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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

Takeaways from Maytree's Policy School

When I joined the Poverty Roundtable Hastings Prince Edward as their Director in 2016, building a community action plan for poverty reduction was just one of the activities I would be taking on as part of a complex project plan. The overall goal of the work was divided into two parts; First, to ensure that people who use programs shape the programs and services that matter to them, and second, to bring our community together to work to reduce poverty–In effect, removing the silos that we have had a tendency to work in.

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Highlights from Cities Innovating to Reduce Poverty: Vancouver 2018

Cities Innovating to Reduce Poverty, Tamarack’s 2018 Western Regional Poverty Summit, brought together changemakers from more than 25 cities from Western Canada and beyond, to dialogue on innovative ways that governments, cities, and sectors can work together to end poverty.

Over a day and a half of learning, elected officials from all levels of government, city staff, business leaders, funders, community organizers, and experts with lived experience of poverty convened to teach and learn together. The event hosted fabulous speakers, a social innovation walking tour, interactive workshops, and a city-hosted reception.

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