[homeles_ot-l] Metcalf Foundation Report: Why is it so tough to get ahead? How our tangled social programs pathologize the transition to self-reliance.

Sun May 25 11:57:37 EDT 2008

In the Spotlight.
Metcalf Foundation Report Launch: Why is it so tough to get ahead?
http://www.metcalffoundation.com/story.php/?id=67<http://www.metcalffoundation.com/story.php/?id=67> 
Metcalf Innovation Fellow John Stapleton launched a new report on December 5th, 2007 called: Why is it so tough to get ahead? How our tangled social programs pathologize the transition to self-reliance.  Metcalf Innovation Fellow John Stapleton launched a new report on December 5th, 2007 called: Why is it so ...
http://www.metcalffoundation.com/story.php/?id=67<http://www.metcalffoundation.com/story.php/?id=67> - 4k 

NEWS

Report Launch: Why is it so tough to get ahead? 

Metcalf Innovation Fellow John Stapleton launched a new report on December 5th, 2007 called: Why is it so tough to get ahead? How our tangled social programs pathologize the transition to self-reliance. 

We cannot claim to have people-centred government policies. Not when an 18 year old, lone-parent refugee is considered to be an adult under four policies, a child under two, a student under a third policy, a dependent adult under two others, a non-resident under two, and a legal resident of Canada under four more. And as far as government is concerned, it is her job to sort all this out.

This report documents the disincentives to achieving greater self-reliance within Ontario's welfare, housing and social support system. It aims to make understandable to policymakers and the public how removing subsidies from poor Ontarians in an uncoordinated way makes it impossible for recipients to achieve greater self-reliance.

Research was undertaken with members of the Somali, Vietnamese-Chinese and St. Christopher House communities. The issues of disincentives are viewed through the lens of first generation poor immigrants receiving benefits from multiple sources, and youth who have grown up in public housing in households with social assistance as the main income source.

As the report states:  "Working-age social assistance recipients in Ontario, especially those who are public housing residents live with disincentives. The more they earn, the more they lose in benefits; when they tell the truth, they are punished. The programs within the social assistance and housing system work in isolation from each other. When people start to earn, the various benefit systems, as well as public housing often take back more than they leave behind, giving people little or no incentive to become more self-reliant."

The report outlines a series of recommendations for policy solutions that can be taken right away to eliminate some of the barriers thrown up by multiple subsidies and program policies. The ultimate goal for this report is to call attention to the need for a new governance model - one that enables governments and their agencies to forge policies and procedures in a coordinated way so that the transition to self-reliance is a healthy, supported process for people.

Download a copy of the report<http://www.metcalffoundation.com/downloads/John%20Stapleton%20-%20why%20is%20it%20so%20tough%20to%20get%20ahead.pdf> and the power point <http://www.metcalffoundation.com/downloads/Stapleton%20Slides.pdf>presentation here.

The Metcalf Community Program seeks to strengthen and enhance the effectiveness of people and organizations working together to address the root causes of poverty.

Community:  http://www.metcalffoundation.com/p_community.htm<http://www.metcalffoundation.com/p_community.htm>

Tuitio ad servitium pauperum -- Breath & Shadow: 

"I sit on a person's back, choking them and making them carry me, and yet I assure myself and others that I am very sorry for them and wish to ease their lot by all possible means -- except by getting off their back." ~Leo Tolstoy.

"Those who do not feel pain much, seldom think that it is felt. And yes, to wipe all tears from all faces is a task too hard for mortals; but to alleviate misfortunes is often within the most limited power: yet the opportunities which every day affords of relieving the most wretched of human beings are overlooked and neglected with equal disregard of policy and goodness." 
~ Samuel Johnson.

"Canada is not a country for the cold of heart or the cold of feet." ~ Pierre Elliot Trudeau. 

http://www.metcalffoundation.com<http://www.metcalffoundation.com/>

Live to make a Just Society every day -- Ne lache pas!

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