This is a five part seminar series about the unique role municipalities and regional governments can play in reducing poverty. The seminars will deal with municipal poverty reduction plans, specific policy changes like living wage and affordable transit that cities are employing to address poverty, and with the critical value of a place-based approach to poverty reduction.
The Role of Business in Community Change - The role of business in community change and solving problems such as poverty is complex but absolutely essential. Listen to this call as Mark Chamberlain, president of Trivaris Limited in Hamilton, Ontario, shares his experience in operating a successful business as well as participating in the complex problems facing his community.Access the seminar here.
The Dollars and Sense of Solving Poverty - The Dollars and Sense of Solving Poverty, a recently released report by the National Council of Welfare, provides insights into why the costs of poverty are higher than many people realize and why poverty has persisted in wealthy countries despite many programs and services. It also identifies the economic and social factors which must be considered to successfully end poverty. Sheila Regehr, Director of the National Council of Welfare discusses this groundbreaking report and shares the recommendations of the Council for taking action on poverty reduction. Access the seminar here.
Cities Reducing Poverty: Case Studies from Vibrant Communities - Garry Loewen speaks with Mark Cabaj about Tamarack's new book, Cities Reducing Poverty - How Vibrant Communities are Creating Comprehensive Solutions to the Most Complex Problem of our Times which profiles the work of six different Canadian cities as they worked collaboratively to reduce poverty, synthesizing the experience of Vibrant Communities Canada over the past decade into a set of powerful lessons for any city eager to address this complex issue. Access the seminar here.
Collaborating for Impact - John Kania and Paul Born discuss John's groundbreaking work on multi sector collaboration and collective impact. John isauthor of the fabulously fresh and highly popular paper in The Stanford Social Innovation Review entitled Collective Impact (Winter 2011). John has been part of mobilizing amazing energy around the work of collaboration that leads to collective impact. Access the seminar here.
Government's Role in Urban Poverty - The final call in the Canada's Cities Reducing Poverty series features an interview with Dr. Neil Bradford on the Role of Government in Urban Poverty. Dr. Bradford teaches Political Science at Huron University College, University of Western Ontario. Dr. Bradford focuses on the role of government in addressing the complex issue of urban poverty. Access the seminar here.
Policy Monitoring for Change - The fourth seminar in the Canada's Cities Reducing Poverty series features the Caledon Institute of Social Policy's policy monitoring work. The Caledon Institute publishes a monthly summary of provincial and territorial policy changes across a variety of domains including: disabilities, education, health, housing, income security, poverty reduction, recreation, seniors and youth. In this seminar, Caledon's Principal Project Officer Anne Makhoul discusses the development of the policy monitoring process and tools. Access the seminar here.
Edmonton's Social Enterprise Fund - The third call in the Canada's Cities Reducing Poverty series features Edmonton's Social Enterprise Fund. This innovative, made in Edmonton initiative combines business expertise with flexible financing to help not-for-profit organizations and cooperatives create or expand strong, sustainable social enterprises, or social or affordable housing projects. This is a unique initiative of the City of Edmonton and the Edmonton Community Foundation. Jenny Kain, Director of Social Development, City of Edmonton, discusses the Social Enterprise Fund and the City's role in development, implementation and capitalization of the Fund. Access the seminar here.
Cities with Poverty Plans - The second call in the Canada’s Cities Reducing Poverty series features two cities that are taking real action to reduce poverty.
Niagara Region is promoting prosperity one neighbourhood at a time. They are investing in families through breakfast programs, back-to-school and winter clothing for children, grocery store gift cards, bus passes for high school youth and more.
The City of Ottawa has recently released a Poverty Reduction Strategy that will increase the effectiveness of services for people living in poverty, promote a sense of community and belonging for all in the City and raise awareness about poverty in the City while breaking down common myths around the issue of poverty. Access the seminar here.
Why Cities? Why Poverty? - The first call in the Canada’s Cities Reducing Poverty series features Brock Carlton, Chief Executive Officer of the Canadian Federation of Municipalities (FCM). Mr. Carlton discusses Mending Canada's Frayed Social Safety Net: The role of municipal governments - a recent report exploring poverty, income inequality and the concept of social infrastructure. Access the seminar here.
Provincial Poverty Reduction Strategies
Vibrant Communities Trail Builders have been influential in the development of many of the provincial poverty reduction strategies. There is a growing interest across Canada of the unique approaches taken by each province. This series will profile provincial efforts, progress achieved and the role of both place and community engagement in the strategies. Each month, a different province will be profiled and the series will end with a call led by the Caledon Institute of Social Policy analyzing the strategies and the importance of communities in poverty reduction.
Quebec’s Poverty Reduction Strategy -
The government of Quebec announced their latest governmental plan in July 2010. This action plan foresees investing seven billion dollars over five years, and is the second plan to combat poverty and social exclusion in Quebec. Yves Lévesque, director of Vivre St. Michel en santé interviews Eric Théroux, Deputy Director for policies and foresight for Quebec’s ministère de l’Emploi et de la Solidarité sociale. M. Théroux is part of the team responsible for the implementation of the Plan for solidarity and social inclusion 2010-2015. Access the seminar here.
Poverty Strategies and Provincial Policies - In the final call of the Provincial Poverty Reduction Strategies Series, Sherri Torjman, Vice President, Caledon Institute of Social Policy provides perspectives on the substantive elements and process highlights of provincial and territorial strategies. She explores the important roles that communities can continue to play in advancing and monitoring provincial and territorial strategies. Access the seminar here.
Manitoba's Poverty Reduction Strategy - In May 2009, the Government of Manitoba became the sixth province in Canada to launch a poverty reduction strategy. All Aboard: Manitoba’s Poverty Reduction and Social Inclusion Strategy four pillars are: safe, affordable housing in supportive communities; education, jobs and income support; strong, healthy families; and accessible, coordinated services. Jan Forster is the Executive Director of the Policy and Planning Branch of Manitoba Family Services and Consumer Affairs. Jan co-chairs the cross-departmental working group on All Aboard: Manitoba’s Poverty Reduction and Social Inclusion Strategy, bringing together staff from numerous ministries to leverage efforts and coordinate across government. Jan discusses the Manitoba approach to poverty reduction and the progress that has been made to date. Access the seminar here.
Ontario’s Poverty Reduction Strategy - In December 2008, the Government of Ontario released its poverty reduction strategy – Breaking the Cycle. Marian Mlakar, Director, Children and Youth at Risk Branch, Ministry of Children and Youth Services and Catherine Laurier, Policy Officer, Cabinet Office, Government of Ontario discuss details and progress of the strategy. Ontario’s Poverty Reduction Strategy is guided by the vision of a province where every person has the opportunity to achieve his or her full potential, and contribute to and participate in a prosperous and healthy Ontario. Among the principles guiding this strategy are a focus on children and their families, the involvement and unleashing of potential in communities, and using determination, cooperation and effectiveness to achieve results. Access the seminar here.
Nova Scotia’s Poverty Reduction Strategy - In April 2009, the Government of Nova Scotia released its poverty reduction strategy - Preventing Poverty and Promoting Prosperity. Brenda Murray, Director, Policy Planning and Research, Community Services and Ulrich vom Hagen, Coordinator of Poverty
Reduction will discuss details of the strategy and progress being made in Nova Scotia. The provincial strategy builds a vision to 2020 which strives to break the cycle of poverty and create opportunities for all citizens of Nova Scotia by enabling and rewarding work, improving supports for those most in need, focusing on children and coordinating and collaborating change efforts. Access the seminar here.
New Brunswick’s Poverty Reduction Strategy -
In November 2009, the Government of New Brunswick released its poverty reduction strategy – Overcoming Poverty Together - The New Brunswick Economic and Social Inclusion Plan. James Hughes, Deputy Minister, Social Development discusses the key elements of the New Brunswick plan which includes opportunities for meeting basic needs through reforming social assistance, raising the minimum wage, lifelong learning and skills acquisition and opportunities for belonging through community participation, neighbourhood engagement and social enterprise.
Access the seminar here.
Newfoundland & Labrador’s Poverty Reduction Strategy - In December 2009, the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador (NL) released its first progress report on its poverty reduction strategy – Empowering People, Engaging Community, Enabling Success. The incidence, depth and persistence of poverty in Newfoundland and Labrador have seen significant decreases. In this seminar, Donna O’Brien and Daniel Mason share perspectives on the significant progress made within government and in the community. Access the seminar here.
Measuring Community Change
This four part series looks at evaluation within Vibrant communities and other poverty reduction movements, and explores four metrics papers, Less Poverty, More Vibrant Communities, More Collaboration and More Community Engagement, which have been developed by Vibrant Communities as part of the Ontario Trillium Foundation’s ‘Community Capacity’ Series. Each seminar explores a variety of promising practical tools that measure the impact and change in a community. The tools and approaches identified in each of the four seminars provide an interesting overview for communities engaged in collaborative processes to increase their effectiveness.
Developmental Evaluation - Innovators, policy entrepreneurs, and managers are increasingly interested in using 'evaluative thinking' when coming up with new ways to tackle some of society’s toughest challenges. Developmental evaluation (DE) offers a powerful approach to monitoring and supporting social innovations by working in partnership with program decision makers. Dr. Michael Quinn Patton, one of the world’s best known experts in evaluation, has just released a book aimed to help with just that. Using scores of real life examples and frameworks, Patton brings to life concrete ways that we can more rigorously introduce evaluative thinking to change our world for the better. Access the seminar here.
Getting the Most Out of Evaluation - Often evaluation processes are static and focus on end of project results. Mark and Jamie talk about designing an evaluation process for maximum impact. With the end-user in mind, Vibrant Communities is asking key stakeholders about the questions that should be asked, the format of the end product and how, as a participant in the evaluation process, might they use the results to inform their work. This process has uncovered some interesting questions, reflections and has increased engagement in the evaluation design, product development and potentially in how end-users will engage with results. Jamie and Mark share interesting insights and early lessons learned. Access the seminar here.
Measuring Poverty: Ontario’s Deprivation Index - This session will explore the research process and development of the Ontario Deprivation Index. A ‘deprivation index’ is a list of items which are widely seen as necessary for a household to have a standard of living above the poverty level. Almost all households not in poverty will have all these items, but households in poverty are likely to find some of them unaffordable. By asking whether a household can afford all the items on the list, we can identify those that are poor. Michael Mendelson will discuss the community-based research process used to develop the ‘list’ for Ontario. Michael will also discuss working with the Government of Ontario to include the deprivation index as one of the indicators for the Ontario Poverty Reduction Strategy. Access the seminar here.
More Collaboration and Citizen Engagement - This session explores the Canadian Index of Well-being as an example of a measurement approach to determine if a community is increasing collaboration and citizen engagement. Tamarack has developed two papers, More Collaboration and More Citizen Engagement that explore 20 metrics drawn from a variety of sources including Vibrant Community experiences and local, national and international sources. This session will provide an overview of one approach and some common themes which cut across the different measurement tools. Access the seminar here.
Less Poverty and More Vibrant Communities - This session will explore different measurement approaches used by a variety of organizations and collaborative processes to determine if a community is increasing collaboration and citizen engagement. The metrics are drawn from a variety of sources including Vibrant Community experiences and local, national and international sources. This session will explore the Vancouver Foundation’s Vital Signs as one approach to measuring community change. Access the seminar here.
Foundation
This two part series explores two concepts that have proven useful in understanding the nature of poverty and the phases of multi-year efforts to reduce poverty. They are foundational concepts that many people in Vibrant Communities wished we would have embraced more fully BEFORE starting long term, community wide, poverty reduction campaigns.
Phases of Collaborative Efforts to Reduce Poverty - This session explores the phases of community change efforts using the lens of eco-cycles. Garry Loewen will interview Mark Cabaj about the different elements and phases of community change efforts and the transition traps that prevent groups from moving from phase to phase. The accompanying resourcealso describes the implications for multisectoral engagement, management, leadership, resources and evaluation in each phase, as well as a number of big ideas about creating a resilient community effort. This includes the controversial statement that it is sometimes more productive to allow an effort to wind down in order for something more robust and durable to emerge. Access the seminar here.
Framing Poverty as a Complex Issue - This seminar, featuring Liz Weaver and Mark Cabaj, makes this case for framing poverty as a complex issue, describing key features of complex issues, and explores the implications for leading and managing a community wide effort to reduce poverty. It includes surprising conclusions such as, “We need collaboration and competition in local efforts if we ever hope to make progress on poverty.” Based on new work on complex issues by Brenda Zimmerman and Dave Snowden and with real experiences from over 12 collaborations in Canada. Access the seminar here.
A Comprehensive Approach to Reducing Poverty
Vibrant Communities’ Mark Cabaj will speak with those involved with Vibrant Communities and other place-based initiatives across Canada about comprehensive approaches to poverty reduction, e.g., strategies that work across a range of substantive issues, such as employment, housing and education, as well as levels of action – household, community, levels of government).
Strategic Drivers for Comprehensive Approaches - In the third call of this series, Mark Cabaj interviews Garry Loewen about using a strategic driver approach to achieve comprehensiveness. The new resource incorporates the resiliency framework outlined by Sherri Torjman of the Caledon Institute for Social Policy. Access the seminar here.
Poverty Compendium: A Tool for Communities - Mark Cabaj interviews Garry Loewen about the Poverty Compendium, an overview of the strategies that groups in North America use to reduce poverty. This new resource outlines the different ways that poverty is understood and how different perspectives affect the selection of strategies. These perspectives can also be used to categorize and describe the individual strategies, frameworks, and processes that groups have used to move toward greater levels of comprehensiveness. Access the seminar here.
Comprehensive Strategies for Deep Outcomes - What are the different ways to pursue comprehensive approaches to poverty reduction? What are the strengths and limitations of such approaches for achieving deep and durable outcomes? Mark Cabaj interviews Eric Leviten-Reid about a new paper exploring these questions. Access the seminar here.
Policies That Reduce Poverty
The Caledon Institute for Social Policy and the Vibrant Communities movement bring practitioners and government policy makers together to reduce poverty and improve the prosperity of all Canadians. Learn what elements are key to any poverty policy, what roles communities and governments can play in policy development, and what tools are available to help place-based initiatives create lasting change.
Community Roles in Poverty Reduction Policy- Mark Cabaj, Sherri Torjman and Anne Makhoul explore how communities engage in public policy making as they seek improved access to public programs and services, or help designing local spaces and programs that respond to their concerns. Access the seminar here.
Reducing Poverty: Ten Core Policy Areas- Sherri Torjman and Mark Cabaj will discuss ten major policy areas that comprise the core of a comprehensive poverty reduction strategy, including examples of how governments and communities across Canada are making them work. Access the seminar here.
Learn to Include, Include to Learn - How can community collaborations facilitate the meaningful participation of low-income individuals in leadership structures and activities - both in grassroots groups and more formal roundtables? How can we utilize the skills that low-income residents bring to leadership roles, and assist them in building their capacity? This three-part series looks at utilizing the skills that low-income residents bring to leadership roles. Access the seminar here.
Funding Lasting Change - Vibrant Communities believes that creating lasting community change requires a long-term, sustained effort, and a place-based approach from both the people creating the change and from the funders. In the Fall of 2007, participants in the Vibrant Communities Funders Network came together to learn about the concept of embedded funders. This two-part tele-learning series begins by defining an “embedded funder” and examines the successes, challenges and the impact of funders who make a long-term, place-based and hands-on approach to funding community change. The second part examines the Calgary Foundation as a case study of an organization working to effect long-term community change. Access the seminar here.
Poverty & Poverty Reduction - Poverty is a complex problem, and like all such problems, it poses challenges even in terms of how it is framed. A wide range of factors are involved, and stakeholders have different perspectives and priorities, leading to many different conceptions of poverty. The fuzziness stemming from diverse approaches operating side by side can hamper comprehensive, multisectoral initiatives in their efforts to build effective partnerships, design poverty reduction strategies, assess progress, and communicate their work in ways that empower low-income households and mobilize support for poverty reduction efforts. Tempting as it is to make the poverty challenge more manageable by simplifying how it is understood, this only results in further frustration when its complex reality fails to be addressed. The Poverty and Poverty Reduction learning initiative, therefore, attempts to maintain an appreciation for the complexities of poverty, strive for coherence among diverse perspectives and continuously deepen our collective understanding. Access the seminar here.
Government Engagement - The nature of public sector engagement in collaborative, comprehensive initiatives varies from one community to another. How might we understand such variation? What might each community’s experience of public sector engagement, and the experiences of government officials themselves, tell us about the potential space for collaboration? The Spring 2007 Government Learning Circle series will highlight the unique ways in which the public sector is engaged in Vibrant Communities initiatives in four communities – Saint John, NB; Hamilton, ON; BC’s Capital Region; and Calgary, AB. Supported by feature interviews with local leaders, these community ‘stories’ will invite listeners to deepen their understanding of key features of government-community collaboration, including governance arrangements, ways to create an ‘enabling environment’, and how to achieve concrete results. On each call, an external expert will provide a short commentary, helping us each to apply what we’re hearing to our own work and to contexts across the country. Access the seminar here.
Government & Community - In this series, we consider the role of government officials in providing leadership in service of communities. What does it mean to be a facilitative or collaborative leader? What challenges do government officials face in playing such a role? How can these challenges be met? Facilitative or collaborative leaders address issues in ways that take into account the ideas and interests of many people. They listen deeply to the concerns of others, encourage prospective partners to focus on their shared vision and help identify the contributions that all involved can make to accomplishing mutually desired goals. However, such leaders within government often encounter formidable institutional constraints. More often than not there are pressures to focus on the siloed interest of their immediate organization at the expense of a broader agenda. Likewise, top-down versus bottom-up decision-making makes it difficult to align the efforts of government with those of community. Such tensions pose a fundamental choice for individual officials: Do I focus on the immediate objectives of my organization or do I widen my view of interest to really listen and consider what communities have to say about their needs and priorities? For government to provide leadership in service of communities, both institutional and personal commitment is needed to listen, learn, see and respond to what communities have to say. Access the seminar here.
Policy Change: Ground Up - Can communities influence public policy? What does it take to improve government/community collaboration on policy issues? How are communities using policy change as a strategy for poverty reduction? In this five-part learning series, community practitioners from across Canada came together to explore the opportunities and challenges associated with community-based policy making. In the audio files and call notes, you will learn about successful local policy initiatives in the areas of income security, neighbourhood revitalization, and housing and explore the process of community involvement in policy making. Access the seminar here.
Social Justice Grant Making - Social justice grant making aims to get to the root of our toughest problems. By addressing underlying causes rather than simply treating symptoms, funders with a social justice focus endeavour to bring about change in systems, institutions and attitudes to allow full social and economic participation by all Canadians. In January and February of 2006, participants in the Vibrant Communities Funders Network came together to learn about and discuss social justice grant making. This two-part seminar series provides information about how a commitment to do grant making work from a social justice perspective can enable funders to address the root causes of poverty and find long-term solutions to pervasive community problems. Access the seminar here.
Engaging Business - All across Canada, communities are creating multisectoral collaborations or networks that are developing long term, comprehensive approaches to reducing poverty. The “Engaging Business to Reduce Poverty” Learning Initiative is designed to support local networks associated with Vibrant Communities learn how they can engage businesses – from small to large -- to assist a large number of low income residents in their journey out of poverty. Access the seminar here.
Gender & Poverty - Statistics show that women experience higher rates and deeper depths of poverty than men. Census figures indicate that Canadian women had a poverty rate almost 20% higher than men in 2000, earned on average 80% of their salary, and experienced higher levels of unemployment. They also experienced substantially higher levels of home violence, worked longer hours and were more likely to suffer stress-related illnesses such as depression. Gender analysis offers an opportunity to explore why women and men are affected differently by the social, economic and political systems in which we live. It can provide new and often deeper insights into what needs to be done to ensure that men and women share equitably in the kind of world we want to build. Access the seminar here.
Comprehensive Grantmaking - From September 2004 to June 2005 local and national funders and contributors to Vibrant Communities came together to learn and discuss best practice funding. They took part in a tele-learning series to learn about effective funding practices in order to grow the impact of poverty reduction work in local communities across Canada. Throughout the learning initiative funders and contributors heard from, and learned with, Joseph A. “Jay” Connor, author of Community Visions, Community Solutions: Grantmaking for Comprehensive Impact. Access the seminar here.
Living Wage - Current statistics indicate that 374,000 families and 477,000 individuals that are full time wage earners are poor in Canada. Many more work part-time or shift work and are still unable to make ends meet. Communities throughout the world have begun to lobby on behalf of these “working poor” through initiatives such as Living Wage movements. One approach that communities are increasingly looking to in order to address this challenge is to encourage and support regional employers to pay better wages and employ progressive human resource practices. There appears to be at least two distinct approaches communities can use in their efforts. Access the seminar here.
Sustainable Incomes - There are many factors that go into the creation of a good quality of life. Access to clean water and air, decent food, shelter and clothing, education and life skills, good health, networks of friends and families, and a sense of hope for the future are all important components. But at the very center of every person’s quality of life is having enough of a sustained income - through whatever source - to pay for the basic necessities of life, to invest in the future, and to save for a rainy day. Access the seminar here.
Manitoba's Poverty Reduction Strategy
Ontario’s Poverty Reduction Strategy
Less Poverty and More Vibrant Communities
Framing Poverty as a Complex Issue 
