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A River that Built Community

In June, I attended an event in St. Albert called the Neighbourhood Extravaganza which brought together those who work in neighbourhoods, to build neighbourhoods. It was an excellent way to share stories and learn from each other. During my stay, I experienced the greatest sense of community when I was welcomed into the home of Howard Lawrence from Abundant Community Edmonton. It was from Howard’s hospitality that I learned how the North Saskatchewan River built a community.

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What We Heard About Poverty in B.C.

The Government of British Columbia’s recent release of What We Heard About Poverty in B.C. means the province is one step closer to having a poverty reduction strategy. The Report reflects public input, gathered between October 2017 and March 2018, that will shape the provincial strategy. Some of the common themes are summarized below.

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London For All: Making Progress and Meeting Targets One Year In

In May, United Way Elgin Middlesex reported that it had met 27 of its 112 targets as part of London’s anti-poverty strategy, London For All, just one year since starting its work. United Way Elgin Middlesex is the lead agency implementing London’s strategy. The United Way brings together partners to implement plans, ensures evaluation and accountability, reports back to the community, and meaningfully involves folks with lived experience of poverty in all aspects of the project.

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Getting the Most out of Your Vibrant Communities – Cities Reducing Poverty Membership

Vibrant Communities - Cities Reducing Poverty (VC – CRP) is a national collective impact movement aimed at reducing poverty through the place-based efforts of multi-sector roundtables and the alignment of strategies at the municipal, provincial, territorial, and federal levels.

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Living SJ Announces Eight Social Innovation Projects

In May 2017, Living SJ and the Province of New Brunswick announced a funding agreement of $10M over five years for Greater Saint John to test and implement innovative ways to end generational poverty. Saint John has a child poverty rate of 30%, the 2nd highest amongst urban centres in Canada. With a Collective Impact initiative involving more than 100 local partners, their goal is to identify successful strategies that can be scaled and replicated in an effort to put an end to children being born into poverty across New Brunswick.

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The State of Cities Reducing Poverty: Have Your Say

When I joined Tamarack in March, my first major project was to write a State of Cities Reducing Poverty paper. I don’t think I fully anticipated how challenging this would be. I thought I had a pretty good understanding of the Vibrant Communities – Cities Reducing Poverty (VC – CRP) network, having been a member for several years while I was director of the Windsor-Essex poverty reduction strategy. Well, it turns out there’s quite a big difference between having a general understanding of the network and trying to capture its overall impact on poverty reduction in Canada.

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