Challenging Poverty through Collaborative Action

Challenging Poverty through Collaborative Action November 2014

CONTENTS History... 3 Steps in the Community Animation Process... 3 Results of this Project to Date... 4 Focus Group Findings... 4 Goal and Objectives... 4 Terms of Reference... 5 Work Plan / Logic model... 7 Partnership Engagement... 10 Working Groups Established... 10 Additional Resources Leveraged... 11 Next Steps... 11 Consultants Observations and Recommendations... 11 2

HISTORY In April 2013, the Committee known as Bridges in Huron, and later the Huron Anti-Poverty Initiative, started building the foundation for a community initiative to address poverty in Huron County. Rural Response for Healthy Children, a community-based parent support agency, applied for funding on behalf of the Committee and agreed to administer the funds. The Committee received half of the requested funding from Perth Huron United Way. Matching funds were provided by the County of Huron. The goal of the project was to develop a comprehensive plan for strategic and coordinated response to poverty in Huron County. To this end, the Committee sought and contracted a community developer/researcher to undertake participatory action research and facilitate community engagement to mobilize members, participants and community resources. One of the outcomes is this report that contains a comprehensive action plan, identifies communities and potential participants, and provides clear, future direction. It also includes recommendations for concrete tasks and activities to continue to mobilize community assets, strengths and passions to end poverty in Huron County. STEPS IN THE COMMUNITY ANIMATION PROCESS 1. Relevant documents were gathered and reviewed, including previous work on economic security and related issues in Huron County 2. Focus groups with people with lived experience of poverty: findings were compiled and used to inform subsequent activities, specifically the Committee s terms of reference, mandate and goals. 3. Focus groups with service providers: revealed gaps in participation that were subsequently filled, most notably by social housing staff. 4. Many meetings for committee members to develop an appropriate structure for the committee. Terms, mandates, goals, activities and tasks were identified and formalized and more people were invited to participate. 5. Agreement on a new name: Poverty to Prosperity in Huron (P2PH). The new name reflects the collective wisdom of the group as it clearly names the problem as well as the goal, something which committee members indicated was particularly important for clarity. Minutes from P2PH action group meetings are available upon request. Meetings were as follows: Sept 24, 2013 Service Provider Group Planning and Focus Group Session 1 Sept 24, 2013 Focus group Nov 11, 2013 Service Provider Group Planning Session 2 Jan 23, 2014 Service Provider Group Planning Session 3 Apr 10, 2014 Service Provider Group Planning Session 4 May 7, 2014 Service Provider Group Planning Session 5 3 groups met independently over summer 2014 Sept 9, 2014 Follow up meeting 3

RESULTS OF THIS PROJECT TO DATE FOCUS GROUP FINDINGS There are many opportunities for the Committee to instigate / support community driven efforts that change policy and advocate for people in poverty. Sharing information and working together can be facilitated by new tools and processes that support partnership development and community-wide effort. There is the need for research that explores the true extent of poverty in Huron County, and that addresses the various forms that poverty can take and ways to engage people in poverty and the rest of the community to ensure an accurate sense of the reality of poverty. There is a critical need for all stakeholders, including organizations, individuals, governments, and businesses to find pathways to collaborate on key issues. A specific collaboration that could lead to important outcomes is to address food insecurity by connecting food banks and food-related organizations to the Huron Food Action Network (HFAN) GOAL AND OBJECTIVES Goal: To end poverty in Huron County Objectives: Improve access to services and supports through establishing cross-sectoral collaboration Build support for people living in poverty by fostering commitment among key stakeholders Educate and raise awareness of poverty issues Advocate for policy changes that will reduce poverty in Huron County 4

TERMS OF REFERENCE Poverty to Prosperity in Huron Terms of Reference We Envision: An end to poverty in Huron County A healthy, equitable, just and inclusive community where every person has a sense of belonging We Believe: We Will: Eliminating poverty will create a vibrant and healthy community Cross-sector collaboration will make a difference Effect positive change that has a direct impact on the lives of persons living in poverty Decrease stigma and increase empathy and compassion for persons living in poverty Respect the perspectives of people with lived experience of poverty Purpose of the Group: Poverty to Prosperity in Huron brings people together from across sectors to better the lives of individuals who live in poverty. We are a collaborative and action-based group committed to making a real difference in people s lives. We are unique in being the umbrella group for other networks and organizations that focus on building the capacity of Huron County to end the experience of poverty in Huron County. This collaborative is guided by the following objectives: Foster commitment among key stakeholders to build support for ending poverty Establish cross-sectoral collaboration to improve access to services and supports Educate and build awareness about poverty in Huron County Advocate for policy changes that decrease poverty in Huron County The Perspective of People with Lived Experience of Poverty in Huron County: In the fall of 2013 focused discussions with those with lived experience of poverty and multiple service providers from Huron County identified the following key themes: 1. From the Perspective of People with Lived Experience of Poverty There is not enough money to meet basic needs Tired of being perceived as working the system People are afraid to ask for help Dignity means not having to ask for help 5

2. From the Perspective of Service Providers Transportation challenges people in poverty There is lack of awareness of services and community resources among service providers There is a lack of affordable housing The private sector is not currently engaged in poverty reduction/elimination There are many jobs that do not pay a living wage Many people in Huron County lack income security P2PH Understands that poverty is exacerbated by the following four interconnected factors: 1. Income Insecurity Social assistance rates are too low Employment possibilities are affected by access to education, training Minimum wage is not a livable wage 2. Food Insecurity Food banks are a band aid: they are not empowering and do not change the system. NGOs are picking up the slack of government Listening to food bank users will help identify what could be done Need more collective kitchens, food sharing and companionship. 3. Housing Insecurity Best way is to tackle poverty is to tackle homelessness Need more info re: homelessness prevention programs 4. Physical and Mental Health: What people are born into regarding family/learned behaviour/belonging affects socioeconomic status Physical and Mental Health problems can greatly reduce an individual s options for income, food, and housing security. 6

WORK PLAN / LOGIC MODEL Objective 1: Improve access to services and supports through establishing cross-sectoral collaboration Strategy To formalize collaboration for improved service coordination Educate ourselves about poverty Invite other individuals and organizations to join Bring lived experience to the table Regular meeting dates Facebook engaged Formal anti-poverty coalition established All sectors represented at the table No Wrong Door or similar system established Develop education tools Seek resources (financial & otherwise) Objective 2: Build support for people living in poverty by fostering commitment among key stakeholders Strategy 1 To develop a community engagement strategy Identify stakeholders Engage stakeholders Educate Create strategy with stakeholders Concrete strategy to bring lived experience to the table Community stakeholders see themselves as being part of the solution to poverty Coordinator of supports in place Economic development with local training Strategy 2 To expand opportunities for networking & building a common agenda Develop a communication plan Resources / information / fact sheets distributed Written proposal for funding Community is more committed to creating 7

that uses resources created / factsheets Create basis for funding proposals, and write proposals economic opportunities for low income people Objective 3: To educate and raise awareness of poverty issues Strategy 1 Train and educate each other about the experience of poverty in Huron County Poverty simulation: provide education and awareness within agencies and community on reality of poverty (need to understand in order to advocate) Qualitative measures collected Provide avenue for the collection of lived experiences Better educated agencies (employer groups, small business, etc) Increased access to local education and training opportunities Compile necessary information Collect other stories/testimoni als where appropriate Strategy 2 Educate the public about the prevalence of poverty in Huron County Supply tools and resources for employers on hiring, training, and employing local people Support other agencies in actively addressing poverty in Huron A poverty report card that demonstrates the economic cost of poverty in Huron County Better educated community (individuals, service clubs, etc) Demonstrated community support Create poverty report card Objective 4: To advocate for policy changes that will end poverty in Huron County 8

Strategy 1 Increase our ability to understand and articulate the truths about poverty and its reality in Huron County Develop an evidencebased common understanding of living wage and its benefits Prepare information source for public policy decisions Quantitative measures collected: - Income stats - Ontario Works stats - Food bank visits stats - Housing costs stats Information about poverty available to stakeholders in Huron County in the form of a fact sheet Knowledge of up-to-date poverty metrics in Huron County maintained within group Information on poverty distributed to relevant stakeholders / decision makers Demonstrated ability to provide appropriate information to policy decisionmakers (locally, and provincially as necessary) Strategy 2 Engage economic development agencies and the business sector in lobbying efforts Invite/include BIA, Chamber of Commerce, etc to participate in working group when relevant Established support of agencies willing to join advocacy activities for policy change Development of an economic policy action plan Increased jobs Increased minimum wage Develop an economic policy action plan Strategy 3 Directly inform and lobby government for policy changes and incentives Work with County s housing and homelessness steering committee to help with implementation of lobbying efforts and to develop an affordable housing advocacy plan Established partnership with steering committee An affordable housing advocacy plan in place Increased affordable housing inventory 9

PARTNERSHIP ENGAGEMENT Huron County Health Unit Rural Response for Healthy Children County of Huron Library and Cultural Services Huron County Food Bank Distribution Centre Grand Bend and Area Community Health Centre Centres for Employment and Learning County of Huron Social and Property Services Women s Shelter and Counselling Services of Huron Food Banks of Huron County Municipal Councillors Huron Labour Council Social Research and Planning Council United Way Perth Huron Community Living Salvation Army Family Health Teams Southwest Respite Network Children s Aid Society Huron Perth Family Services Huron Perth Media print, radio, tv Habitat for Humanity Partners in Employment Huron Perth Legal Services Goodwill Huron Perth Supervised Access Contact North Libro Community Credit Union United Church Food and Farm Consultant Choices for Change Safe Homes for Youth Small Business Owner WORKING GROUPS ESTABLISHED As a result of meetings and presentations to P2PH, three working groups have been formed: Huron Poverty Indicators: Utilizes information and tools to generate information about and indicators of poverty in Huron. Goals include the ability to assess the effectiveness of our efforts to reduce poverty and to inform priority decision-making on poverty and related issues. Tasks include an exploration of models in other communities, gathering information about the kind of data that is already collected in Huron County, locating and assessing potential tools, resources and expertise. Information and Resource Coordination: Determines the best methods for ensuring that people living in poverty have unobstructed access to information and services and that service providers are informed about all of the potential supports available to clients and members of the community. Based on the No Wrong Door model, one of the goals is to ensure that people are connected quickly and respectfully to the supports they need. Currently, this working group is exploring a partnership with Ontario211 to ensure that all available supports are accessible. Meeting was held on May 28. Poverty Awareness: Hosting Hungry for Action in Huron, a poverty simulation day that will include participation of service providers, community members, persons with lived experience, with special invitation to members of the business sector and local politicians. The event is modeled after similar initiatives in other locations. There has been much support from the community. Planning meetings for this event began in May and continued until the event on Nov. 4, 2014. 10

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES LEVERAGED Funding and committee member investment in Poverty Simulation Day County of Huron Social and Property Services covered expenses to a maximum of $5,000 (totals not yet available) Huron Information Co-ordination Group committed to update and promote 211 Huron County Health Unit has committed 1.0 FTE Community Developer for poverty and food security work NEXT STEPS Acquire resources for a coordinator Invite representatives from other groups that aren t currently represented including people with lived experience of poverty, local businesses, other non-profits and networks Engage people with lived experience of poverty in Huron County to generate key initiative ideas Identify a Backbone organization to provide secretariat and archiving services : Rural Response for Healthy Children,United Way, Social Services and Health Unit have been leading this work to date Continue with Bi-monthly meetings CONSULTANTS OBSERVATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS Overarching Observations: This work would greatly benefit from a paid co-ordinator at least part time in the short term future, but full time within a year. Strategic Funders are required to support this work; without funding, momentum, partnerships, and actions will all suffer. Funders to consider include: Huron County, Ministry of Housing, Ontario Trillium Foundation, Ministry of Community and Social Services Recommendations: Immediately pursue funding that would support paid personnel to coordinate, administrate, and facilitate P2PH and its activities. Group Membership Observations: 11

It is critically important to have people with lived experience involved from the very beginning: for best results, people with lived experience should be integrated into the decision-making process as a whole. The support of elected officials, and the role of government involvement cannot be underestimated. Ongoing outreach and commitment to engaging and maintaining partnerships in this regard is highly recommended. The private sector is currently underrepresented in the P2PH Committee, and holds considerable potential in terms of ensuring community buy-in, creating motivation to partner across sectors, and increasing the number of perspectives around the table that have the potential to bring creative and innovative approaches. Recommendation: Since this work intersects so many groups, organizations, communities, and level of governments, articulate a specific strategy for engagement / partnership development and review partners / plan for increased reach every year. The Process of Collaboration Observations: Effective collaboration requires significant investment / process at the outset. For this reason, it took this group a number of meetings to begin to process their role and create the pathways to achieve their desired outcomes. Similarly, there had been some interests in meeting before this, and blending the new approach with those who had already invested in this work took specific attention. Once the challenge of continuity that was difficult at the beginning was addressed, the momentum of the group picked up and concrete results were achieved. Recommendation: Develop and document a Common language for consistent communication, to be shared with every stakeholder / partner and to be used in outreach and communications. The Role of Planning and the Need for Action Observations: It is critical to success for stakeholders to see Action in the short term. There is low tolerance for too much planning that does not include timely action. The need for concrete short-term action must be balanced with analysis and reflection. On the ground action needs to be pursued, but also should be analyzed and evaluated to ensure continued success and relevance. Recommendation: Ensure that there are dedicated points for reflection and learning opportunities to move forward. Create an on-line community for communication and storing information, so that all parties involved are able to review their history and troubleshoot barriers according to shared history of the group. Resistance to Structure Observations: Many Committee members already sit on other committees and boards. There seems to be some reluctance to make the Committee an official body, but this is tempered by the need to see cross-sectoral, collaborative results Recommendation: Develop a more formalized structure that all stakeholders can agree on. Revisit the structure and its effectiveness every 6 months to determine if the structure is best at meeting the needs of the groups and the projects that emerge. 12

Evaluation Observations: Currently there is little capacity within the group to effectively evaluate activities and plans Evaluation, and reflection on successes and lessons learned is critical to maintaining relevance and ensuring that the best decisions are made at the most appropriate times. Recommendation: The stated Goal and Objectives are strong, and the strategies related to the stated purpose. Create room for evaluative thinking / learning by specifically revisiting strategies and their effectiveness in pursuing goals and objectives within six months. Develop a 3 to 5 year plan/strategy with designated times for review/assessment. Momentum Observations: There is momentum in the group to pursue the work plan and to see the activities happen in the short term. Maintaining momentum, without dedicated staff to facilitate member involvement and partnership development, could prove to be difficult. Recommendation: Value and support the work that has been done so far, and the initiative of the Action Groups. Determine, with the action groups, what kind of staffing needs there are and how their actions can be best supported into the future. Engage with new partners to prevent burn-out, and have candid conversations about what supports are necessary for continued impact. Decision-making Observations: Although a distinct committee structure has emerged, decision-making on the macro level is hindered by a lack of formalized structure. In a situation where there is shared leadership there needs to be high trust among all involved and they need to be confident with shared leadership. Currently each member is a part of the decision making for all things and this structure will impede progress in the future. In the short-term and long-term, decision-making processes must be clarified to ensure appropriate input and to ensure that a transparent and responsive leadership structure emerges and is supported. Recommendation: Revisit decision-making structures, and fine tune them to ensure buy in from all stakeholders, and to ensure that pathways to decisions are clear to all involved. Action Groups Observations: There is strong dedication within the working groups to pursue their areas of interest. Working groups are action oriented, and their relationship to the whole must continue to be strong, while seeing each working group as being at the beginning of a longer term process Working groups are focusing on initial projects, like raising awareness, measuring the problem, creating a report card, and mapping supports. These are all good starting places to create the essential tools that will be necessary to move forward on the goal/objectives. Recommendation: The learning component of the mandate is critical and must continue to be developed throughout this process with learning sessions and information sharing. Provide time 13

for annual review of Action Groups to include possibility for fine tuning current action groups and adding new Action Groups and new projects. 14