Cathedral High School students worked together to grow geraniums, which were then donated for neighbourhood beautification projects funded by HCF small grants.

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The Poverty Project

By Bill Dunphy - Published in the June 24, 2006 edition of The Hamilton Spectator

A high-powered group of civic leaders is calling on the city to commit to making Hamilton "the best place to raise a child."

That seemingly simple aspiration is the centrepiece of an ambitious, four-year anti-poverty plan crafted by the Hamilton Roundtable for Poverty Reduction after a year of research and consultation. It was unveiled yesterday before 200 representatives from the business, education, social services and volunteer sectors as well as people living in poverty, social activists and members of all three levels of government.

"Can you imagine? Can you imagine a city that's committed to being the best place to raise a child? Can you imagine what that would be like? I think that's a compelling vision," Mark Chamberlain, former CEO of Wescam and chair of the Roundtable, said as the session wound down.

"I am going to ask one question," Chamberlain said, eyeing the crowd. "Are you committed to making Hamilton the best place to raise a child?"

After four hours of workshops and some, at times, heated discussion and disagreement, the crowd responded almost as one with loud applause.

If members of the Roundtable have it right, that moment may mark a turning point in Hamilton's history. That's because broad support and widespread agreement are absolutely critical if it is to convince everyone to begin focusing funding, programs and actions to achieve that child-centered aspiration.

That support is also critical if new, cross-sectoral solutions are to be found and the Roundtable clearly believes new ways of working must be found.

"If we still keep doing things the way we've been doing them, then we'll fail," outgoing Roundtable director Paul Johnson said.

"The old ways aren't working."

Those "old ways" have tended to be program-specific thinking that discourages collaboration between different sectors. The Roundtable believes that change will come when the whole community agrees on a common aspiration and everyone is inspired to find ways to work toward that overarching goal. Hence "Making Hamilton the best place to raise a child."

The link between investing in childhood development and battling poverty may not seem obvious, but the Roundtable's report argues it is.

"Research and best practices show us that individual children thrive when the community provides the supports they and their families need, such as quality education and childcare, affordable housing, transportation, secure income, recreation and opportunities to participate in civic life."

Early intervention pays off, the report argues.

"More and more research tells us that a child's first years set his or her trajectory for life ... over time, children in high quality early learning and child-care programs demonstrate higher academic achievement, fewer grade repetitions and a lower drop-out rate."

Researchers have long demonstrated a strong link between years of schooling and lifetime earnings -- a good education is one of the most direct ways of lifting individuals out of poverty.

During the workshops, Roundtable members pointed out repeatedly that focusing on children didn't mean ignoring the other problems caused by poverty.

If issues like food security, affordable housing, access to work and a living wage etc. aren't addressed, Johnson said, "we'll fall short of our goal."

Focusing on "making Hamilton the best place to raise a child" will "shift us from alleviation to poverty prevention" Johnson said.

"This aspiration is one that everyone can share whether or not they have children -- the responsibility is there to create a community where children can thrive. We have to think about it on a daily basis, raise it up to a level that can inspire and demand work."

Although there was broad support for the goal -- a timetable calls for the creation of an action plan by September -- there were also plenty in the workshops who voiced concerns that the goal did not explicitly refer to diversity issues, or the female face of poverty, or the socio-political causes that underlie it.

Carolyn Milne, CEO of the Hamilton Community Foundation (and co-convener of the Roundtable with the city's community services director Jo-Anne Priel) was not fazed by those voices.

"After 40-50 years of being firmly rooted in our 'silos' approach, for people to come here and say, 'Yes I share that aspiration, but...,' I consider that real progress. I think change is going to take a while."

Liz Weaver, in only her fourth day on the job as the newly hired director of the Roundtable, promised the crowd that by September "we'll have an action plan -- but it won't be an action plan for the Roundtable, it will be an action plan for our whole community."

bdunphy@thespec.com