Serving the Community since 1954

neighbourhood

Click here to see a presentation about HCF's Growing Roots...Strengthening Neighbourhoods, Tackling Poverty Together and TPT II: Building Strong Communities initiatives.

 

 

 

 

Initiatives

Poverty Reduction Focus

Poverty Reduction Focus

In a city with Hamilton's resources and its tradition of caring, Hamilton Community Foundation believes the city's current poverty rate is unacceptable. As a result, HCF is tackling poverty in a multi-pronged approach:  

Strategy One: Focused Grantmaking

In 2004, after extensive research, HCF became the first Canadian community foundation in Canada to commit the majority of its unrestricted Community Fund granting to poverty. This program, known as Tackling Poverty Together, saw some $3.4 million dedicated to poverty reduction, prevention and alleviation. In December 2007, the second phase: TPT II: Building Strong Communities was launched with a $5 million commitment over five years. This program builds on all our learning from poverty reduction initiatives. It provides a deeper and narrower focus for our work to create change in more sustainable ways.

Strategy Two: Focus on Neighbourhood and Local Leadership Development

In 2002, HCF launched the Growing Roots…Strengthening Neighbourhoods program to develop the ability of local citizens and high-need neighbourhoods to help themselves. Since 2002, over 80 grants have been made to beautify streets, created employment training for immigrant women, after-school programs for children, and scores of other small-scale interventions that vastly improve the quality of life for local residents. As a result, neighbours say they talk to each other more, interact more positively with local schools and with police, feel safer in their streets, and are prouder of their neighbourhoods.

Strategy Three: Community Convening and the Hamilton Roundtable for Poverty Reduction

We are all too conscious that poverty can't be solved by one organization alone. We have brought our convening role to the poverty issue. Together with the City of Hamilton, HCF is convening a roundtable to address the problem of poverty collectively and create a long-term plan. The Hamilton Roundtable for Poverty Reduction (HRPR) now involves dozens of the city's leading organizations and individuals from all sectors: business, education, social services, poverty advocates, people living in poverty, and government. The HRPR's framework for poverty reduction centers on "Making Hamilton the Best Place to Raise a Child." The framework identifies critical points during a child's development and the interconnected supports families need to progress successfully through those stages. It challenges the community to make these foundations for prosperity accessible to every child. Visit the HRPR website.

Evaluation and Learning

A focus of our work is always evaluation. Using outside consultants, we have evaluated our own TPT and neighbourhood programs and are teaching grantees to do the same and report their program outcomes. HRPR outcomes are evaluated from the individual level to the community level. Our approach to evaluation is both outcome-oriented and developmental - meaning that we use evaluation to adjust programs as we go along.

Looking Ahead

Our experience with these three poverty reduction strategies has flagged important directions for the future. These lessons, e.g. the importance of partnership and collaboration, neighbourhood hubs and capacity building at the local level have shaped our current TPT II: Building Strong Community initiative and continue to shape our future plans.

Read more about Hamilton Community Foundation's poverty-reduction initiatives: