COUNTY OF SIMCOE
To:
COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE
Section:
Consent - Human Services – Children and Community Services
Item Number:
CCW 15-013
Meeting Date:
February 26, 2015
Subject:
Poverty Reduction Strategy Update and Alignment with Provincial Poverty
Reduction Strategy
Recommendation:
THAT Item CCW 15-013, regarding an update on the local poverty reduction strategy and its alignment
with the Provincial Poverty Reduction Strategy, be received for information.
Executive Summary:
County Council reaffirmed the development of a poverty reduction strategy as a strategic direction within
its 10 year strategic plan on June 24, 2014.
This Item will provide Council with:
- An update of efforts made to date in moving a poverty reduction strategy forward, both internally
within the Corporation and externally in the community;
- An overview of how the local strategy is in alignment with “Realizing Our Potential: Ontario’s Poverty
Reduction Strategy 2014-2019”; and
- An outline of proposed next steps in the implementation of a local poverty reduction strategy.
Background/Analysis/Options:
Moving a Local Poverty Reduction Strategy Forward
A number of internal initiatives have been implemented at the County of Simcoe in support of a local
poverty reduction strategy:
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Poverty Action Committees, both Corporate-wide and within the Social and Community
Services Division have begun meeting to consider ways in which programs and services
offered or funded by the County of Simcoe can work to reduce the impact of poverty.
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Community Capacity Grant ($3,500 annually) provides staff of community service providers
within the homelessness sector, with funding support for professional development activities
(Item CCW 13-001 September 10, 2013).
February 26, 2015
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Equity Grant ($10,000 annually) designed to provide honorariums, access to transportation and
child care funding to support individuals experiencing poverty to participate in poverty reduction
committees, activities and events (Item CCW 13-001 September 10, 2013).
Membership in the Cities Reducing Poverty initiative which provides access to knowledge and
resources from a wide network of other jurisdictions undertaking local poverty reduction
strategies.
Alignment with the Provincial Poverty Reduction Strategy
“Realizing our Potential: Ontario’s Poverty Reduction Strategy 2014-2019” is the Province’s renewed
and refocused poverty reduction strategy. While the first strategy, “Breaking the Cycle 2008-2013”
focused solely on children and youth, this strategy has been expanded to also address the needs of
other vulnerable populations significantly impacted by poverty including: Aboriginal peoples, newcomers,
persons with disabilities, unattached individuals aged 45-64 and lone parents. This new strategy
identifies four key pillars namely:
1) Continue to break the Cycle of Poverty for children and youth;
2) Moving toward Employment and Income Security;
3) Establish a Long-Term Goal to End Homelessness in Ontario; and
4) Use Evidence-Based policy to measure success.
The Province has outlined funding initiatives and activities that it will pursue over the next five years
under each pillar of the strategy. Schedule 1 is a summary of the Provincial Poverty Reduction Strategy.
The sections below are a summary of activities, initiatives and programs undertaken by the County of
Simcoe that align with each of the Province’s identified pillars.
1) Breaking Cycle of Poverty for Children and Youth
The County of Simcoe provides a range of funding to community service providers intended to support
quality child care services for eligible children and families across Simcoe County allowing parents
experiencing economic disadvantage to work or attend school including:
 Child Care Fee Subsidy offsets the cost of licensed child care.
 General Operating Grant supports licensed child care operators with overhead costs
including staff compensation.
The Student Sponsorship Program helps offset tuition costs for eligible part-time Early Childhood
Education (ECE) students working towards a formal ECE designation.
The Best Start Network is a community planning table that works to ensure all children and families in
Simcoe County have access to the services needed to reach their full potential, including access to
basic needs: income, housing, nutrition, education and healthy parent/child relationships. Working in
partnership with the Basic Needs Task Group of the Coalition of Child, Youth and Family Services
(CYFS) and the County of Simcoe, The Best Start Network is raising awareness and encouraging
eligible families to apply for the federally funded Canada Learning Bond which provides investment
funds for Registered Education Savings Plans (RESP) for children of low income Canadians. Locally,
less than 30% of eligible families have received these funds.
The County’s Social and Community Investment Fund (SCIF) supports local organizations to
develop community-based initiatives to address poverty and homelessness. Examples of funded
projects include young parent programs, food security programs, case management and outreach
service for adults and youth at risk of homelessness, and subsidized recreation programs (Item
CCW 14-363 October 14, 2014).
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2) Working Against Poverty: Employment and Income Security
In October 2011, Simcoe County Council approved the submission of a proposal to the Ministry of
Training Colleges and Universities to support the development of a Labour Market Analysis
Partnership Project (LMP). The LMP has developed a multi-functional action plan for the broader
community that examines and analyzes key issues within the local economy, and charts a course to
economic prosperity for the County of Simcoe. A final report from Phase II of this initiative will be
forthcoming to Council.
The Local Immigration Partnership (LIP), Community Settlement Strategy has identified that
newcomers are more likely to be impacted by poverty for a number of reasons including challenges
related to obtaining full-time employment commensurate with their experience. As a result,
“Opportunity” was identified as one of the key themes and focuses on providing access to
information for employers and newcomers about employment and self-employment opportunities.
New online content for employers was developed and added to the Simcoe County Immigration
Portal, to further support newcomers and employers.
3) Long Term Goal: End Homelessness
“Our Community 10 Year Affordable Housing and Homelessness Prevention Strategy” (AHHP)
approved in January 2014 identified five strategic opportunities and key priority activities including:
1. Establishing strong leadership and governance in part through the creation of the Affordable
Housing Advisory Committee (AHAC);
2. Achieve the affordable housing target of 2,685 new affordable housing units by 2024;
3. Protect existing public assets by renovating and improving existing housing stock and
reviewing the impact of the end of operating agreements;
4. Plan for the Public Good by adopting planning, financial and policy tools to support the
development of a range of housing options across the continuum and increasing public
awareness about the need for affordable housing and addressing Not In My Back Yard
(NIMBY) attitudes; and
5. Create an integrated service model for housing and supports by adopting a housing first
approach. This will involve shifting away from emergency, short term solutions toward longer
term supportive housing for those most at risk of experiencing chronic and recurrent
homelessness. The need for improved data on homelessness and housing instability will
need the use of tools like a Homelessness Management Information System. Improved
organization of services in the community through the development of hubs and satellites and
integrated partnerships and collaborations between homeless, health and correction sectors.
Activities already underway to move the AHHP forward include:
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Funding for rent-supplements and housing allowances
Funding for creation of secondary suites
Funding for down payments for eligible homeowners
Funding for urgent repairs and accessibility enhancements
Funding for the creation of new rental units
Partnerships with community service providers to transform the homelessness service sector
into a more integrated and seamless system of care for vulnerable individuals. The
development of community hubs such as the Barrie Pathways Hub, the Midland Guesthouse
and the emerging “Housing Opportunities for Everyone” (HOPE) in Orillia are examples of
how service partners are working together to improve access to services.
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Funding to support a number of homelessness prevention programs delivered by community
service providers such as Emergency Homeless Shelters, Domiciliary Care facilities, and
Housing Resource Centres.
A Housing Retention Program (HRP) designed to prevent the loss of housing by providing
funding for rent and/or mortgage arrears, utility arrears and last month’s rent for low income
individuals, including low income seniors, those earing low income and those in receipt of
Ontario Works (OW)/Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP)..
4) Use Evidence-Based policy to measure success
A number of initiatives have emerged locally that help to provide insight into the relative health and
wellbeing of communities in Simcoe County and will help ensure policy and program decisions are
based on evidence.
VitalSigns® is a community check-up process conducted by local community foundations and has
been a national program since 2006. The reports are typically released every two years and provide
communities with critical information that can help set priorities and identify opportunities for action
and make connections between issues and trends in different areas. In October 2014, 27 community
foundations from coast to coast released reports, and for the first time The Huronia Community
Foundation (HCF) in partnership with United Way Greater Simcoe County (UWGSC) created Simcoe
Muskoka’s first “Vital Signs” report. The report provides local data on issues including employment,
health, housing, immigration, income, learning, safety, transportation and youth which will help to
inform community planning strategies such as the implementation of a local poverty reduction
strategy. To view the report please follow the link provided under the reference list.
The Canadian Index of Wellbeing (CIW) is a national evaluation of wellbeing based on eight domains
and 64 indicators and has been described in previous Council reports (Items HS 11-186 (November
2011) CIW Update; HS 11-128 (August 2011) County of Simcoe Poverty Reduction Activities; HS
12-191 (November 2012) CIW: How Are Canadians Really Doing? 2012 Report). In 2014, the CIW
released an Ontario specific report based on the national study, which coincided with growing
interest in the CIW from Community Foundations of Canada. Vital Signs project teams in
communities such as Guelph, Kingston and Kitchener-Waterloo, partnered with the CIW, to develop
coordinated community report cards based on the strengths of both tools. Since 2013, a number of
Ontario Association of Community Health Centres, including the Centre de santé communautaire
Chigamik Community Health Centre (CHC) in Midland have been working in partnership with CIW
and the Ontario Trillium Foundation to develop a common intake survey for CHC clients based on
the CIW Wellbeing Survey. This project is designed to build local data bases based on CHC clients’
self-assessments of their wellbeing based on the CIW domains. In the past, County of Simcoe staff
participated in a group known as the Resilience Collaborative that sought to adopt a local approach
to CIW information. A local CIW evaluation of wellbeing could support a community poverty
reduction strategy. Staff will monitor renewed efforts to utilize CIW measurements locally, and
participate as appropriate.
Results Based Accountability (RBA) is an evaluation methodology which seeks to answer three
questions: 1) “How much did we do?” (Quantity) 2) “How well did we do it?” (Quality) and 3) “Is
anyone better off?” (Did we make a difference?). Results Based Accountability (RBA) will be used
to ensure that a local poverty reduction strategy and the Affordable Housing and Homelessness
Strategy are built on a solid evaluation framework from the outset. The County hosted Results Based
Accountability(RBA) training in May 2014 and staff from the County of Simcoe as well as health
sector providers, community support services, children and youth mental health services, school
boards and homelessness service providers participated. RBA is well suited to capturing outcomes
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of broad based community impact activities, such as improving secondary school graduation rates,
at both the program level (e.g. after school mentoring program) and population levels (e.g.
secondary school graduation rates in Simcoe County). In the community, RBA has been adopted as
the outcome methodology of choice by the Coalition of Child, Youth and Family Services (CYFS),
the Simcoe County District School Board (SCDSB), and United Way Greater Simcoe County
(UWGSC). Evaluation data from various programs working to reduce/eliminate poverty or the impact
of poverty can be captured and consolidated into a single community report card.
Voices of Poverty (Voices) is an example of community based research gathering evidence to
support local community based planning and policy development. In the summer of 2014, County
staff worked with consultants and a number of community service providers including the Simcoe
Muskoka District Health Unit (SMDHU), UWGSC, SCDSB and the Simcoe County Alliance to End
Homelessness (SCATEH) to undertake the Voices project. Individuals with experience of poverty
were invited to complete a survey, participate in one-on-one peer lead interviews or in small focus
groups across the County. Data from this project will help to identify priority areas for action (e.g.
housing, transportation and food security) and will ensure that those with first-hand experience of
poverty help to inform and evaluate the effectiveness of a local poverty reduction strategy. Some
individuals who participated in the project, indicated they would like to become members of a Lived
Experience Advisory (LEAd) committee which will provide ongoing input and feedback to partners
working on a local poverty reduction strategy. This unique research project has captured interest
from other jurisdictions and County staff will be presenting a session at the First National Summit on
Poverty Reduction in May 2015. A more detailed report on the Voices project will be forthcoming to
Council.
Next Steps
A community engagement event to be held in the fall of 2015, will provide representatives from various
sectors including public, business, not for profit, faith communities and individuals who experience
poverty in Simcoe County, to collectively identify local priorities for action to reduce poverty. County
staff will continue to work with community stakeholders on the development of a formal structure to
support poverty reduction efforts including a LEAd Committee. Staff is also gathering information and
are considering implementing equity impact assessments which borrow from best practices in the health
sector. Equity Impact evaluates the degree to which policies, procedures and programs exclude and/or
negatively impact vulnerable individuals (such as those living in low income, immigrants, and individuals
living with a disability). If adopted, members of both Corporate and Divisional Poverty Action
Committees could undertake a review of County policies, procedures and programs through an equity
lens in order to make recommendations on how to reduce unintended inequities. Additional training in
the application of this kind of assessment will be required.
Financial and Resource Implications:
All activities identified within this Item can be accommodated within the 2015 Operating Budget.
Relationship to Corporate Strategies:
This Item is related to Council’s 2013 Strategic Direction as follows:
Strengthen Social, Health and Educational Opportunities: Establish partnerships to identify opportunities
for strengthening human services and education to support improved health and well-being for our
residents.
Specifically, the Social and Community Services strategic priority:
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Develop a poverty reduction strategy based on the “Bridges out of Poverty” framework.
Reference Documents:
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County of Simcoe Strategic Plan 2014-2014 (http://www.simcoe.ca/Finance/Pages/strategicplan.aspx)
Item HS 11-128 (August 9, 2011) County of Simcoe Poverty Reduction Activities
Item HS 11-186 (November 8, 2011) Canadian Index of Wellbeing Update
Item HS 12-103 (June 12, 2012) Bridges Out of Poverty Training Update
Item HS 12- 191 (November 13, 2012) Canadian Index of Wellbeing: How are Canadians really
doing? 2012 Report
Item CCW 13-001 (September 10, 2013) Poverty Reduction Strategy Update
Item CCW 14-288 (June 24, 2014) 2014 County of Simcoe Strategic Plan and Long Term
Financial Plan
Item CCW 14-016 (January 14 , 2014) 2014 Program and Funding Approaches for Homeless
Shelters and Community Support Services
Item CCW 14-363 (October 14, 2014) Social and Community Investment Fund Allocations for
2015
Realizing Our Potential: Ontario’s Poverty Reduction Strategy 2014-2019
(http://www.ontario.ca/home-and-community/realizing-our-potential-poverty-reduction-strategy2014-2019)
Our Community’s 10 year Affordable Housing and Homelessness Prevention Strategy
(http://www.simcoe.ca/SocialHousing/Pages/ourahhps.aspx)
Vital Signs (http://www.huroniacommunityfoundation.com/wpcontent/uploads/Huronia_Report_2014.pdf)
Local Immigration Partnership Community Settlement Strategy
http://www.simcoe.ca/ChildrenandCommunityServices/Documents/LIP/LIP%20strategy%20settle
ment%20doc_finalV8_oct52012.pdf
County of Simcoe Immigration Portal; new employer on-line content for hiring immigrants
http://immigration.simcoe.ca/hire
Canadian Index of Wellbeing (https://uwaterloo.ca/canadian-index-wellbeing/)
Measuring What Matters: How the Canadian Index of Wellbeing can Improve Quality of Life in
Ontario. A Publication of the Ontario Association of Community Health Centres
(http://aohc.org/sites/default/files/measuring-what-matters-web.pdf)
Attachments:
Schedule 1 – Summary of “Realizing Our Potential: Ontario’s Poverty Reduction Strategy 2014-2019”
Summary Provincial
Poverty Reduction Strategy 2014-2019.pdf
February 26, 2015
Prepared By:
Committee of the Whole CCW 15-013
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Heather Bebb, Manager Social Policy and Planning
Approvals:
Date:
Greg Bishop, Director, Children and Community Services
Terry Talon, General Manager, Social and Community Services
Trevor Wilcox, General Manager, Corporate Performance
Mark Aitken, Chief Administrative Officer
February 12, 2015
February 12, 2015
February 17, 2015
February 18, 2015