to 1 million Canadians being lifted out of poverty.
In 2021, at our End of Poverty national gathering, we collaboratively shifted our sights from reducing poverty to ending it.
What CEP does
CEP offers learning that supports our members to develop community plans, create collaborative governance and leadership structures, engage their community, track and report on outcomes, and achieve financial and leadership sustainability.
Our learning channels include coaching, one-on-one support, online learning, case studies, publications and blog posts.
Peer-to-peer learning
A key contributing factor to CEP’s success in realizing population change is peer-to-peer learning and support.
CEP Managers of Cities work with members to deeply understand their work; co-write case studies and blogs; and invite them to share their challenges and successes at events, on Community of Practice calls, and on webinars.
Members ask and answer each others’ questions, and share contacts and resources through convenor calls and a private Facebook group.
Looking back on 2021
As we approach the holiday season and look ahead to 2022, the CEP team would like to pass on our immense gratitude for the knowledge and experience that our members contribute to the network.
We would also like to highlight some of our accomplishments for 2021:
- Renewed 90% of Communities Ending Poverty members and onboarded 20 new members, demonstrating members’ incredible commitment to ending poverty across Canada and the USA
- Hosted more than 1,000 learners, including 96 scholarship recipients, at The End of Poverty virtual national gathering, which featured 74 speakers and 14 workshops
- Engaged more than 20 thought leaders in co-writing the End of Poverty guide and dove deeper into 8 pathways via the Ending Poverty Pathways online course and podcast series
- Grew CEP’s presence in BC by growing the BC Community of Practice to more than 100 learners and by supporting 10 members to develop their first poverty reduction plans
- Delivered expert coaching in Developing a Community Plan, Collaborative Governance and Leadership, Getting to Impact, Collective Impact, and more
- Advanced peer learning through 3 Communities of Practice (BC, mid-Ontario rural and municipal government representatives) and a new a CEP private Facebook group
- Hosted 12 webinars, including 4 with more than 600 registrants (Basic Income, Indigenous Perspectives, Communities Building Youth Futures, and Ending Food Insecurity)
- Published 33 blogs and 12 publications that shared success stories from across the CEP network including CEP’s 2020 Impact Report and five-year impact report
- Grew the reach of our Communities Ending Poverty newsletter to more than 8,000 subscribers who receive our newsletter, and who are now tuned into the important poverty reduction work that each is undertaking in their communities
Looking ahead
Moving into 2022, our team is excited to continue to advance our eight Ending Poverty Pathways, implement Tamarack’s 10-year plan (including sharpening our focus on policy and systems change) and deliver joint learning with Vibrant Communities’ three other practice areas: Cities Deepening Community, Communities Building Youth Futures, and Community Climate Transitions.
We are proud of what we’ve been able to accomplish and could not have done it without the broad-based support of CEP’s members and learners.
We encourage you to reach out to Alison if you are interested in learning more about CEP membership and wish you a happy and healthy 2022.
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Read more
- Download the 2022 CEP membership brochure
- Explore the CEP website
- Email Alison to learn more about CEP membership
