One Hundred Cities. One Goal. Reduce Poverty.

1. One Hundred Cities. One Goal. Reduce Poverty.

2. Why Vibrant Communities?

3. The Impetus

4. History of Vibrant Communities

5. What are the elements of Vibrant Communities?

6. Vibrant Communities An experiment designed to test a specific way to address the complex realities of poverty through local level action. Theory of Change: Guided by 5 principles & assisted by extra supports provided by national sponsors – local organizations and leaders could revitalize poverty reduction efforts in their communities and generate significantly improved outcomes.

7. The Complex Nature of Poverty “Poverty is a complex issue. There is no single cause and no one solution. Its successful reduction, and ideally its eradication, require a set of linked interventions undertaken by all orders of government working in collaboration with communities.” Poverty Policy Sherri Torjman, Caledon Institute of Social Policy October 2008

8. Vibrant Communities Partners • Business • Expertise, credibility and voice, connections, funding and other resources, leadership • Government • Expertise, connections to elected officials, funding and other resources, policy change, leadership • Nonprofit Organizations • Expertise, experience on the ground, service delivery, ability to ramp up change efforts • Citizens with Lived Experience • Expertise about the issues, practical and relevant solution, leadership, connections to other citizens

9. Part One – Exploring Principles The Communities

10. What is the Impact? • Increased Community Engagement • Enhanced Community Innovation • Policy and Systems Change • Decreased Poverty

11. Inner resources • Self-awareness • Self-esteem and self-confidence • Hope and motivation • Basic material goods and services • Emergency supports • Food • Housing • Transportation • Dependent care Personal Assets Physical Assets • Income, Savings and Sources of Financial Security • Employment income • Non-employment income • Savings and financial assets • Reduced debt/costs • Relationships • and Networks • Civic participation • Support networks Financial Assets Social Assets Human Assets • Skills, knowledge, education & health • Health • Life skills • Financial literacy • Education • Employment Skills Sustainable Livelihoods Approach – Assets Pentagon

13. What have we learned?

14. Using a comprehensive, multi-sectorapproach communities can … • Raise the profile of poverty. • Build a constituency for change. • Encourage collaborative ways of working. • Begin to shift systems underlying poverty. • Generate changes for a large number of people living in poverty.

15. VC Success Factors • Influential and credible convener(s) • Cross-sector, connected leadership table • Challenging community aspiration • Clearly articulated purpose and approach • High degree of resident mobilization • Research which informs the work

16. Collective Impact • Common agenda • Shared measurement systems • Mutually reinforcing activities • Continuous communication • Backbone support organization • John Kania and Mark Kramer, Winter 2011

17. Cities Reducing Poverty – 6 Case Studies • Get both a bird’s eye and worm’s eye view • Learn to navigate the local context • Learn by doing • Make both vertical and horizontal connections • Be persistent and have appropriate expectations Cities Reducing Poverty Tamarack, October 2011.

18. Comprehensive Strategies

19. Now…What’s Next?

20. The Landscape has Changed • Municipally: 84 collaborative poverty reduction roundtables have connected to Vibrant Communities • Provincially: 11 provinces and territories have or are developing poverty reduction strategies • Federally: A new all-party Roundtable has been formed to focus on poverty, the Government of Canada – HUMA committee, Senate Roundtable on Cities and Federation of Canadian Municipalities have identified poverty as a critical issue

21. Our Aspiration: Imagine…100 cities reducing poverty TOGETHER

22. Vision: To create Vibrant Communities by significantly reducing the human, social and economic costs of poverty for Canadian cities. Mission: We will create a connected learning community of 100 Canadian cities with multi-sector roundtables addressing poverty reduction. Goal: We envision aligned poverty reduction strategies in cities, provinces and the federal government resulting in reduced poverty for 1 million Canadians.

23. Cities Reducing Poverty – Learning Community Priority Actions: Learning Community Development City Charter and Business Case Aligned Policy Agenda Poverty Summit Common Evaluation Framework

24. Want to Learn More?Email now learnmore@tamarackcommunity.ca Get an auto reply with four ways to stay involved and easy to sign up links.

25. Canada’s Top Learning Opportunity for Collaborative Leadership

26. Join our Learning Community www.vibrantcanada.ca Learn together through: • Blogs and Discussion Groups • A library full of useful resources • Subscribe to Engage! e-magazine

27. How much more information do we need to know that a hungry child will not do well in school? Stop admiring the problem and get on with the work. Mark Chamberlain CEO, Trivaris

28. Questions?