[homeles_ot-l] 1) Ottawa Poverty Reduction Network meeting; 2) Nat'l Poverty Reduction Summit 3) Prov Pov Red $$$ and other news

[Linda Lalonde]

Hi folks,



I have three things to pass on today - the OPRN is meeting April 22nd at 9:30; there's a national Poverty Reduction Summit in Ottawa May 6th to 8th and the province has put out a call for Expressions of Interest (EOI), due May 5th, for local projects. {Don't panic totally since you can just submit to the RFP which isn't due until June.}

1) The OPRN meeting is 9:30 - noon on April 22nd at Rideau-Rockcliffe CRC, 225 Donald St and we will be talking about the provincial initiative and other pieces of Ontario's Poverty Reduction Strategy as well as plans for local activities in May and June. From 11 - 12, we will be talking about the PR Summit and how Ottawa's participants can get the best value out of our time there. One of the suggestions is that we ensure that someone is in each of the workshops so we can bring the info back to the community. Anyone who's going to the Summit is invited to come to this part of the meeting. Please let me know if you will be at all or part of the meeting.
2) From May 6 - 8, there is going to be a national Poverty Reduction Summit in Ottawa. I've attached the agenda which will give you an idea of who/what. Don't panic about the registration price which is ridiculously high - and yes, as a matter of fact, I have told them that - there is a group discount that has been worked out through the efforts of some Ottawa folks. Unfortunately, the reduction is not as substantial as it should be but the price is down to $450. If you're interested in getting in on that group, let me know. It's also possible to share a registration if you can't go to the whole thing.
Our hope is that we can get a number of people there and then afterwards get everyone together to share what we heard with each other and the community. One of the attractions of attending is that there will be folks from across Canada who are involved in anti-poverty work whose brains we can pick. 
If you are going to the Summit, please consider coming on April 22nd at 11 to the OPRN meeting.
3)  The province has released the details of the local funding that was promised in their current 5-year Poverty Reduction Strategy (PRS) that came out last September. (If you want to see the full Strategy, it's at http://www.ontario.ca/home-and-community/realizing-our-potential-ontarios-poverty-reduction-strategy-2014-2019-all)
The local fund is for $50M for the whole province which is spread over 6 years - in the Strategy, it says it would be over 5 years - which isn't a lot of money. It will be even less for an actual program since there's a heavy requirement for third-party evaluation included. There is no indication of how many projects they will fund but you can assume they will be trying to spread the money around the province and to fund a range of different types of projects. That being said, this could be a great opportunity to highlight a local idea. 
It's not necessary to do the EOI process - you can go directly to the second stage and just respond to the RFP which will be due some time in June. The advantage of going through the EOI process is that they will give you feedback before you put in your final application. {Okay, I'm breaking down - I have to add that the EOI process has nothing to do with barnyard animals or Old McDonald. That's EI-EIO!!} There are several ideas percolating in the community about possible projects and we'd love to hear of other concepts. 
The other PRS-related news is that, in late January, they announced that a panel has been set up to advise the government on how to reach the goal in the Strategy of eliminating homelessness There's more info at http://news.ontario.ca/mah/en/2015/01/ontario-appoints-panel-to-look-at-ending-long-term-homelessness.html. You will note that the panel members are "experts" of the non-experiential type. Their first job is to define homelessness. 

There will be other poverty reduction events coming up in the next few months and I'll pass them on as details are available.
Hope to see you at the OPRN meeting and/or the Summit,
Linda. “The man who moves a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.” 
Confucius
  
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