Rural Poverty Summit Information

Rural Poverty Summit – VISION

VISION: To build a coalition of local community groups led by people with lived experience of poverty to voice concerns about rural poverty and advocate for systemic solutions.

GOAL: To hold a rural poverty summit to name the issues and solutions, develop strategies and action plans and develop skills like using media, lobbying and community organizing.

PARTICIPANTS: People with lived experience of poverty and their allies from the Districts of Grey Bruce, Parry Sound, Sudbury, Nipissing, Muskoka, Simcoe and Haliburton.

ACTIVITIES

• Organize a two day rural poverty summit in April 2018. (PROMPT Muskoka)
• In local communities, identify participants to attend the assembly who are already doing anti-poverty work or who would like to do anti-poverty advocacy. (People with lived experience and their allies)
• Local fundraising to cover transportation to and from Muskoka.

OUTCOMES

• Participation in the Summit will help to build alliances among people that want legislators and policy makers to understand problems and solutions to poverty have to include the rural experience.
• It builds the power base of a group that is seldom reflected and gives them tools and voice to be heard in current public and policy debate about poverty reduction.
• It will build skills of local groups and help to understand and overcome barriers to participation of people with lived experience in community organizing.
• It builds alliances and working relationships between people with lived experience and their allies.

NEWSLETTER ARTICLE

Rural Poverty Summit
On May 1st and 2nd , 2018

PROMPT is holding a Rural Poverty Summit in Muskoka.
This is part of a groundswell of activity across the province to make the voices of people who experience rural poverty heard and listened to at provincial and municipal levels of government.
Like much of rural Ontario, our poverty is hidden amongst awesome landscapes and the misleading signs that tourism and vacation lifestyles can hide. Too much of our economy is seasonal. Where once a seasonal worker would qualify for employment insurance, we now rely on Ontario Works assistance in the off season. People with disabilities face great difficulty competing in our seasonal economy.
The rural experience of poverty is different in many ways from urban poverty. It is hidden which makes it easier to ignore or not even believe it exists. Canada Mortgage and Housing statistics do not adequately reflect the true cost of rural rental rates. Accommodation that is available in winter is lost in summer to tourists and students working in the summer service industry. Transportation costs are huge. Access to services and health care is limited and complicated by transportation costs. Delivery charges of electricity in rural Ontario are still high despite changes. Social isolation is very difficult to overcome.
In late 2017, groups in eastern Ontario were drawing up a Rural Poverty Statement, Put Food in the Budget`s AGM included action on rural poverty in their agenda and PROMPT began planning to hold a Rural Poverty Summit. The Summit will be held at Camp Crossroads in Torrance Ontario on Lake Muskoka. Participants are people with lived experience of poverty and their allies. We hope people will come from districts around us and other rural communities. PROMPT is covering the cost of accommodation and food for the Summit. We hope that local areas can cover the cost to get to and from the conference. But if that`s not possible please get in touch anyway. If you want to be there, we’ll find a way.

Our agenda includes gathering stories of rural poverty experiences, naming solutions to the problems we face, building our capacity to make change and deciding action we can take collectively and in our local communities. To register for the Summit please contact Susan Campbell at 1(800) 263-4819 or (705) 645-6607 or email at campbels@lao.on.ca. Registration closes April 14, 2018.