2. POVERTY REDUCTION STRATEGY FRAMEWORK CADRE DE LA STRATÉGIE DE RÉDUCTION DE LA PAUVRETÉ |
Committee RecommendationS AS AMENDED
That Council:
1. Approve the Poverty Reduction Strategy
Framework and planning process, as described in this report.
2. Appoint one representative of Council to
sit on the Poverty Reduction Strategy Steering Committee and that Councillor G. Bédard be the appointed Councillor.
RECOMMANDATIONS MODIFIÉES DU COMITÉ
Que le Conseil :
1. approuve le cadre de la Stratégie de réduction de la pauvreté et le processus de planification tels qu’ils figurent dans le présent rapport;
2. nomme un représentant du Conseil pour siéger au comité directeur sur la Stratégie de réduction de la pauvreté et que ce représentant soit le conseiller G. Bédard.
Documentation
1.
Deputy
City Manager's report, City Operations dated 1 April 2009
(ACS2009-COS-SOC-0005).
2. Extract of Draft Minutes, 16 April
2009.
Report to/Rapport au:
Community
and Protective Services Committee
Comité des services communautaires et de protection
and Council / et au Conseil
1 April 2009/ le 1 avril 2009
Submitted by/Soumis par:
Steve Kanellakos, Deputy
City Manager/Directeur municipal adjoint,
City Operations/Opérations municipales
Contact
Person/Personne ressource:
Colleen Hendrick, Manager, Policy Service
Integration and Evaluation Division,
Social
Services/ Gestionnaire, Division des politiquest sociales, des partenariats
communautaires et de l’évaluation, Département des services sociaux et communautaires
(613)
580-2424 x24366, colleen.hendrick@ottawa.ca
SUBJECT:
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OBJET :
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That
Community and Protective Services Committee and Council:
1. Approve the Poverty Reduction Strategy Framework and planning process, as described in this report.
2. Appoint one representative of Council to sit on the Poverty Reduction Strategy Steering Committee.
Que le Comité des
services communautaires et de protection et le Conseil municipal prennent
les mesures suivantes :
1. Approuvent le Cadre de la Stratégie de réduction de la pauvreté et le processus de planification tels qu’ils figurent dans le présent rapport;
2. Nomment un représentant du Conseil pour siéger au comité permanent sur la Stratégie de réduction de la pauvreté.
At its meeting of December 10, 2008, Council approved a direction to staff to develop a Poverty Reduction Strategy – in consultation with the community and in concert with the provincial poverty reduction strategy – with the framework report to be presented to Committee by April 2009 and the final strategy to be brought back to Committee and Council in time to influence the 2010 budget.
The Province released the Ontario Poverty Reduction Strategy in November 2008 with a goal of reducing child poverty by 25% in five years. The strategy tasks the federal government to increase its investment in poverty reduction programs and calls on municipalities and communities to bring people together to build on the Provincial strategy through community/municipal projects at the local level.
At the same time, the Council direction was approved during consideration of the Ottawa Poverty Reduction Network report entitled “…and something left over at the end of the month” which recognizes that meaningful poverty reduction has to include not only income but also individuals’ access to housing, medicine, food, education, clothes, and recreation, as well as raising awareness around poverty issues.
Accordingly, the proposed Ottawa Poverty Reduction Strategy Framework builds on efforts to create a community approach to solving local issues, including participation of people living in poverty at the planning table together with community organizations, funders, and other community representatives. The Framework identifies the governance structure, timelines, deliverables and planning model for Phase 1 of Ottawa’s Poverty Reduction Strategy.
The goal of the Poverty Reduction Strategy is to set priorities and to identify key projects or initiatives for the community to work on within this framework
The six key service areas to be explored include: Healthy Lifestyles (healthy birth weights; nutrition; food security; dental care; mental health and addictions services); Education and Learning (childcare; early learning programs; literacy; homework clubs; after school clubs); Participation in Community Life (access to affordable recreation and culture; access to affordable transportation; neighbourhood hubs); Public Education (raise public awareness about poverty and the impact on children, individuals and families; the opportunity cost of poverty to the community); Income and Employment (remove barriers to employment; training, employment programs and job retention; advocacy for adequate incomes); and, Affordable Housing and Housing Supports (prevent and end homelessness; access to affordable housing; enhanced supports to housing).
The Phase I report will be brought to Committee and Council in the fall of 2009 to help inform the 2010 budget. Phase II of the Poverty Reduction Strategy will develop detailed implementation plans and monitoring and reporting mechanisms for initiatives identified in Phase I. Work on Phase II of the Strategy will commence in 2010.
Details of the Poverty Reduction Strategy Framework are provided in the following report.
À l’occasion de sa réunion du 10 décembre 2008,
le Conseil a approuvé une directive à l’intention du personnel. En
consultation avec la collectivité, ce dernier devait élaborer une stratégie de
réduction de la pauvreté s’inscrivant dans le prolongement de la Stratégie
ontarienne de réduction de la pauvreté. Il devait présenter un rapport sur le
Cadre de la Stratégie au Comité avant avril 2009, puis remettre la
version définitive de la Stratégie aux membres du Comité et du Conseil à temps
pour qu’ils en tiennent compte dans le budget de 2010.
La province a publié la Stratégie ontarienne de
réduction de la pauvreté en novembre 2008, dont l’objectif est de réduire
la pauvreté des enfants de 25 % en cinq ans. Dans le cadre de la
Stratégie, on demandait au gouvernement fédéral d’investir davantage dans les
programmes de réduction de la pauvreté, et aux municipalités et collectivités
d’inciter la population à mettre à profit la Stratégie pour organiser des
projets communautaires ou municipaux à l’échelle locale.
La directive du Conseil a été approuvée pendant
l’examen du rapport du Ottawa Poverty Reduction Network intitulé « […] and
something left over at the end of the month », qui reconnaît que pour
réduire la pauvreté, il faut non seulement augmenter les salaires, mais également
faciliter l’accès au logement, aux soins de santé, à la nourriture, à
l’éducation, aux vêtements et aux loisirs, et mettre la pauvreté à l’ordre du
jour.
Ainsi, le Cadre de la Stratégie de réduction de
la pauvreté proposé prend appui sur les efforts visant à créer une approche
communautaire à la résolution de problèmes locaux, notamment en invitant les
gens défavorisés à se joindre aux organismes communautaires, aux bailleurs de
fonds et à d’autres représentants communautaires pour planifier le projet. Le Cadre
comprend la structure de gouvernance, le calendrier, les produits à livrer et
le modèle de planification de la première phase de la Stratégie de réduction de
la pauvreté d’Ottawa.
La Stratégie de réduction de la pauvreté vise à
fixer les priorités et à repérer les principaux projets ou initiatives qui
peuvent être mis de l’avant par la collectivité à l’intérieur du Cadre.
Au nombre des
aspects qui seront abordés figurent les suivants : habitudes de vie
saines (poids santé à la naissance, nutrition, sécurité alimentaire, soins
dentaires, services concernant la santé mentale et la toxicomanie); éducation
et apprentissage (garde d’enfants, programmes d’apprentissage des jeunes
enfants, alphabétisme, clubs de devoirs, clubs parascolaires; participation
à la vie communautaire (loisirs
et activités culturelles abordables, transport en commun abordable, centres
communautaires); information du public (sensibiliser le public au sujet de la pauvreté et de ses
répercussions sur les enfants, les gens en général et les familles, et
l’informer du coût de renonciation de la pauvreté pour la collectivité); revenu
et emploi (élimination des
obstacles à l’emploi, formation, programmes d’emploi, maintien de
l’emploi, lutte pour un salaire acceptable); logement abordable et aide au
logement (prévention et résolution de la
question des sans‑abri, accès à des logements abordables, aide au
logement).
Le rapport sur la première phase sera présenté
aux membres du Comité et du Conseil à l’automne 2009, en vue du budget
de 2010. La deuxième phase comprendra l’élaboration de plans détaillés de
mise en œuvre ainsi que des mécanismes de surveillance et de reddition de
compte pour les initiatives de la première phase. Les activités de la deuxième
phase débuteront en 2010.
Le présent rapport expose en détail le Cadre
sur la Stratégie de réduction de la pauvreté.
In November 2008, the Province of Ontario released the Ontario Poverty Reduction Strategy. The provincial strategy commits to reducing child poverty by 25% in five years, thereby removing 90,000 children from poverty. The aim of the strategy is to “break the cycle” of poverty. The provincial government states: “It is about believing in the potential of people living in poverty. Children should have the opportunity to succeed in life. Families facing challenges deserve the chance to get ahead.” www.ontario.ca/breakingthecycle
Some of the proposed new investments highlighted in the plan include the following:
The Poverty Reduction Act, 2009 received first reading in the Ontario legislature on February 25, 2009.
Success of the Provincial Strategy will be measured by results. The province is developing indicators to track school success (e.g. readiness to learn at age 6, standard test scores, graduation rates), healthy birth rates, housing-related indicators etc.
The strategy calls on the federal government to increase its investment in programs such as the Working Income Tax Benefit and the National Child Benefit, and it calls on municipalities and communities to bring people together to build on the Provincial strategy through community/municipal projects at the local level.
Over the past year, planning tables focused on poverty reduction have emerged in Kingston, Peterborough, and Windsor while many other communities are also exploring how they will organize a response. The City of Hamilton has released a report on their experience in establishing a comprehensive, collaborative Roundtable for Poverty Reduction in their community that was reviewed in the preparation of this report.
Ottawa Poverty Reduction Network
The Ottawa Poverty Reduction Network is a group of community organizations and anti-poverty advocates that organized a community forum on June 25, 2008 and prepared a report, entitled …something left over at the end of the month, for the Ontario Cabinet Committee on Poverty Reduction. As well, the Poverty Reduction Network brought their report to the Community and Protective Services Committee and Council in the fall of 2008.
On December 10, 2008, Council approved as amended the recommendations in Community Poverty Reduction Strategy ACS2008-CCS-CPS-0039:
The call for an Ottawa Poverty Reduction Strategy has its genesis not only in the Provincial Strategy but also in the “bottom-up” grassroots work of the local community. In the past ten years, Ottawa has seen increasing participation of low-income individuals influencing policy at the municipal and provincial level. For example, in 1998, the Task Force on Poverty brought together people living on low-income and municipal staff, with support from community developers based in Community Health and Resource Centres (CHRC’s), to address poverty issues, with many positive results, including increased access to bus passes for people on social assistance looking for employment The Task Force also proposed the idea of an ongoing committee to advise City Council on poverty issues. This led to the formation of the Poverty Issues Advisory Committee (PIAC) as part of the post-amalgamation municipal governance structure.
In 2004, PIAC developed a report called Basic Needs ACS2004-CCV-POI-0003 in response to the increasing level of hardship experienced by low-income people. The report identifies the basic components required to permit people to live with dignity, to have a sense of personal safety and income adequacy, to participate and feel included in civic life, and to maintain a healthy, active lifestyle.
In 2008, the Poverty Reduction Strategy Network came together to support the participation of low-income individuals in the development of Ontario’s Poverty Reduction Strategy. In addition to organizing the June 25th community forum to ensure that many voices were heard, the Poverty Reduction Strategy Network drew on the work of PIAC, including the Basic Needs report and the report from the Peoples’ Hearings II (April 2005) as well as the Rethinking Poverty Forum report (2007), to inform their recommendations. …something left over at the end of the month recognizes that meaningful poverty reduction has to include not only income but also individuals’ access to housing, medicine, food, education, clothes, and recreation. It also recognizes the need for citizen engagement and the need to raise public awareness about poverty issues through public education efforts.
There has been a wide range of successful collaborative efforts in Ottawa where the community has come together to address local needs and effect local change. Participants at various times have included community organizations, universities, the education and business sectors, and funders, including the City, the United Way, the Community Foundation, and the Province of Ontario. These include, among others, the following initiatives:
The Community Development (CD) initiative brings together funders, community organizations, residents, researchers and city services to share information and leverage opportunities to support 4 targeted neighbourhood-based initiatives to the benefit of the City as a whole. The 4 targeted neighbourhoods are Bayshore, Carlington, Overbrook-McArthur, and West Centretown. The Community Development Roundtable has CD oversight responsibility. The Roundtable, and the community, municipal, resource and knowledge-transfer tables, comprise a structure to support the initiative.
The Ottawa Poverty Reduction Strategy will work collaboratively with the Community Development initiative while maintaining a broad focus that looks at poverty issues on a city-wide basis. The Strategy will focus on a few key projects. Throughout the planning and implementation stages of the Strategy, elements of the CD structure will be drawn where appropriate, for example as a tool to enhance public consultation on the Poverty Reduction strategy, or as a vehicle and resource for public education around poverty issues. Other opportunities for cooperation may also arise such as coordination of a pilot project or the application of learnings from the micro-neighbourhood projects to city-wide policy and program improvements.
More specific, concrete details on how the Poverty Reduction Strategy and Community Development will work together will be provided in the Phase 1 Report of the Poverty Reduction Strategy (fall 2009).
Poverty
Reduction Strategy Framework
Ottawa’s Poverty Reduction Strategy Framework builds on efforts to create a community approach to solving local issues, including participation of people living in poverty at the planning table together with community organizations, funders, and other community representatives. The Framework identifies the governance structure, timelines, deliverables and planning model for Phase 1 of Ottawa’s Poverty Reduction Strategy.
The planning model (Document 1) is the conceptual component of the framework intended to guide the development of a focused Poverty Reduction Strategy. It draws on the work of PIAC and the Poverty Reduction Network to define potential service areas for poverty reduction that may include housing, employment, public education about poverty issues and/or other key components required to permit people to live with dignity and to feel included in civic life.
The goal of the Poverty Reduction Strategy is to set priorities and to identify a few key projects or initiatives for the community to work on. The Gender/Equity Lens, developed by the City of All Women Initiative, and integrated as a planning tool at the City, will be used throughout the work of the development of the strategy. An inventory of programs and services the City provides related to poverty reduction will be developed.
Ottawa has a history of the community coming together around such targeted, local, collaborative projects, for example the Housing Loss Prevention Network, a preventative project targeted to individuals and families at risk of loss of housing to “catch” people further upstream. The community also has a history of coming together to help effect program improvements by advocating for policy changes at the municipal, provincial, and federal level.
To develop a
framework to guide the development of Ottawa’s Poverty Reduction Strategy,
Departmental staff:
Steering Committee
Mandate
The Steering Committee will:
Membership
Colleen Hendrick, City Operations, Social Services Branch, will chair the Steering Committee. Members of the Steering Committee (Phase 1) will include invited representatives from the Community Foundation, United Way, Coalition of Community Health and Resource Centres, Poverty Issues Advisory Committee (PIAC), Poverty Reduction Strategy Network, Business Sector, Education Sector, Immigrant and Aboriginal communities, the Ministry of Community and Social Services, staff representatives from Social Services, including Employment and Financial Assistance, Children’s Services and Housing, and a representative from City Council. Both anglophone and francophone members will be included on the Committee.
The Steering Committee (Phase 1) will meet four times, once each in May, June, September and October 2009. Each meeting will be organized around a specific, defined discussion with appropriate documents provided in advance.
Public consultation will be sought on the draft strategy in September 2009. A cross-section of the City’s Advisory Committees will be consulted in the development of the Strategy.
The Phase 1 report will be submitted to Committee and Council in October, 2009.
Poverty
Reduction Strategy – Staff Working Team
Mandate
The Working Team will undertake the work of the initiative including development of the planning framework, production of documents and a targeted public consultation.
Resources
The Working Team will consist of internal staff resources. To create an integrated, cross-branch approach, additional resources to support the working team will be consulted to provide expertise as required, including representatives from Public Health; Recreation and Community Services, including staff with expertise in community funding and recreation fee subsidy; and Social Services, including staff with expertise in child care, social assistance, employment and social housing; as well as staff representatives from community development, community funding and neighbourhood planning.
Roles and Responsibilities
The Chair of the Steering Committee, Colleen Hendrick, will act as the facilitator and final authority for the disposition of items. The Chair ensures that meetings run according to schedule and that items considered by the Steering Committee have a clearly defined decision or output.
Project Coordinator
The Project Coordinator will be responsible for organizing the meetings and managing the agenda and timeliness of the deliverables being submitted to the Steering Committee by the Working Team. The Project Coordinator will also manage the record of discussions emanating from the Steering Committee meetings.
The Steering Committee will
operate on a consensus model wherever possible, meaning that while each
Committee member might not have made the exact same decision in question, each
Committee member can support the decision.
The Framework Model identifies children and families as a target group in concert with the provincial strategy, but expands the focus to include individuals and households without children, especially with regards to, though not limited to, the service areas of housing and employment.
·
Six key service areas will be the focus of the
strategy.
The six proposed key service areas to be explored, and examples of services within each key area, include:
Healthy Lifestyles: healthy birth weights; nutrition; food security; dental care; mental health and addictions services.
Education and Learning: childcare; early learning programs; literacy; homework clubs; after school clubs.
Participation in Community Life: access to affordable recreation and culture; access to affordable transportation; neighbourhood hubs.
Public Education: raising public awareness about poverty and the impact on children, individuals and families; the opportunity cost of poverty to the community; information and communication; citizen engagement and participation.
Income and Employment: remove barriers to employment; training, employment programs and job retention; advocacy for adequate incomes.
Affordable Housing and Housing Supports: prevent and end homelessness; access to affordable housing; enhanced supports to housing.
A number of questions will be explored within each key service area, including:
Outcome: Priority setting and identification of a few key projects such as improvement to an existing community program, development of a pilot project, public education efforts or advocacy for policy changes to municipal, provincial and federal programs. Inventory of City programs and services related to poverty reduction.
Ottawa’s
Poverty Reduction Strategy
Ottawa Poverty Reduction Strategy (Phase 1) will contain an overall vision, key directions and specific strategies to reduce poverty in Ottawa over the next five years. The Phase I report will be brought to Committee and Council in the fall of 2009 to help inform the 2010 budget.
Phase II of the Poverty Reduction Strategy will develop detailed implementation plans and monitoring and reporting mechanisms for initiatives identified in Phase I. Work on Phase II of the Strategy will commence in 2010.
Poverty Reduction Strategy Framework Report – April 16, 2009
Steering Committee development – April/May 2009
Phase 1 Steering Committee meeting schedule – May, June, September, October 2009
Phase 1 Public Consultation – September 2009
Poverty Reduction Strategy Phase 1 Final Report - October 21, 2009
Staff met with some members of the Poverty Reduction Network to receive preliminary feedback and will share information with PIAC and the Health and Social Services Advisory Committee (HSSAC) at meetings scheduled for March 24th (HSSAC) and April 14th (PIAC).
Allocations of funding under the Ontario Poverty
Reduction Strategy and the City’s Poverty Reduction Strategy for community
projects identified in each strategy will require agreements to be entered into
between the City and the funding recipient to ensure that program requirements
are satisfied. All funding agreements
must include the appropriate reporting, audit, insurance and indemnification
provisions as recommended by Legal Counsel, City Clerk and Solicitor Branch.
There are no legal/risk management impediments to implementing any of the recommendations in this report.
There are no financial implications with approval of the recommendations contained in this report.
Document 1 - Community Poverty Reduction Framework
Social Services will action any direction received as part of consideration of this report.
Ottawa Poverty Reduction Strategy-
Priorities and Key Projects PIAC Basic Needs ·
Prevent and end homelessness ·
Access to affordable housing ·
Enhanced supports to housing Affordable
Housing and Housing Supports ·
Remove barriers to employment ·
Training, employment programs and job retention ·
Advocacy for adequate income Income and Employment
POVERTY
REDUCTION STRATEGY FRAMEWORK
CADRE DE
LA STRATÉGIE DE RÉDUCTION DE LA PAUVRETÉ
ACS2009-COS-SOC-0005 CITY WIDE / À L'ÉCHELLE DE LA VILLE
Colleen Hendrick, Manager, Policy
Evaluation and Community Partnerships introduced Colleen Pellatt, Senior
Strategic Planner who will assist her in the presentation. She stated that the report that will present
two very specific recommendations one being the framework and the other
appointing a Councillor to sit on the Steering Committee.
She began by saying that in December
2008, the Province of Ontario announced a very strategic and key poverty
reduction strategy that they were committed to. That strategy will look at an additional $300 million of funding
for a number of initiatives but gearing towards child poverty. In December 2008 City of Ottawa Council passed
a directive to staff to develop a strategy to influence the 2010 budget
deliberations. Ms. Hendrick gave a
PowerPoint presentation, which is kept, on file with the City Clerk’s office.
The Committee heard from the
following three delegations:
Ms. Linda Lalonde, Ottawa Poverty
Reduction Network,
stated that this report was born out of her group’s report of April 2008.
She had the pleasure of meeting with
Colleen Hendrick recently who briefed them on the report and they were able to
ask questions at that time. Ottawa
Poverty Reduction Network endorses the report wholeheartedly. They are pleased to see it very inclusive
rather than just child poverty and very community based. They were very impressed with the quality of
the report.
Councillor Legendre, Chair, Crime
Prevention Ottawa,
commented that Crime Prevention Ottawa encourages the Committee to go forward
with the recommendations of this report.
They stand ready to participate in any way that is felt to be
appropriate.
Mr. John Courtneidge, Canada Without
Poverty, stated he
was in his fourth week in his new position with this organization that used to
be called the National Anti-Poverty Organization. He stated that his organization stands ready to assist in the
work of the Committee and of Council.
Moved by R. Chiarelli
That Councillor G.
Bédard be appointed to the Steering Committee.
CARRIED
That Community and Protective
Services Committee and Council:
1. Approve the Poverty Reduction Strategy
Framework and planning process, as described in this report.
2. Appoint one representative of Council to
sit on the Poverty Reduction Strategy Steering Committee and that Councillor G. Bédard be the appointed Councillor.
CARRIED
as amended
[1] Sources: Ottawa’s Vital Signs 2008, Community Foundation of Ottawa;
Social Services Branch statistics.