Paula Simons, Edmonton Journal
June 1, 2016
(This column was adapted from speech I gave last month to the Edmonton Social Planning Council. My thanks to them for the inspiration, and the video.)
And so we begin to say a gradual goodbye to our visitors from Fort McMurray.
As evacuees slowly return to their city and dig into the long, slow messy work of rebuilding, we in Edmonton may feel a legitimate pride.
In a crisis, our community reacted with breathtaking speed and generosity to provide for almost 90,000 displaced people. It was a tribute to the people and institutions of Edmonton, and especially to our not-for-profit sector, as social agencies, large and small, jumped in to action. It was a tribute, too, to the thousands of people who donated their time, their money, their goods, their homes, to the victims of the fire.
We pulled together with incredible spirit, mad creativity, and commendable organizational skill.
The state of emergency brought out the best in us.
ESPC's 2015 Annual Report contains information on our activities from 2015. Download it today to read up on our board, our new strategic framework, 2015 in review, our plans for the future, and much more!
As our outgoing president Anne Stevenson so elegantly writes, "One thing has stayed constant. Over the past year, the Edmonton Social Planning Council has continued to undertake rigorous research to analyze key trends influencing change in our community and formulate evidenced-based solutions to address the challenges we collectively face. As you will see in the following pages, 2015 was another busy and successful year for our organization."
Executive Director Susan Morrissey adds, "2015 saw staff continuing the course with our work on poverty issues. We analyzed the data and wrote the report, Tracking the Trends 13th Edition, prepared and disseminated the first ever Edmonton Poverty Profile, which was used by the End Poverty Edmonton Task Force (www.endpovertyedmonton.ca) to establish benchmarks, and ;calculated and established a living wage for Edmonton. As part of both the Research Roundtable and the Income Security Working group of the End Poverty Edmonton Task Force, staff were able to contribute to the important work to end poverty in Edmonton in a generation.
ESPC’s 2015 Annual Report contains information on our activities from 2015. Download it today to read up on our board, our new strategic framework, 2015 in review, our plans for the future, and much more!
As our outgoing president Anne Stevenson so elegantly writes, “One thing has stayed constant. Over the past year, the Edmonton Social Planning Council has continued to undertake rigorous research to analyze key trends influencing change in our community and formulate evidenced-based solutions to address the challenges we collectively face. As you will see in the following pages, 2015 was another busy and successful year for our organization.”
ESPC Documents/GOVERNANCE/A.02.B Annual Report/2015 Annual Report-Web.pdf
In September 2015, the EndPovertyEdmonton Task Force released its Strategy with a bold goal of ending poverty within a generation. [The] Strategy was robustly tested with thousands of Edmontonians who told us our community is more than ready to join us in the epic work to end poverty in a generation.
What defines Edmonton’s approach to ending poverty? We believe that ending poverty is not a business, but a calling. This sacred work speaks directly to our human rights lens and our Treaty roots that are central to the actions in this Road Map. This five year Road Map reflects our best thinking about our first steps and our initial priorities for action. As a community plan, it highlights the direction ahead.
Edmonton Social Planning Council is listed as a potential partner for Action #15, "Actively encourage local employers in all sectors to learn about and implement living wage policies."
The report lists us as one of their leverage partners, and we're proud to help them as they "build on strong research and evaluation partnerships … [creating] a robust evaluation and measurement framework."
Click here to download the 2016 End Poverty in a Generation: A Road Map to Guide Our Journey.
In September 2015, the EndPovertyEdmonton Task Force released its Strategy with a bold goal of ending poverty within
a generation. [The] Strategy was robustly tested with thousands of Edmontonians who told us our community is more than ready to join us in the epic work to end poverty in a generation.
What defines Edmonton’s approach to ending poverty? We believe that ending poverty is not a business, but a calling. This sacred work speaks directly to our human rights lens and our Treaty roots that are central to the actions in this Road Map. This five year Road Map reflects our best thinking about our first steps and our initial priorities for action. As a community plan, it highlights the direction ahead.
Edmonton Social Planning Council is listed as a potential partner for Action #15, “Actively encourage local employers in all sectors to learn about and implement living wage policies.”
The report lists us as one of their leverage partners, and we’re proud to help them as they “build on strong research and evaluation partnerships … [creating] a robust evaluation and measurement framework.”
C. LEVELS OF GOVERNMENT/C03 EDMONTON/EndPovertyInAGeneration_2016.PDF