Poverty plan based on four other cities

from Lindsay This Week

Author: Kathryne Miller

The version City councillors saw of the Mayor's Task Force on Poverty report may be just a one-page document, but it represents a severely condensed version of an enormous amount of work.

All of that information is contained in a working paper that anyone can access by calling the Mayor Paul Ayotte's City Hall.

Most of the Task Force's research involved Waterloo-based Tamarack Corporation.
"This is a charitable organization that helps communities take ownership of local issues," says Doug Peacock, Otonabee Ward councillor and Task Force chair.

"Tamarack gave us a framework for building bridges between different sectors of the community."

Coun. Peacock points out some people claim that unless a person has lived in conditions of poverty they can't understand what the needs of that community are.
"There are basically two groups: people living in poverty and business people. We need to get those two groups together (to come up with solutions)."

Coun. Peacock points to four communities in particular whose efforts to fight poverty seem to be making a difference - Niagara, Hamilton, Saskatoon and St. John, New Brunswick.

"The work being done in St. John, New Brunswick, especially, was what first caught the mayor's attention," says Coun. Peacock.

"That plan focuses mainly on making sure there is adequate childcare in place, mostly for single parent women, who are trying to re-establish themselves within the job force."

In the other three communities the focus is on getting the business sector involved.
"In Niagara, for example, that is such a huge tourism area that businesses in that sector have been able to come up with new jobs and new job training programs," explains Coun. Peacock.

He notes there are four focus points for the Mayor's Task Force - income security, food security, housing and childcare and transportation.
"And other focuses may come out of our consultations."

The Task Force's report will be presented at the next city council meeting March 19.
Following that, consultations are planned between the Task Force and numerous organizations and individuals in the community.

Using the information gathered by the Tamarack Corporation, the Task Force is hoping to come up with a viable plan to combat poverty.

Mayor Ayotte says one area to be worked on is getting senior levels of government to take responsibility for their roles in addressing the issue. But the mayor cautions this is not something that will be accomplished overnight. In fact, Mayor Ayotte pointed out at Monday night's Committee of the Whole meeting that back in 1876, Mayor William Toole commissioned a report on poverty. Also, in 1931, during the Great Depression, then-mayor Roland Denne formed the "Give A Man A Job" campaign.