Peterborough Poverty Reduction Network shares progress with provincial cabinet minister!
You will see from the following article that other communities have come together to slay the beast that is poverty. Every bit of work helps (Martell):
The Peterborough Poverty Reduction Network shared how it’s working to try to reduce poverty in the community and what the province should do to help at a meeting Tuesday with Children and Youth Services Minister Laurel Broten.
Volunteers with the group talked about the community hub to offer services out of Prince of Wales Public School, the need for affordable housing, initiatives for food security and how more needs to be done to raise incomes for the working poor.
There were several requests for the province to create a monthly $100 food supplement for people on social assistance to help them afford healthy food.
All hands need to be on deck to reduce poverty, Broten commented.
“It’s still not enough for a person to climb out of poverty.”
Joanne Bazak-Brokking
“When you’re tackling a challenging issue like poverty reduction, which is something that is in all of our communities and we all need to move steps forward, we need to have all the voices at the table and we need to all be doing that work together,” she said.
Broten praised the Peterborough Poverty Reduction Network for advancing the shared goal of reducing poverty.
“One of the things that I have been most impressed about the Poverty Reduction Network here in Peterborough is successful engagement of business leaders, educators, health care providers, representatives from not for profit and community organizations to all work together,” she said.
The Poverty Reduction Network is a community-led initiative that came out of former mayor Paul Ayotte’s Mayor’s Task Force on Poverty Reduction. Ayotte launched the task force after he was sworn into office following the 2006 election.
Local lawyer Stephen Kylie is the chairman of the group. About 30 volunteers with the Poverty Reduction Network attended the meeting with Broten held at the Peterborough Public Library.
Peterborough MPP Jeff Leal and Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock MPP Rick Johnson joined Broten at the meeting.
Peterborough Poverty Reduction Network continues to put forward innovative ideas to address poverty reduction, Leal said.
“I know Laurel Broten, who is the minister of children and youth services in the province of Ontario, has been working very, very hard with our colleagues at Queen’s Park to come up with a variety of approaches to make sure that we can make a difference in an area that needs constant attention,” he said.
Leal pointed out that the Liberal government implemented the Ontario Child Benefit to help reduce poverty and it accelerated the implementation of the assistance during the economic downturn.
Broten listed provincial initiatives such as all-day kindergarten, increases to the minimum wage, the Healthy Smiles dental program for children from low-income families, a student nutrition program that provides nearly 6,000 children with a daily breakfast and a new long-term plan for affordable housing.
A single parent working for minimum wage is able to spend more than $10,000 a year more than in 2003, she said.
The income tax reductions for low-income earners and the minimum wage increases still aren’t adequate, said Joanne Bazak-Brokking, with the network’s working group on income security.
“It’s still not enough for a person to climb out of poverty,” she said, adding the province should create a $100 per adult healthy food supplement.
Broten said she took note of the ideas presented by the network and will push forward some of the ideas the group advanced.
Progress is being made on poverty reduction, she said, acknowledging more work to be done.
Johnson echoed that statement.
“It’s important that people who are struggling get looked after to the best of our abilities,” he said.
This article comes from The Peterborough Examiner
The Groundswell Continues
Peterborough Poverty Reduction Network shares progress with provincial cabinet minister!
You will see from the following article that other communities have come together to slay the beast that is poverty. Every bit of work helps (Martell):
The Peterborough Poverty Reduction Network shared how it’s working to try to reduce poverty in the community and what the province should do to help at a meeting Tuesday with Children and Youth Services Minister Laurel Broten.
Volunteers with the group talked about the community hub to offer services out of Prince of Wales Public School, the need for affordable housing, initiatives for food security and how more needs to be done to raise incomes for the working poor.
There were several requests for the province to create a monthly $100 food supplement for people on social assistance to help them afford healthy food.
All hands need to be on deck to reduce poverty, Broten commented.
“It’s still not enough for a person to climb out of poverty.”
Joanne Bazak-Brokking
“When you’re tackling a challenging issue like poverty reduction, which is something that is in all of our communities and we all need to move steps forward, we need to have all the voices at the table and we need to all be doing that work together,” she said.
Broten praised the Peterborough Poverty Reduction Network for advancing the shared goal of reducing poverty.
“One of the things that I have been most impressed about the Poverty Reduction Network here in Peterborough is successful engagement of business leaders, educators, health care providers, representatives from not for profit and community organizations to all work together,” she said.
The Poverty Reduction Network is a community-led initiative that came out of former mayor Paul Ayotte’s Mayor’s Task Force on Poverty Reduction. Ayotte launched the task force after he was sworn into office following the 2006 election.
Local lawyer Stephen Kylie is the chairman of the group. About 30 volunteers with the Poverty Reduction Network attended the meeting with Broten held at the Peterborough Public Library.
Peterborough MPP Jeff Leal and Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock MPP Rick Johnson joined Broten at the meeting.
Peterborough Poverty Reduction Network continues to put forward innovative ideas to address poverty reduction, Leal said.
“I know Laurel Broten, who is the minister of children and youth services in the province of Ontario, has been working very, very hard with our colleagues at Queen’s Park to come up with a variety of approaches to make sure that we can make a difference in an area that needs constant attention,” he said.
Leal pointed out that the Liberal government implemented the Ontario Child Benefit to help reduce poverty and it accelerated the implementation of the assistance during the economic downturn.
Broten listed provincial initiatives such as all-day kindergarten, increases to the minimum wage, the Healthy Smiles dental program for children from low-income families, a student nutrition program that provides nearly 6,000 children with a daily breakfast and a new long-term plan for affordable housing.
A single parent working for minimum wage is able to spend more than $10,000 a year more than in 2003, she said.
The income tax reductions for low-income earners and the minimum wage increases still aren’t adequate, said Joanne Bazak-Brokking, with the network’s working group on income security.
“It’s still not enough for a person to climb out of poverty,” she said, adding the province should create a $100 per adult healthy food supplement.
Broten said she took note of the ideas presented by the network and will push forward some of the ideas the group advanced.
Progress is being made on poverty reduction, she said, acknowledging more work to be done.
Johnson echoed that statement.
“It’s important that people who are struggling get looked after to the best of our abilities,” he said.
This article comes from The Peterborough Examiner