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Ending Poverty in Ontario:
Building Capacity and Organizing for Change
A Workshop for Engaging Low Income People

Spring 2008

This manual has been developed by Campaign 2000 and Income Security Advocacy Centre (ISAC) to assist facilitators to hold community-based workshops with low income people and other community members active in ending poverty. The workshop is designed to encourage discussion about what is needed to end poverty in Ontario, and to identify actions that can be taken within your community.

Click here to download the manual.

Introduction

Campaign 2000 and the Income Security Advocacy Centre (ISAC) are working with low income people and key community stakeholders to undertake this community organizing and capacity building project on poverty reduction.

In 2007 the Ontario Government committed to make poverty reduction a priority over its 4-year mandate. Campaign 2000 and the Income Security Advocacy Centre want to ensure that the voices of low income people are heard and reflected in this work. We also want to broaden community support to reduce and end poverty by outreaching to other stakeholders in our communities, such as labour, business, faith groups and health providers. We believe that the wider the range of voices providing input on what is needed to end poverty and tracking government progress on its promise, the more effective our efforts will be.

Campaign 2000 and ISAC will be working with community partners to deliver these workshops in Thunder Bay, Ottawa, Sault Ste. Marie, Owen Sound, Windsor, and Toronto, and will be producing a “Call to Action” report at the end of 2008 for government and the community.

If you deliver this workshop in your community please share your results with ISAC (milned@lao.on.ca) and Campaign 2000 (JacquieMA@fsatoronto.com). This kit includes a report template (see Appendix M).

The desired outcomes of the workshop are:

1. An interactive discussion where participants identify what they feel is needed to reduce poverty in Ontario and what would make their lives better.
2. Participants leave with an understanding of the Ontario Government's plans to develop a poverty reduction strategy, and how this approach has worked to reduce poverty in other provinces and countries;
3. Participants identify possible actions which they can take themselves, within their communities and with advocacy organizations to ensure the voice of low income people is a key part of poverty reduction work in Ontario.