Poverty Reduction and Affordable Housing

Notes de l'éditeur

1. Premier Graham sponsored this project, providing the both financial and human resources to make it happen. A small team was created at Social Development to support the process. The approach chosen was not the traditional consultation with citizens leading to government decision-making approach. Rather, Premier Graham chose a public engagement approach with shared leadership, shared decision-making and shared action. The New Brunswick plan is different than the poverty reduction plans of other provinces in that it is not a plan for the Government of New Brunswick. Rather, it is a plan for all sectors of New Brunswick society, a plan that all can participate in developing and in implementing. The initiative was chaired by Mr. Gerry Pond from the business sector, Honourable Kelly Lamrock from Government, and Leo-Paul Pinet from the non-profit sector.
2. Project was launched in October, 2008 with the aim to have a poverty reduction plan for New Brunswick by November, 2009 The Public Dialogue Phase began in January, 2009. Nearly 2,500 citizens participated through: The Internet survey and/or questionnaire E-mails, letters and briefs 16 face-to-face dialogue sessions held around the province Complementary sessions – some regions and central office branches held a complementary session for staff participation The input from the public dialogues was been published in a ‘What Was Said’ report . This draft informed Phase II of the process. Phase II commenced in June 2009. In this Round Table phase, approximately 30 participants met to develop options for a poverty reduction plan, using the results of the public dialogues as the foundation for their discussion in order to reflect the views of New Brunswickers. An Options document was produced by this group to inform Phase III – the Final Forum where 50 New Brunswick leaders met to decide on a poverty reduction plan. This included representatives of business, labour, post-secondary institutions, non-profit organizations and government, and low-income citizens.
3. On Friday, November 13 th , the members of the Final Forum agreed to a poverty reduction plan called ‘OVERCOMING POVERTY TOGETHER: The New Brunswick Economic and Social Inclusion Plan’. It can be seen on the gnb website under the keyword ‘poverty’. The adoption of this plan is exciting for our department as it proposes the biggest changes in social policy in more than 25 years. It is a wonderful opportunity for us to do many of the things that we’ve wanted to do for years – eliminate the Interim rate, reform the Household Income Policy, be more supportive of clients who are working hard to move into employment, and make more investments in early childhood and housing.