The End of Poverty gathering will bring together government, business, community and lived/living experience leaders from across Canada to celebrate our successes and co-generate solutions. The event will facilitate learning and dialogue across sectors, harness the distinctive synergies of today's poverty reduction movement, and take our collective understanding of community innovation in poverty reduction to the next level. 

The event will take place over two days, convening at 11:00 a.m. ET on Wednesday May 5th, and closing at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday May 6th. Join us to hear from inspiring speakers and panelists and to participate in a range interactive workshops designed to help you advance the End of Poverty narrative in your own community.

Participants will also be invited to register for daily pre- and post-event small group conversations that will create space for learners to network and dialogue with other attendees, engage in small group discussions, and work through specific questions and issues.

 Features of our Learning Agenda 

• Ending Poverty Pathways including 14 proven ideas that already being implemented, and that are based on real data and a wealth of experience that forge a path forward for ending poverty in Canada.
  
  
• A Strategic Overview of Cities Reducing Poverty including insights into what has made our 20-year collaborative and comprehensive approach to poverty reduction so effective.
  
  
• Renowned Keynote Speakers, including Melody Barnes who worked directly with President Barack Obama, who will share their expertise with an emphasis on Cities Ending Poverty and Ending Youth Poverty.
  
  
• A Joint Focus on Ending Poverty and Building Youth Futures, including a May 6th plenary which will be held jointly with Tamarack's newest practice area, Communities Building youth Futures. As part of their 2021 National Annual Gathering, this morning will explore youth resiliency, youth voice, youth leadership and community mobilization.
  
  

• A Panel of Mayors and Cities who will tell their stories of innovation and high impact outcomes in reducing poverty.
  
  
• Fourteen Interactive Workshops with emerging and established leaders from the government, business and not for profit sectors, each sharing their work and stories of poverty reduction, social innovation, and collective impact.
  
  
• Daily Small Group Discussions that will create space for networking, discussion, brainstorming and troubleshooting amongst event registrants.

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Fourteen concurrent and interactive workshops will be hosted over Wednesday and Thursday afternoons. Each workshop will be led by one or more experts and will be supported by a panel of Cities Reducing Poverty members. Each workshop is designed to be inspiring while also providing real opportunities for learners to plan for and adopt Ending Poverty Pathways in their own communities.

Workshops will include:

 Ending Working Poverty

The working poor make up the largest demographic of people living in poverty in Canada. This session will present an evidence-based approach, where higher minimum wages, an enhanced Canada Workers Benefit, and six layered ideas forge a robust pathway out of working poverty.

with John Stapleton

A Basic Income for Ending Poverty

Basic Income is an anti-poverty strategy that has gained support through COVID-19 from across the political spectrum. This session will propose a design option for a Basic Income guarantee that could end poverty in Canada. It will include a detailed walk through the math behind how it could realistically and reasonably be funded.

with Sheila Regehr

Built for Zero: A Model for Ending Chronic Homelessness

This session will present how three Cities Reducing Poverty members have reduced chronic homelessness by incorporating Housing First, data-driven decision making, and collective action to transform programs, policies and systems with the ultimate goal of reaching ‘functional zero.’

with Marie Morrison

Opportunity for All: Canada’s First Poverty Reduction Strategy

Prior to COVID-19, Canada reduced poverty for 1.3 million Canadians, to its lowest level in recorded history. This session will highlight the critical role of cities and communities in advocating for and rolling out large-scale and high-impact federal policies, and in contributing to the successful implementation of Opportunity for All: Canada’s first poverty reduction strategy.

with Scott MacAfee

Provincial and Territorial Governments Ending Poverty

In recent years, provincial and territorial governments have championed poverty reduction efforts. This session will showcase how three provinces and territories have engaged with communities and across all levels of government to implement programs and policies that have demonstrated significant impacts in reducing poverty.

with Molly Harrington and Stephane Leclair

Cities Ending Poverty: Success Stories from Vibrant Communities

Cities are increasingly harnessing the assets of their communities, engaging across sectors, and nudging policy and systems change. This session will explore how 4 cities are using the latest collective impact approaches to create meaningful change for people living on low-incomes. Learn how more than 300 municipalities supported by 80 regional networks are following their lead.

with Edmonton, Calgary, Saint John and Peel

Ending Youth Poverty and Building Youth Futures

This session will introduce Opportunity Youth, an evidence-based collective impact model that has been proven to bolster postsecondary and career success through youth leadership and community mobilization. You will learn about how Communities Building Youth Futures (CBYF) is supporting youth in 13 communities who face extraordinary barriers to stay connected and to reconnect with pathways to prosperity.

with Nathalie Blanchet

A National Supplement for Ending Disability Poverty

Poverty among people with disabilities is multi-tiered as it is often connected with social isolation, anxiety and poor health. Learn how Canada’s commitment to creating a Canadian Disability Benefit could serve as a basic income for people with disabilities, ensuring that nobody would fall below the poverty line, and could essentially end disability poverty in Canada.

with Laura Cattari

Quebec’s Low-Fee Child Care Centres: Les Centres de la Petite Enfance

Universal child care programs help women to get back into the workforce and boost family incomes. Learn how Quebec’s generous investment in provincial child benefits has served as an effective poverty reduction strategy that is paying for itself, with $1.47 in direct returns obtained for each $1.00 invested.

with Geneviève Bélisle and Fanny Dagenais

Human Rights Cities for Ending Poverty

Poverty is what happens when people are denied their human right to a decent standard of living. This session will explore a human rights approach to ending poverty and how we can translate it into effective policies and practices. 

with Elizabeth McIsaac and Effie Vlachoyannacos

Ending Indigenous Poverty in Cities

In this session, Cities Reducing Poverty members will share how they are including Indigenous partners as equal partners in their Cities' futures.

with Cheryl Whiskeyjack, Leslie Varley and Buddie Dixon

Ending Poverty in Rural Communities

This session will profile stories of social innovation from Cities Reducing Poverty members from rural and remote communities. A roundtable conversation will address challenges and solutions unique to rural poverty reduction.

with Don Kattler

Sustainable Development Goals for Ending Poverty

This session will introduce you to the United Nations Sustainable Development goals. A panel of communities will discuss how they have or are planning to use these goals to further poverty reduction work in their communities.

with Marcie DeWitt and Dennis Guy

Climate Change and Ending Poverty

How do we advance a climate change and end poverty agenda at the same time? This session will explore how you can support your community to link these two agendas and in turn achieve a bigger impact.

with Laura Schnurr

Stay tuned! This section will be updated as topics, leads and descriptions are confirmed.