Category: ESPC Press Releases

(Edmonton) Two youth groups addressing the issue of gay straight alliances in schools and homelessness and poverty are this year’s recipients of the Edmonton Social Planning Council’s (ESPC) Award of Merit for Advocacy of Social Justice.

The City of Edmonton Youth Council and the Youth Action Project on Poverty, John Humphrey Centre for Peace and Human Rights will be honoured during the ESPC’s annual general meeting at 5:30 p.m. May 21 at the Edmonton Public Library, Centennial Room.

This award is presented to honour forward-looking and courageous individuals and groups that in the face of controversy seek social justice for a defined community group or for the whole community.

“The ESPC Board wanted to recognize the advocacy work of youth in Edmonton during our 75th anniversary year, as a way to focus on the future not only our history,” said Erin LaRocque, an ESPC board member and selection committee member.

City of Edmonton Youth Council

The City of Edmonton Youth Council (CEYC) is a civic committee of 16 youth (ages 13 to 23) representing Edmonton youth to city council. CEYC empowers and mobilizes youth on issues through education, skill building and experience in local government. This year CEYC passed a motion against Bill 10 in its initial form, and then took the motion to the Edmonton City Council where it was passed unanimously. Bill 10 would have permitted Alberta school boards to prevent students from forming Gay-Straight Alliances. After advocating for community support, and organizing a public forum, We Are Listening, the Government of Alberta amended the bill consistent with the recommendations of the CEYC motion.

The Youth Council also played a role in creating the documentary film Through My Eyes, a look at the realities of at-risk, homeless youth in Edmonton. Directed by two young and up-and-coming film makers, the film premiered in front of a sold-out audience and has since been seen by thousands online around the world.

Contacts:

Claire Edwards, CEYC Chair     780-722-5583 or cae1@ualberta.ca

Andrew Knack, City Councillor 780-267-1442 or andrew.knack@edmonton.ca

Youth Action Project on Poverty

This project was supported by the John Humphrey Centre for Peace and Human Rights, an Edmonton based non-profit group working to promote peace and human rights through education, events and programs. During the past year, the Centre worked with a number of young people participating in the Youth Action Project on Poverty. Youth spent five months broadening their understanding of poverty in Edmonton through a study tour of various social service agencies, street outreach programs, interviews and community presentations. The participants focused on issues such as justice, security, freedom and dignity, created a series of recommendations, and presented them to the Mayor’s Task Force for the Elimination of Poverty. As a result, city council passed a motion to review bylaws and enforcement that adversely impact people experiencing poverty.

This project was led by two urban Aboriginal youth who have struggled with poverty, criminalization and discrimination. They facilitated sessions, developed project outcomes and became significant role models for other participants. The work of the project will build on these recommendations throughout the coming year.

Contacts:

Stephenie White, youth participant

Maigan van der Giessen, Programs Coordinator, 780- 453-2638 or maigan@jhcentre.org

ESPC is an independent, non-profit, non-partisan social research organization, with registered charitable status with a focus on social research, particularly in the areas of low income and poverty.

For more information:

Susan Morrissey

ESPC Executive Director

(780) 423-2031 x353 or (780) 218-7395 cell

susanm@edmontonsocialplanning.ca

Photos of both award recipients are available upon request.

(Edmonton) Two youth groups addressing the issue of gay straight alliances in schools and homelessness and poverty are this year’s recipients of the Edmonton Social Planning Council’s (ESPC) Award of Merit for Advocacy of Social Justice.

The City of Edmonton Youth Council and the Youth Action Project on Poverty, John Humphrey Centre for Peace and Human Rights will be honoured during the ESPC’s annual general meeting at 5:30 p.m. May 21 at the Edmonton Public Library, Centennial Room.

This award is presented to honour forward-looking and courageous individuals and groups that in the face of controversy seek social justice for a defined community group or for the whole community.

“The ESPC Board wanted to recognize the advocacy work of youth in Edmonton during our 75th anniversary year, as a way to focus on the future not only our history,” said Erin LaRocque, an ESPC board member and selection committee member.

City of Edmonton Youth Council

The City of Edmonton Youth Council (CEYC) is a civic committee of 16 youth (ages 13 to 23) representing Edmonton youth to city council. CEYC empowers and mobilizes youth on issues through education, skill building and experience in local government. This year CEYC passed a motion against Bill 10 in its initial form, and then took the motion to the Edmonton City Council where it was passed unanimously. Bill 10 would have permitted Alberta school boards to prevent students from forming Gay-Straight Alliances. After advocating for community support, and organizing a public forum, We Are Listening, the Government of Alberta amended the bill consistent with the recommendations of the CEYC motion.

The Youth Council also played a role in creating the documentary film Through My Eyes, a look at the realities of at-risk, homeless youth in Edmonton. Directed by two young and up-and-coming film makers, the film premiered in front of a sold-out audience and has since been seen by thousands online around the world.

Contacts:

Claire Edwards, CEYC Chair     780-722-5583 or cae1@ualberta.ca

Andrew Knack, City Councillor 780-267-1442 or andrew.knack@edmonton.ca

Youth Action Project on Poverty

This project was supported by the John Humphrey Centre for Peace and Human Rights, an Edmonton based non-profit group working to promote peace and human rights through education, events and programs. During the past year, the Centre worked with a number of young people participating in the Youth Action Project on Poverty. Youth spent five months broadening their understanding of poverty in Edmonton through a study tour of various social service agencies, street outreach programs, interviews and community presentations. The participants focused on issues such as justice, security, freedom and dignity, created a series of recommendations, and presented them to the Mayor’s Task Force for the Elimination of Poverty. As a result, city council passed a motion to review bylaws and enforcement that adversely impact people experiencing poverty.

This project was led by two urban Aboriginal youth who have struggled with poverty, criminalization and discrimination. They facilitated sessions, developed project outcomes and became significant role models for other participants. The work of the project will build on these recommendations throughout the coming year.

Contacts:

Stephenie White, youth participant

Maigan van der Giessen, Programs Coordinator, 780- 453-2638 or maigan@jhcentre.org

ESPC is an independent, non-profit, non-partisan social research organization, with registered charitable status with a focus on social research, particularly in the areas of low income and poverty.

For more information:

Susan Morrissey

ESPC Executive Director

(780) 423-2031 x353 or (780) 218-7395 cell

susanm@edmontonsocialplanning.ca

Photos of both award recipients are available upon request.

For Immediate Release

(Edmonton) While most Edmontonians have good jobs and adequate incomes, a new report on poverty in Edmonton shows that one in eight Edmontonians live in poverty and one in five children live in a poor family.

A Profile of Poverty in Edmonton, produced by the Edmonton Social Planning Council, gathered the latest federal, provincial and municipal data on income, employment, poverty by family size, housing, homelessness and food bank use.

Some of the report’s findings include:

• Alberta has the highest rate of working poverty of any Canadian province,
• Many Edmontonians work full-time yet earn an income below the poverty line,
• Housing is not affordable for many. Edmonton trails Vancouver, Toronto and Calgary in having the highest average rents,
• Income inequality in Edmonton is growing following national and provincial trends,
• Edmontonians of Aboriginal descent are more likely to experience poverty, for example 43.7 per cent of Aboriginal children between 0 and 5 live in poverty,
• Among ethnic groups, people of African ethnic origin have the highest prevalence of low income, and
• Poverty is nearly twice as prevalent within city boundaries than in surrounding communities.

“Poverty is a complex issue with many stakeholders but some of the steps the City of Edmonton can take to reduce poverty is to implement a low income transit pass, ensure more land is available for affordable housing and implement a living wage for City contracted services,” said Edmonton Social Planning Council Executive Director Susan Morrissey.

“It’s our vision to eliminate poverty in Edmonton within a generation,” said Mayor Don Iveson. “This report is an important step in helping us make informed policy decisions and plan effective programs for our city’s most vulnerable citizens.”

The report, released on the occasion of the ESPC’s 75th anniversary, is the latest in a long tradition of producing reports and recommendations to inform evidence-based public policy decisions. This specific report was produced for End Poverty Edmonton, the Mayor’s Task Force to Eliminate Poverty and describes the overall picture of poverty in Edmonton, how poverty varies across age, gender, households and neighbourhoods, who is impacted most and what are the emerging trends impacting poverty reduction.

ESPC is an independent, non-profit, non-partisan social research organization, with registered charitable status with a focus on social research, particularly in the areas of low income and poverty

New Report Challenges Government to Fulfill Promise to End Child Poverty

Click here: No Change – After 25 years of promises it's time to eliminate child poverty to dlownload the report.

The Edmonton Social Planning Council, the Alberta College of Social Workers and Public Interest Alberta released a new report, “No Change: After 25 years of Promises it is Time to Eliminate Child Poverty” on the 25th anniversary of the all party House of Commons vote to eliminate child poverty by the year 2000.

The report shows that 143,200 children in Alberta lived below the low-income measure (LIM After Tax) in 2012. This represents 16.2% of all children, practically ‘no change’ from 1989 (16.4%). In fact, with Alberta’s population growth, there are 28,670 more children in poverty in Alberta than in 1989.

“The statistics come from federal taxfiler data (Statistics Canada has cut the data source that has been used for years – the SLID) so this provides a much more accurate and detailed picture of poverty in Alberta and Canada,” explains John Kolkman, the main report author and Research Coordinator of the Edmonton Social Planning Council. "The taxfiler data is more accurate because it includes families with a lower socio-economic status who are missed in surveys because of language barriers or not having a phone, and children and youth living on First Nations."

The report shows that despite Alberta’s strong economy, Alberta’s income inequality has increased faster than the national average, with the top 1% of earners seeing real income gains of over 60% since 1982 while the bottom half of income earners only saw a tiny gain of 3.4%.

“With close to 60% of children living in poverty having at least one parent working full time, full year, we need to be considering living wage policies that will assure that people working full time are not living in poverty,” said Bill Moore-Kilgannon, Executive Director of Public Interest Alberta. “By re-establishing a progressive tax system, Alberta could easily afford to invest in the public services that prevent and reduce poverty and in a child tax benefit that that would lift many families out of poverty.”

The report calls on the government to establish a comprehensive poverty reduction strategy that includes increasing investments in many current strategies that are proven to reduce poverty and to make new commitments to policies and services like quality childcare and affordable housing that support families to get out of poverty.

The Alberta government’s plan to eliminate child poverty is long overdue,” says Lori Sigurdson, Manager, Professional Affairs of the Alberta College of Social Workers. “We know how to achieve this. Our report details key policy initiatives that would lift Alberta families out of poverty and reduce much suffering. Sadly, what seems to be missing is the political will to make this a priority.”

The report shows that child poverty is directly related to the systemic issues that create barriers and impact women, immigrants, aboriginal peoples and people with health issues. For example 69% of low wage-workers (less than $16/hour) are women, and women still only make around 60% on average in Alberta of what a man earns.

“We know that when women are poor, the children they care for are also poor,” said Rhoda Mitchell, Social Issues Coordinator at the Women’s Centre of Calgary. “Women living in poverty have identified priority solutions: increase income, increase access to affordable childcare, and strengthen Alberta’s social infrastructure. We believe that ending child poverty lies in ending women’s poverty.”

While the new child poverty numbers now include families on reserve it is not possible to determine from the taxfiler data the exact number of children on first nation’s reserves living in poverty. However, we do know that a significant reason for the very high numbers of children in poverty is related to the systemic discrimination and mistreatment of FNMI peoples that must be addressed in Alberta’s comprehensive poverty strategy.

“Child poverty in the Aboriginal community is a serious issue that negatively affects our future leaders,” said Rachelle Venne, CEO of the Institute for the Advancement of Aboriginal Women. “Collaborative, multi-stakeholder initiatives such as the City of Edmonton's Taskforce on Eliminating Poverty which has a specific engagement process with the Aboriginal community is what is needed for the systemic and long term change that is necessary for the future.”

"I am appalled to know that there are so many hungry and homeless children in our rich province," said Sandra Burgess, with the Child Well-being Initiative. “As a parent and dietitian who spent my career on food issues, I cannot understand why our government and other citizens don’t see that unmet needs of impoverished kids constitute an emergency.”

Media contacts:

At the media conference in Calgary at Hillhust United Church in Calgary at 10:00 AM (1227 Kensington Close NW)

Bill Moore-Kilgannon, Executive Director, Public Interest Alberta (780) 993-3736

At the media conference at Amity House in Edmonton at 10:30 AM (9213 146 Ave)

John Kolkman, Research Coordinator, Edmonton Social Planning Council 587 989-4442

Lori Sigurdson, Professional Affairs Manager, Alberta College of Social Workers (780) 850-219

• 65 will own their own home
• 65 will have graduated from a post-secondary institution
• 34 will rent their home
• 81 will have completed high school
• 12 will live in low income or poverty
• 30 are visible minorities
• 41 did not vote federally
• 34 describe themselves as overweight

• 65 per cent of youth agree with the statement: “I think the people of greater Edmonton area accept different cultures and beliefs.”
• 68 per cent of youth feel it is important to be involved in their community while only seven percent of the general population feel that youth actually are involved in their community.
• 52.9 per cent of youth earn $15/hour or less.
• Youth cite bullying (16.3%) as the biggest concern facing them today while only four per cent of adults think bullying is an issue.

“This is the second Vital Signs® report ECF has produced. In addition to providing a snapshot of the well-being of our community, it brings targeted issues to our attention so we can focus our initiatives,” says Martin Garber-Conrad, CEO, Edmonton Community Foundation.

“The report’s findings are consistent with the findings found in other research work we do,” said Susan Morrissey, ESPC executive director. “While Edmonton is quickly growing and economically prosperous, a portion of our community struggles to find affordable housing, healthcare, education and well-paying jobs.”

Vital Signs Edmonton is one of 28 Vital Signs® reports released Oct. 7 by community foundations across Canada. Vital Signs is an annual community check-up that provides a comprehensive look at how our communities are faring in key quality-of-life areas. National findings are available at www.vitalsignscanada.ca