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Cities Reducing Poverty Policy Digest: July 2018

Welcome to the July edition of the Cities Reducing Poverty Policy Digest, which aims to provide you with timely poverty-related policy updates and resources from across Canada.

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Swimming in the Deep End

Systems change work is about understanding all of the actors in the system and the dynamic flow of power, relationships, and mindsets that exists between them.  John Kania, Mark Kramer and Peter Senge, in their recently released paper, The Water of System Change use the metaphor of water to describe systems.  The water is the environment through which fish and other life exists but it is also a flowing, moving and changing entity. 

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Canada's Smart City Challenge: Combining Community Engagement with Innovation

As a point of honesty, I admit that I was skeptical of the Smart Cities concept when I first learned of it. I wrote my undergraduate thesis on the development of Smart Cities as an idea, and I worried that the concept was designed to sell products rather than make our communities better with the ultimate outcome being further division and isolation for citizens. Smart Cities and the technologies attached to them, at their best, have the capacity to improve citizen engagement, increase our capacity to collect data to inform decisions, reduce inequality, and lighten the impact of urban centres on the environment. Alternatively, poorly planned and implemented projects can further the digital divide and decrease the connection between citizens and their government.

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There’s No “I” in “Team”; the Value of Coaching in Poverty Reduction

If you asked LeBron James, Hayley Wickenheiser or Serena Williams what helped them to develop mastery in their chosen sports they would undoubtedly give some of the credit to their coaches – the trusted mentors and inspiring role models who empowered them to achieve more than they could on their own.

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St. Catharines:  Creating a City-Wide Movement of Compassion

St. Catharines Ontario is championing a movement to make their city one where all residents have an opportunity – and responsibility – to make their community vibrant, prosperous and compassionate. 

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New Report Shows Child Poverty in Canada Knows no Boundaries

Canada, often revered for its high standard of living, is also home to  a far-reaching societal ailment: over 1.2 million children, or 17.4%,  are living in poverty with their families. That’s the finding from Campaign 2000’s riding by riding analysis of child poverty in Canada, released June 18th, 2018. Read More