Grassroots plan to help 2,000 Waterloo families

Community strives to have Canada's lowest poverty rate

By Peter Geigen-Miller ; Photos by Derek Ruttan
Free Press Reporter

DEREK RUTTAN The London Free Press After losing his job at a steel company, Paul Oxley started his own business in Cambridge. He got a leg up from a Waterloo Region program that aims to make the area's unemployment rate the lowest in the country by the turn of the century.	CAMBRIDGE -- Paul Oxley has blazed a trail officials here hope will lead hundreds of people out of poverty. Oxley is the proud proprietor of Haley Aluminum Welding Ltd., a one-person shop on the verge of needing more employees. Oxley owes his transformation from unemployed wage earner to small business operator to a program that taught him the business basics. Similar programs and others to stimulate job creation will play a central role in one of the most ambitious poverty reduction campaigns ever attempted in Canada. It's called Opportunities 2000 and its goal is impressive: reducing Waterloo Region's poverty rate to the lowest in Canada by the end of the year 2000. In practical terms, that means helping 2,000 families escape from poverty between now and then. What's different about Opportunities 2000 is that it won't rely on a vast infusion of government money. Instead, it's a grassroots effort that takes the poverty fight to the neighbourhood level and relies on financial support from businesses, foundations and individuals. Grassroots? Very much. Much of the work will be done by hundreds of volunteers working with community groups across Waterloo.
Opportunities 2000 is sponsored by the Lutherwood Community Opportunities Development Association -- known as Lutherwood CODA or simply CODA -- an organization with a solid track record of running poverty-reduction and job-creation projects. In more than a dozen years, CODA has helped more than 5,800 people find new jobs, more than 1,000 entrepreneurs start businesses and 3,000 others undertake skills training or educational upgrading. And it ran a pilot project called Opportunities Planning which tested -- and proved -- many concepts Opportunities 2000 will employ. Opportunities Planning was a five-year pilot project launched in 1993 by CODA and a coalition of community agencies. It ended in 1996 when provincial government funding was lost, but still managed to help more than 1,100 long-term social assistance recipients find work. That success proved the importance of moving job-creation and other services out of centralized offices and into the community, says Cathy Harrington, CODA's director of employment development services. "We realized many people would not access centralized services so we needed to make the services more available to them," says Harrington. CODA did, teaming up with 18 neighbourhood associations and community centres in low-income neighbourhoods across Waterloo Region. Example: CODA sent staff to deliver employment programs in Langs Farm Village, a low-income, high-density community in Cambridge. So successful was this effort, the Langs Village Association and CODA have carried on, working together as part of Opportunities 2000 to develop a job resource centre in the neighbourhood. Ultimately, this kind of community effort provided the impetus for Opportunities 2000, says Harrington. "A lot of energy started to build around the role community agencies could play. When Opportunities Planning ended, the community groups had energy to keep going. We felt very strongly that the lessons learned had to be carried on and expanded. That's where the concept for Opportunities 2000 came from." The project is based on a simple premise: practical and effective solutions to poverty can be found if people work together.
Paul Oxley grinds metal at the shop where he's now his own boss.	Project leaders have a three-pronged strategy: Recruiting community leaders to form a Leadership Roundtable to develop a long-range poverty plan. The roundtable includes business leaders, low-income people and representatives from education and other sectors. Searching across Canada to find the most effective poverty-fighting tools and importing them to Waterloo. This research project will be directed by the Ottawa-based Caledon Institute of Social Policy. Lessons learned will be shared across Canada with groups such as LifeSpin, a London anti-poverty organization. Helping community groups to develop projects that increase employment and earning opportunities for people in poverty. Sample projects are neighbourhood employment centres, worker co-operatives and small business incubators. Small business creation is already happening with fledgling companies such as Gamesters, whose product line includes musk ox cabbage rolls and venison pie.
Gamesters was created through the Community Food Enterprise project developed by the Food Bank of Waterloo Region. Since 1991, the food bank has set up 20 collective kitchens in 16 locations across Waterloo Region. People come together in these kitchens to jointly purchase and prepare low-cost, nutritious food for their families. Officials reasoned all this cooking expertise might provide opportunities to develop commercial products -- and create jobs. And so Gamesters was born. It's a joint venture involving a wild game rancher and a collective kitchen that operates in a church. But the partnership goes beyond that: Conestoga College provided its training kitchen over the summer; the health department provided free food handling training; businesses have offered mentors and Wilfrid Laurier provided MBA student volunteers to develop a marketing plan. It's working. "These people are taking these new products on the road and finding customers," says Harrington. "The products are becoming quite popular." Why are people in Waterloo Region so keen to combat poverty? Regional chairperson Ken Seiling says the region has a long tradition of caring that dates to the 1860s when a home to help the destitute was established, probably the first in Canada. Many other social policy projects have followed, says Seiling. Regional council has followed that tradition by unanimously supporting Opportunities 2000, and Seiling is a member of the project's Leadership Roundtable. In economic terms, the region is similar to London. Both are considered among Canada's most economically successful areas, with diverse and thriving economies, and both are blighted by poverty. The region's economy was sideswiped by recessions in the 1980s and '90s, leading to a wave of company downsizings and closings. The early 1990s saw the loss of almost 50 manufacturing plants, including long-time employers B.F. Goodrich, UniRoyal, Labatt and Seagram. About 15,000 manufacturing jobs and thousands more spinoff jobs were lost. Economic growth stalled, then nosedived. Now the region is experiencing a revival built around rapid growth in computer hardware and software, telecommunications, engineering and environmental design, plus expansion in the finance, insurance, and real estate sectors. According to Statistics Canada's most recent count, the Kitchener area has a poverty rate of 14.6 per cent, based on the agency's low-income cutoffs, a widely used poverty measure. Only two major Canadian urban centres had lower rates: Thunder Bay at 14.5 per cent and Oshawa at 12.4 per cent. London's rate was 17.3 per cent. Despite what Paul Born calls one of the "most prosperous economic engines in Canada," poverty not only persists but is on the rise. Born, a team leader with the Opportunities 2000 project, says the region's poverty trends are ominous. "The 1996 census told us there are 12,600 families living in poverty," says Born. "If we project this out to the year 2001, when Opportunities 2000 ends, and if nothing happens in the meantime, we will have 16,200 families living in poverty. That's an epidemic." Community leaders decided it was unacceptable, he says. To reach the goal of reducing poverty to the lowest level in Canada, Opportunities 2000 must not just remove 2,000 families from poverty but also prevent others from becoming impoverished. "We have to move the whole system to a different level," says Born. To do that, job creation efforts will be coupled with a major educational effort to change public attitudes about the poor, says Born. "We have recognized that the public backlash against the poor is very destructive." That's because it fuels public cynicism and anger and makes it harder to mobilize efforts to combat poverty, says Born. One of the messages Born wants to spread is that unless Canadians grapple with poverty now when solutions are still within reach, it will cost truckloads of money to fix later. We'll find ourselves in the same predicament as U.S. cities,where poverty has left once-vibrant cores deserted and derelict, says Born. Born also wants to convince corporations they have a role in reducing poverty. "Business leaders need to understand that poverty is not just a problem for the people who live it or for the community groups that help them. This is an economic problem and it needs to be owned by the corporate sector." The Royal Bank is already onside. It has provided $250,000 to the project and has tried to increase managers' understanding of poverty by sending eight senior executives on a "poverty tour." Among the sites visited was the Cambridge Self-Help Food Bank. The bank also is supplying employees to work as volunteers in the project and has seconded an executive to help out. In addition, the bank will participate in a program called 10 percent for 2001. It means 10 per cent of new hires between now and 2001 will come from low-income ranks, says Born. As Opportunities 2000 gathers momentum, Born can see beyond the project's goal. Poverty reduction is a moving target. "When we get to the lowest poverty rate in Canada, we'll start talking about eliminating poverty." He doesn't think it's beyond reach.

Small business owner ready to help others

CAMBRIDGE -- A small business training program provided Paul Oxley's escape from unemployment.
Now he's ready to give others a hand up by providing them with jobs.
Oxley used his training to launch his own business, Haley Aluminum Welding Ltd. in Cambridge. He's glad he did.
"I've never been happier and I've never been more tired," he says. "I'm working very hard but I'm enjoying it. It's an adventure."
Oxley's plunge into unemployment occurred in January 1997, when he had a welding job with a Cambridge steel company heavily involved in work for Pacific Rim companies.
As the Asian financial crisis deepened, orders declined to the point Oxley was laid off.

Paul Oxley says he works at least 80 hours a week at his business, performing a variety of tasks including salesperson, promoter, receptionist and accountant, as well as welder. Here he talks business in his office, where he keeps a suit at the ready for business meetings.

While collecting employment insurance, he learned about a small business development program offered by the Community Opportunities Development Association -- CODA.
It was too good a chance to pass up, he says. "I decided to go for it. I'd always dreamed about having my own business so this was the chance of a lifetime."
It was an opportunity to escape from punching a time clock and taking orders from bosses, and to gain control over his own life, he says.
Oxley was accepted into the program and began two months of training that taught all aspects of running a small business -- developing a business plan, marketing, sales, finances.
The training made all the difference, he says. "It took the mystery out of running a business. That's the part I'd always been nervous about."
He was able to obtain a personal line of credit that allowed him to purchase equipment -- all used -- and to rent a shop. He estimates his startup costs at $15,000.
Oxley launched his new venture Oct. 1, 1997, spent time developing his marketing literature, then began knocking on company doors in search of business.
It was slow going at first, he says. "The first six months were horrible."
Then warmer weather arrived and with it the first orders, mostly small jobs for householders.
Business has continued to grow and he's now working for an expanding list of corporate clients, mostly in transportation.
Although he works with varied metals, he specializes in aluminum welding and is establishing a niche for himself repairing aluminum fuel tanks.
He also landed an order to build chain carriers for transport trucks. The devices hold the tire chains that trucks carry while travelling through the mountains to California or British Columbia.
He's establishing himself with quality work and quick completion of orders, he says.
And he's busy -- busy enough to hire employees.
That means he's ready to do his bit to reduce poverty in Waterloo by hiring low-income people and teaching them the skills of aluminum welding.
"That's one of the things I'd like to do because you have to give people a chance," he says. "CODA gave me a chance and I'd like to reciprocate."

Single mom's struggle pays off

Story by Jane Sims
The London Free Press

Raising a daughter on her own hasn't been easy for Petra Cromp.
In the northeast London apartment where she has lived for nine years, the 29-year-old single mother is on the verge of landing a full-time job with a food distribution company.
Finally, she will be off social assistance.
"I would rather work until I drop dead on my job than go back on the system again," she said.
Cromp left an abusive marriage as a young mother, determined to make it on her own. But it hasn't been easy. She completed two years of an architectural technology course at Fanshawe College, but dropped out to raise her daughter, Cheryl, now 10.
Low-paying temp jobs have been supplemented with welfare top-ups to keep a roof over their heads.
She has skipped meals to make sure Cheryl has food. Cromp has seriously thought of cancelling her telephone to save money. She has no cable.

Petra Cromp, at home with daughter Cheryl, says she wouldn't make it off welfare without the support of friends and neighbours.

She also has credit card debts totalling $6,800. The easy access to credit cards from major department stores led to a problem she called "an addiction." Sometimes she would help a neighbour by buying diapers on credit and using the cash for groceries, thinking she would be able to even up her payments at the end of the month.
Her hopes for full-time work and overcoming the debt seemed bleak. At one point, she sent out 200 resumes, only to get four replies and one interview.
For 3 1/2 years she has moved from job to job, never catching a break, until now. Her income is about $1,100 a month if she works, $957 if she lives strictly on assistance.
"It's so nice," she said about collecting a full time paycheque on her $11 an hour job. "We can order pizza for a change."
She suffers from fibromyalgia, a muscle disorder, while her daughter has attention deficit disorder.
"If it wasn't for my friends, I don't know what I would do," she said of the neighbours who have helped tend to her 10-year-old while she has worked night shifts and split shifts to earn a living.
Cromp's struggle is not unlike thousands of single mothers across London desperate to improve their lives but unable to find ways out of poverty.
Sole-support parents are among the poorest people in London.
Sue Geddis, who works with single mothers at the Glen Cairn Community Resource Centre, sees the imbalance in their lives and their struggle for social acceptance.
"Single mothers really have a big job ahead of them to become an accepted part of our social fabric so they can get on with life," she said.
"They're dealing so much with rejection from family and battering from society because they are on the welfare system and they're trying to make ends meet."
Many live in isolation, afraid or unable to return to the labour force, fearing they are neglecting their children.
About 80 per cent of all single-parent families are female-led and 63 per cent of them live below the poverty line. In London, single-parent incomes are 10 per cent below the provincial average.
An urban poverty study by the Canadian Council of Social Development reports 13,170 female-led households in London. Of them, 6,155 are classified as low income.
A recent study released by the Centre for Social Justice in Toronto, called The Growing Gap, said Ontario single mothers feel the greatest economic strain, earning an average of $22,288 a year after taxes.
And it's their children who suffer most. Kids living in impoverished families are at risk of poor health, malnutrition and falling behind in school.
Many become dropouts.
Bill Avison, who heads up UWO's Centre for Health and Well-being, said single mothers are among the lowest income earners in terms of families, "and in large part that has a lot to do with the difficulty of balancing sole-parenting for the children as well as trying to make an income at the same time."
But there is no evidence children of single parents are worse off emotionally than children from two-parent families.
"What distinguishes the two is that kids in single parent families are much more likely to be from poor families. It's the poverty that makes the difference," he said.
Geddis said she puts a lot of emphasis on helping sole-support mothers build their self-esteem and ultimately improve their lives. Many do not believe they have skills to offer the workforce after years of parenting.
Making women less isolated and putting them in environments where they can discover their strengths help restore their self-worth, she said. Add in proper day-care and nutrition programs, and sole-support moms can change their lives.
One London single mother who isn't working is hoping the province's work-for-welfare program could be her ticket out of poverty.
Heather Cole, 37, has been on welfare for a couple of years and was recently contacted about participating in one of the new Ontario Works mandatory employment programs. She wants to start a community participation placement at the Merrymount Children's Centre, where she is already a volunteer.
"I'm hoping to gain a lot of experience in the office there and interact with the classrooms as well, which I already have been doing," she said. She hopes for a job in an office or a day-care centre.
Cole, who came to London from Sarnia 12 years ago, said she has been "trying to get off my duff" to get back into the job market after a troubling couple of years of personal problems.
Cole lives in a downtown apartment with her son, William, 2. She also has a 10-year-old daughter who is disabled and lives in a home-care program and a four-year-old son who is in foster care waiting to be adopted.
Both her sons were taken by the Children's Aid Society after stress and frustration of being a single parent of two pushed Cole to the edge.
She admits her older son was abused while in her care. "It's not to say that it's not my fault. I take some of the blame."
She worked with the Children's Aid and Merrymount to get William back and continues to take parenting courses.
"If it wasn't for them getting me into these parenting courses at Merrymount, I wouldn't have any children with me at all."
Her work history has been checkered. She has worked in retail and taken a computer course.
And she has worked in the body rub business, first independently, then at one of the controversial parlours.
"It's definitely tough out there, and unfortunately, I know a lot of single mothers that are doing things they don't want to be doing and one of them is the body rub places."

Life after welfare often still poor

File photo
Social Services Minister Janet Ecker

It's hailed by Social Services Minister Janet Ecker as an unprecedented decline in Ontario's welfare rolls.
Since the Harris government took power in 1995, more than 323,000 people have left welfare, government statistics show. And the decline is continuing, says Ecker.
In an exclusive Free Press interview, the minister says the decline is occurring because of job growth resulting from an improved economy and government welfare reforms.
The numbers speak for themselves -- welfare reforms are a major success, says Ecker. "Ontario Works, our work-for-welfare plan, is helping get people off welfare into paid jobs and that has been a very, very positive story across the province."
Critics of the government's welfare program say many people finding employment through Ontario Works are ending up in low-paying, low-skill jobs that trap them among the working poor.
Ecker says that's not the message she's getting as she talks to people across the province.

"I've met many individuals on social assistance who are getting jobs they are attributing to the training and experience they are having under Ontario Works," she says. "People talk about the hope this is giving them, the experience, the references they didn't have before. It's very much a good news story."
For critics who wonder what's happening to people leaving welfare, Ecker points to research commissioned by the government.
A study by Ekos Research Associates, released in April, found 58 per cent of respondents left social assistance for "employment-related reasons." That means they found a job or were recalled to a former job, increased their hours of work or left social assistance because their spouse or partner found a job.
The survey, based on a sampling of more than 2,000 former clients, found that a further 11 per cent left because of changes in living arrangements --marriage or reconciliation, moving back home with parents or out of the area.
Eleven per cent entered educational or training programs; eight per cent became ineligible for assistance; seven per cent received additional non-employment income that made them ineligible; four per cent withdrew voluntarily and one per cent listed "other" reasons.
Most of the employed -- 77 per cent -- had full-time jobs and 71 per cent said the jobs were permanent. Those with temporary jobs expected them to last 48 weeks on average.
People with full-time jobs earned an average of $9.04 an hour -- $325 a week or $16,923 a year for a 36-hour week. Average earnings for all jobs -- full time and part time -- were $318 a week.
Critics say the wages aren't sufficient to lift people out of poverty.
"The wages are pretty low when you start to turn them into annual incomes and start to think about the problems of trying to raise a family on that kind of money," says Andrew Mitchell of the Toronto Social Planning Council and a representative of the Ontario Social Safety Network.
"It's pretty paltry what people are earning. Even at $10 an hour or so, it's pretty hard to raise a family."
Ecker says people are getting long-term jobs and many earn more than the minimum wage.
Mitchell also challenges government assertions its programs are responsible for the sharp decline in the welfare rolls.
"The caseload started declining before this government came to power with the recovery in the economy," he says. "As soon as there are a few jobs around, people on welfare will take them. This we've always known."
The National Council of Welfare makes the same point. It reports that between March 1994 and March 1995, when the New Democrats were in power, the number of people on welfare in Ontario declined by about 35,000. An improving economy and tighter eligibility rules were responsible, the council says.
Explains Mitchell: "Welfare is an extraordinarily fluid and dynamic program. People are coming on and leaving the system all the time. People leave welfare for work every month."
Mitchell says tighter rules have made it more difficult for many people to qualify for welfare, especially those aged 16 and 17. "So we have squeegee kids instead."
Young people who've become ineligible for welfare also have joined the ranks of street kids and the homeless, say critics.
Neil Cosby of the Youth Action Centre, a downtown London drop-in for street youth, says more under-18 kids coming to the centre are ineligible for welfare.
Many young people cut off welfare rely on friends for help, Cosby says.
"We see situations where 10 or 12 kids are sharing a one-bedroom apartment. The person renting the apartment is trying to help out the other kids because they know what it's like to have no place to go to."
These living arrangements tend to be short-term, says Cosby. "Ten or 12 people make a lot of mess and noise so the person usually ends up losing the apartment."
Other youths stay at shelters or in summer camp out under bridges or in hangouts atop buildings.
Still others become transient, travelling to Toronto, Ottawa and western Canada, says Cosby. "If they have no other alternative, they live on the street."
Ecker makes no apologies for tightened welfare eligibility.
"There's no question we have tightened the rules to prevent misuse and abuse of the system," she says.
"The changes ensure that the people who are eligible get not only income support but also the employment support they need to get off welfare."
Ecker dismisses critics' charges the government's welfare reforms are cruel. "I totally reject that a reform that gets somebody off welfare and into a paid job as quickly as possible is cruel. What is cruel is to let people get trapped on welfare.
"People on welfare will tell you -- and I've met many, many of them -- that they want off. They want the jobs. The opportunities they are getting through Ontario Works are helping them get those jobs."