City politicians have approved a working group to begin tackling poverty in the community that comes following a poverty reduction action plan that was brought forward to council this fall.
Finalized at Monday’s council meeting, the new working group is set to begin meeting in January, with Coun. Janet-Lynne Durnford chairing the group that has community members representing housing, youth, food, transportation, and arts and recreation filling out its membership.
With 14 per cent of the population living below the "Market Basket Measure" — a measure of poverty based on the cost of certain necessities — and the highest rate of single-parent households in Simcoe County, the action plan lays out a variety of short-, medium-, and long-term goals across six key areas meant to address the underlying causes of poverty in the city
The goal for the working group, says Durnford, is to begin turning the action plan into real action in the community.
“This group is tasked with reading that report, really understanding it, and then coming up with an actionable plan, so what can we do in the short term, medium term, long term — very much like we have for our affordable housing action plan — and then that will come to budget (for) 2026,” she told OrilliaMatters.
With close to $50,000 in seed funding, and a staff member approved earlier this fall, Durnford said action could start taking place sooner, as well.
“We do have some funds to start putting in place some things in the short term, so we don't necessarily have to wait for budget if it's something that's a quick win and not too expensive,” she said.
While working groups have been put together for various issues in the city, Durnford assured the poverty reduction working group will do just that — get to work on local poverty.
“When the call went out for this working group, it was made really clear that this is a true working group — the words 'roll up your sleeves' were in the press release that went out,” she said. “This group will be tasked with actually actioning the recommendations that are in our very academic report.”
With “hundreds of recommendations” coming forward through the plan, Durnford said the working group will put together action items that could range from continuing subsidies for transit passes or the Orillia Recreation Centre, to implementing financial literacy programs, among many other possibilities.
One recurring discussion has been finding ways to destigmatize poverty in the community, Durnford said.
“Doing a public education campaign that helps people to understand what poverty is, and trying to tackle the stigma associated with poverty, I think that's going to be a priority for this group,” she said.
