<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">---------- Forwarded message ----------<br>From: <b class="gmail_sendername">Terrie</b> <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:mocharebyl@gmail.com">mocharebyl@gmail.com</a>></span><br>Date: 9 October 2012 14:25<br>
Subject: Fwd: Sign-On to Open Letter + Upcoming Prov. Events<br>To: odsp-issues <<a href="mailto:ODSP-issues@yahoogroups.com">ODSP-issues@yahoogroups.com</a>><br><br><br><div class="HOEnZb"><div class="h5"><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">
---------- Forwarded message ----------<br>From: <b class="gmail_sendername">Raise The Rates</b> <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:raisetheratescampaign@gmail.com" target="_blank">raisetheratescampaign@gmail.com</a>></span><br>
Date: 9 October 2012 14:10<br>Subject: Sign-On to Open Letter + Upcoming Prov. Events<br>To: <a href="mailto:cupe-raisetheratescampaign@googlegroups.com" target="_blank">cupe-raisetheratescampaign@googlegroups.com</a><br>
<br><br>Dear Raise the Rates Campaign supporters,<br>
<br>
The Provincial government is set to cut the Community Start-Up and Maintenance Benefit (CSUMB) this coming January. OCAP is working with allies, including CUPE Ontario as part of the Raise the Rates Campaign, to stop this cut and to continue to fight for a raise in social assistance rates.<br>
<br>
Below and attached is an important action item: an Open Letter from front-line social service, community workers and agencies. Please take this to your union local, your agency, or community organization and consider signing-on to this Open Letter. Collected signatures are being posted here: <a href="http://www.ocap.ca/node/1018" target="_blank">http://www.ocap.ca/node/1018</a><br>
<br>
Also, please join us at one of the Provincial events, including this week in Sudbury, Ottawa and Hamilton, and next week in Niagara Region on October 16th and Toronto on October 17th, the Day for the Eradication of Poverty - all information is below and available here: <a href="http://www.cupe.on.ca/d1427/raise-rates-action" target="_blank">http://www.cupe.on.ca/d1427/raise-rates-action</a> and here: <a href="http://www.ocap.ca/node/1016" target="_blank">http://www.ocap.ca/node/1016</a><br>
<br>
If you have any questions, ideas or would like to get involved, please contact us at: <a href="tel:416-925-6939" value="+14169256939" target="_blank">416-925-6939</a> or email: <a href="mailto:ocap@tao.ca" target="_blank"><span></span></a><a href="mailto:raisetheratescampaign@gmail.com" target="_blank">raisetheratescampaign@gmail.com</a> <br>
<br><div>
-----------------------------------------<br><br>Open Letter from Social Service and Front-line Community Workers and Agencies on the Provincial Cut to the Community Start-Up and Maintenance Benefit (CSUMB)<br>
<br>
October, 2012<br>
<br>
In January 2013, as part of its austerity budget, the Ontario provincial government will cut 50% of funding to the Community Start-Up and Maintenance Benefit (CSUMB). The other half of CSUMB money will go to municipal housing and homelessness programs that serve an even larger pool of low-income people, and CSUMB as we know it will effectively be eliminated. As social service and frontline community workers, we are opposed to this mean-spirited cost-cutting measure and the adverse impact that it will have on the health and well-being of the individuals and communities that we work with.<br>
<br>
The CSUMB has been available to Ontario Works (OW) and Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) recipients who are facing difficult crisis situations. This benefit has been used to: secure housing by people leaving shelters or hospitals; to pay rent arrears in order to avoid eviction; to pay utility arrears in order to avoid having your water or heat cut off during the freezing winter months; and purchasing basic household items such as a bed or mattress. Currently, some 16,000 people a month across Ontario rely on this vital benefit.<br>
<br>
For frontline workers in the Violence Against Women (VAW) sector, the CSUMB has proved decisive in enabling women and their children to flee domestic violence situations and secure safe housing. Without access to this benefit, countless immigrants and refugees—many fleeing war, trauma and economically precarious conditions—would not be able to afford housing in Ontario upon arrival. For those individuals accessing drop-ins and shelters and struggling with extreme poverty, substandard housing and homelessness, mental and physical health disabilities, and addictions, the slashing of the CSUMB will certainly result in increased marginalization, homelessness, misery and hardship.<br>
<br>
The provincial government’s slashing of the CSUMB, along with other recent measures like the cut to the Special Diet Allowance, is contributing to increased poverty and inequality in our communities, especially for social assistance recipients.<br>
<br>
For us as social service and front-line community workers, we see that these cuts to benefits are part of the same austerity agenda as attacks on public sector workers. The provincial government eliminates vital benefits to people on OW and ODSP, imposes contracts on public school teachers, and counts on us staying divided and unable to effectively fight back together.<br>
<br>
We call on all social service and front-line community workers and agencies, and unions representing these workers, to speak out against this cut to CSUMB, and to 1) bring this to the membership and sign-on to this letter as a union local or agency; 2) advocate for access to CSUMB for clients and challenge unfair denials; 3) join with anti-poverty allies across the province in mobilizing against this cut.<br>
<br>
We demand that this government immediately reverse the cut to CSUMB and additionally provide adequate rates of Social Assistance benefits so that people can live with health and dignity.<br>
<br>
Signed,<br>
<br>
**To sign on to this letter as a union local or as a community service agency or organization, please email: <a href="mailto:raisetheratescampaign@gmail.com" target="_blank">raisetheratescampaign@gmail.com</a><br>------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br>
<br>Stop the Cut to Community Start-Up, Raise the Rates Now!<br>
Schedule of Provincial Events<br>
<br>
The Ontario Coalition Against Poverty, the Canadian Union of Public Employees Ontario, and allies across the province, are organizing a series of events this fall to demand that the McGuinty Liberals stop the cut to the Community Start-Up and Maintenance Benefit, and Raise the Rates of Social Assistance.<br>
<br>
Cuts by the governments of Mike Harris and Dalton McGuinty have reduced welfare rates by 60% since 1995! This year`s Provincial Budget continued the rapid decline with rates that don`t even keep up with inflation. Following the previous gutting of the vital Special Diet benefit by the Liberals, this year`s Budget also brought a series of cutbacks for people on social assistance including the elimination of a benefit known as `Community Start-Up and Maintenance` (CSUMB). The government has announced it will eliminate this benefit in January 2013.<br>
<br>
16,000 people a month turn to the Community Start-Up and Maintenance Benefit. It is one of the only ways that people on OW or ODSP can get housing, cover the costs of moving, stave off eviction and obtain the basic items to maintain a home. It is a defence against homelessness and a means by which many women and children are able to leave situations of domestic violence. Cutting CSUMB seems designed to hurt people as much as possible when they are at the most vulnerable point in their lives.<br>
<br>
We are fighting this cut and demanding a full raise in social assistance rates to a level that permits people to live in good health and with dignity.<br>
<br>
Kingston: September 27th<br>
Sudbury: October 10th<br>
Ottawa: October 11th<br>Hamilton: October 13th<br>Niagara: October 16th <br>
Toronto: October 17th<br>
Kitchener: October 25th<br>
<br>
**All details of the events are below, with more to come! Please get in touch if you would like to organize a similar event in your area.<br>
<br>
Contact: Ontario Coalition Against Poverty // <a href="http://www.ocap.ca/" target="_blank">www.ocap.ca</a> //<br>
<a href="mailto:ocap@tao.ca" target="_blank">ocap@tao.ca</a> // <a href="tel:416-925-6939" value="+14169256939" target="_blank">416-925-6939</a><br>
<br>
RAISE the RATES CAMPAIGN is endorsed provincially by a wide range of unions and organizations. To join and participate, please see here:<br>
<a href="http://www.ocap.ca/node/947" target="_blank">http://www.ocap.ca/node/947</a><br>
------------------------------<br>
Kingston:<br>
KCAP Free BBQ and Clinic Day<br>
<br>
Thursday, September 27, 2012<br>
11:00am<br>
The Salvation Army on Weller Ave., North Kingston<br>
183 Weller Ave<br>
<br>
Kingston Coalition Against Poverty (K.C.A.P) presents a free BBQ/clinic as part of the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (O.C.A.P) Stop the Cut to Community Start-Up Benefit! Provincial Action.<br>
<br>
On Facebook: <a href="http://www.facebook.com/events/294845520622270/" target="_blank">http://www.facebook.com/events/294845520622270/</a><br><br>
If you would like more information or want to get involved in the campaign, contact us at: <a href="http://kcap.tao.ca/" target="_blank">http://kcap.tao.ca/</a><br>
-----------------<br>
Sudbury:<br>
Wednesday October 10th<br>
Join the discussion at the Sudbury Anti-Poverty Town Hall Meeting<br>
<br>
Fight the cut to Community Start-Up!<br>
Raise OW/ODSP Rates Now!<br>
Raise Minimum Wage Rates Now!<br>
<br>
Since the Mike Harris cuts of the 1990’s people on Ontario Works and ODSP have seen the spending power on their cheques fall by close to 60%. This year’s Provincial Budget continued the rapid decline with rates that don’t even keep up with inflation. Following the previous gutting of the vital Special Diet benefit, this year’s Budget also brought a series of cutbacks for people on social assistance including the elimination of a benefit known as ‘Community Start-Up’. This vital benefit is planned to be cut in January 2013.<br>
<br>
The Liberal government froze the minimum wage in 2011. Workers trying to survive on a minimum wage are already making poverty wages and are seeing their incomes fall even further as a result of inflation and this freeze. Currently close to 1 in 6 workers in Ontario are working at or close to the minimum wage rate.<br>
<br>
We are fighting this cut and demanding raises in social assistance and minimum wage rates to where people can live with health and dignity. Join us to talk about ways we can fight back together.<br>
<br>
Contact: Sudbury Coalition Against Poverty // <a href="mailto:sudburyCAP@gmail.com" target="_blank">sudburyCAP@gmail.com</a> //<br>
<a href="tel:249-878-7227" value="+12498787227" target="_blank">249-878-7227</a><br>
Also contact us for information on childcare and transportation<br>
subsidization.<br>
<br>
Speakers include: John Clarke of the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty, Carrie Lynn Poole from CUPE-Ontario and Elizabeth Richer from Mamaweswen, The North Shore Tribal Council.<br>
<br>
Sponsors: The Sudbury Coalition Against Poverty, The Sudbury and District Labour Council, the Sudbury CUPE Council, Mamaweswen, The North Shore Tribal Council, The Research Centre in Social Justice and Policy and the<br>
Poverty, Homelessness and Migration Research Project, the Labour Studies Program, and the Graduate Students' Association at Laurentian University, The Sudbury Worker’s Education and Advocacy Centre, and The Sudbury Action Centre for Youth.<br>
<br>
Date: Wednesday, October 10th<br>
Time: 6pm - free food and refreshments<br>
6:30pm - Town Hall meeting<br>
<br>
Location: Jubilee Centre<br>
195 Applegrove St. Applegrove is one street south of Elm at Lorne (behind<br>
the Court House).<br>
<br>
These Town Hall Meetings are organized across the province by the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty and CUPE-Ontario.<br>
------------<br>
Ottawa:<br>
Thursday, October 11, 2012 | 7:00 PM<br>
Patro d'Ottawa<br>
40 Cobourg St. in Lowertown<br>
<br>
On Facebook: <a href="http://www.facebook.com/events/282820601831382/" target="_blank">http://www.facebook.com/events/282820601831382/</a><br>
<br>
The Ontario government is cutting the Community Start-Up & Maintenance Benefit (CSUMB) that has helped thousands of people on Ontario Works & ODSP secure and maintain their housing. As of January 2013, the benefit<br>
will not be available.<br>
<br>
This is effectively a cut to welfare rates. After the Mike Harris cuts of the '90s, Premier Dalton McGuinty continues the attacks on poor people.<br>
<br>
These cuts mean more hardship and will lead to more homelessness.<br>
<br>
CSUMB helps people on OW and ODSP to:<br>
* secure and maintain safe, healthy housing<br>
* afford necessary items and services for their home<br>
* leave abusive relationships & homes<br>
* secure housing after leaving shelters, hospitals, transition houses, and<br>
prisons<br>
<br>
Everyone Deserves a FAIR START.<br>
<br>
Join the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty in the FIGHT BACK.<br>
<br>
Free event. Wheelchair accessible. Bus tickets and snacks provided.<br>
There will be forms & support available to those wishing to apply to CSUMB.<br>
<br>
For more information about OCAP, visit <a href="http://www.ocap.ca/" target="_blank">http://www.ocap.ca/</a> or contact<br>
<a href="mailto:ocap@tao.ca" target="_blank">ocap@tao.ca</a>.<br>
<br>
For more information about this event, contact <a href="mailto:monika.thakker@gmail.com" target="_blank">monika.thakker@gmail.com</a>.<br>
<br>
---------------------<br>Hamilton: <br><br>Saturday, October 13th <br>Government Cuts Hurt Everyone, Hamilton Responds to Austerity!<br><br>Walk and Rally <br>1:30pm <br>Gather at Gore Park (King and James)<br>BBQ and Refreshments provided <br>
<br>Email: <a href="mailto:hamilton.cawd@gmail.com" target="_blank">hamilton.cawd@gmail.com</a> <br>--------------------<br>Niagara/St.Catharines :<br><br>Tuesday, October 16th<br>Town Hall Meeting on Cut to Community Start-Up and Poverty <br>
<br>3 - 5pm<br>@ Start Me Up Niagara <br>17 Gale Crescent<br>
St. Catharines, Ontario<br><br>*11 200: That's how many families in the Niagara Region received emergency assistance from the Community Start-Up last year <br>*75% of recipients used the benefit for basic housing needs like rent and utilities. Other uses included fleeing domestic violence and recovering from a bed-bug infestation <br>
<br>Tell Your Story, Make Your Voice Heard!<br>Act Now to Save Housing Supports for People on OW/ODSP!<br><br>For more information: <a href="mailto:niagara.CSUMB.action@gmail.com" target="_blank">niagara.CSUMB.action@gmail.com</a><br>
<a href="http://www.facebook.com/FightTheCutToTheCommunityStartUpCSUMB" target="_blank">http://www.facebook.com/FightTheCutToTheCommunityStartUpCSUMB</a><br>
<br>---------------------------<br>
Toronto:<br><br>
Day for the Eradication of Poverty<br>
Wednesday October 17<br>
<br>
Join Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP) and Jane-Finch Action<br>
Against Poverty (JFAAP) at events throughout the day...<br>
<br>
DOWNTOWN:<br>
<br>
Save the Community Start-Up, Raise the Rates Now!<br>
<br>
10:00 AM: Walk-in Clinic: <br>Find out about or apply for Community Start Up, join us at the Church of the Holy Trinity, 10 Trinity Square (west of the Eaton Centre, south of Dundas)<br>
<br>
12.00 Noon: Meal and Rally @ Toronto City Hall Square (Bay/Queen):<br>
March on the Provincial Government to Deliver all Applications Collected that Day<br>
<br>
A Province wide campaign is being built to save the CSUMB and, in Toronto, OCAP is looking to contribute to this on October 17 with a mass application for the benefit that will also demand the cutback be reversed. We will hold a mass clinic to make people aware of how they can apply for CSUMB and we will fill in application forms for all those who wish to obtain it. Then, we will rally together and march on the Government to put in these applications and many more from across Ontario.<br>
<br>
If you want to help build this event or learn how you and others in your community can receive the CSUMB, give us a call today. More than anything, come out on October 17 and help us stop McGuinty from getting away with his plans to put people on the streets. Save the Community Start Up Benefit, Raise the Rates NOW!<br>
<br>
More info at: <a href="http://www.ocap.ca/node/1013" target="_blank">http://www.ocap.ca/node/1013</a><br>
<a href="http://www.facebook.com/events/283317985117858/" target="_blank">http://www.facebook.com/events/283317985117858/</a><br>
Contact: <a href="mailto:ocap@tao.ca" target="_blank">ocap@tao.ca</a> // <a href="tel:416-925-6939" value="+14169256939" target="_blank">416-925-6939</a><br>
<br>
JANE and FINCH:<br>
<br>
3:30PM: Demonstrate Against Poverty<br>
Corner of Jane/Finch<br>
<br>
We demand:<br>
<br>
• Raise the rates<br>
• Increase Minimum wage<br>
• Keep the Community Start-Up and Maintenance Benefit<br>
• Restore the special diet program<br>
• Stop police targeting youth<br>
• Affordable: decent housing, healthy food, prescriptions, childcare<br>
<br>
Music<br>
Food<br>
Good people<br>
Fun<br>
<br>
Come celebrate the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty!<br>
<br>
Four years ago JFAAP was formed on the corner of Jane and Finch. Since then, we have done much but poverty prevails and may have gotten worse. We have to continue to resist!<br>
<br>
<a href="http://jfaap.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">JFAAP.wordpress.com</a><br>
<a href="mailto:janefinchactionagainstpoverty@gmail.com" target="_blank">janefinchactionagainstpoverty@gmail.com</a><br>
Organized by Jane Finch Action Against Poverty and Allies<br>
<br>
-----------------------<br><div>
Kitchener-Waterloo<br><br>
Thursday, October 25th<br>
6:30-8:30pm<br>
Poverty Makes Us Sick<br>
More details TBA</div><br></div><br>
</div><br><br clear="all"><div><br></div></div></div><span class="HOEnZb"><font color="#888888">-- <br>Terrie ( <a href="mailto:mocharebyl@gmail.com" target="_blank">mocharebyl@gmail.com</a> )<br>“If you see an injustice being committed, you aren't an observer, you are a participant.” June Callwood <br>
'If it is not on the menu cook it yourself' Buffy St Marie <br><div style="line-height:130%;text-align:left;font-size:10px;overflow:hidden;margin-left:0px;word-wrap:break-word;margin-top:0px;padding:0px">
</div><br>
</font></span></div><br><br clear="all"><div><br></div>-- <br>Terrie ( <a href="mailto:mocharebyl@gmail.com" target="_blank">mocharebyl@gmail.com</a> )<br>“If you see an injustice being committed, you aren't an observer, you are a participant.” June Callwood <br>
'If it is not on the menu cook it yourself' Buffy St Marie <br><div style="padding:0px;margin-left:0px;margin-top:0px;overflow:hidden;word-wrap:break-word;color:black;font-size:10px;text-align:left;line-height:130%">
</div><br>