REDUCING POVERTY IN SAINT JOHN
Results of Research Conducted by Deloitte for the Anti-Poverty Initiative
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
May, 2000

Background

The Business Community Anti-Poverty Initiative (BCAPI) was established in 1997 by a group of Saint John business people who wanted to help combat the growing poverty problem in Greater Saint John. Over the past two years, through the efforts of various working groups, BCAPI has undertaken a number of important initiatives including a Job Preparation Fair, establishment of a Child Care Registry, and many others.

In the fall of 1999, BCAPI began to question whether they were directing their energies in the right places, and whether they were truly having an impact on people living in poverty. At that time, they elected to hire an independent party to identify initiatives that could "best effect significant and ongoing reductions in poverty". Simply put, they were looking for focus.

Following a call for expressions of interest, Deloitte & Touche was selected as the independent party tasked with helping the BCAPI focus their efforts.

The Challenge of Finding Focus

There are almost 25,000 people living in poverty in Greater Saint John, 19,000 of whom live in the City of Saint John. More than one in four residents of the City live below the poverty level. All of these people are in need of assistance - assistance with basic needs (e.g. food, housing, health care services, self-esteem), assistance to remove barriers (e.g. childcare, work-related costs), or assistance building skills (e.g. life skills, academic upgrading). BCAPI would be spread too thin if they tried to help everyone. What one group could they target that would have the greatest impact on people living in poverty? How could they help break the poverty cycle?

Research on poverty suggests that a person living in poverty in the City of Saint John is most likely to:

• Be a single parent (43% of families living in poverty are headed by a single parent compared to only 5% of families living above the poverty line)

• Be female (88% of single parents are women)

• Be between 21 and 39 years of age

• Have two children under 5 years of age.

In addition, we know that single parents are:

• Likely to have gotten pregnant as teens, experienced broken relationships or abusive situations

• Unlikely to have finished high school (70% of high school drop-outs cite "personal problems" as their reason for dropping out; pregnancy is a common personal problem)

• Unlikely to be working

• Likely to have ongoing coping or life skills challenges.

Of the more than 19,000 Saint John residents living in poverty, 6,000 are part of single parent families. These 2,000+ single parent families (with an average of two children each) represent the single largest group of people living in poverty in Saint John. Because they include 4,000 children, the majority of which are under 5 years of age, they offer a unique opportunity to break the poverty cycle.

Based on this compelling data, BCAPI has chosen to focus its efforts on helping single parent families move out of poverty.

Targeting Single Parent Families

In an effort to have a long term, positive impact on poverty among single parent families in Saint John, BCAPI wishes to help today's single parent families and prevent others from finding themselves in that situation in the future. Consequently, they have identified four related target groups:

• Teens - both girls and boys, with the objective of preventing teen pregnancy

• Pregnant Teens - to ensure they have a healthy pregnancy and a healthy baby, and to help put the mother on the "right track", able to support herself and her baby

• Single Parents - to get them into the workforce and off Social Assistance

• Children of Single Parents - to provide a foundation that will allow them to succeed in society and break the poverty cycle.

In targeting these four groups, BCAPI need not start from scratch. There are groups within Saint John already doing good work targeting these groups - Community Health Centre, Teen Pregnancy Committee, Boys and Girls Club, to name a few. BCAPI is hoping to support the work of these groups and work with them to implement additional programs targeting single parent families.

In addition, there are organizations throughout North America targeting these four groups. We can learn a great deal from them and can access already developed material and resources. For example, the National (US) Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy and Single Parent Central are two organizations offering a wide range of programs and information sources aimed at several of BCAPI's target groups. These and many other "best practice" organizations are willing to share their learnings to help efforts in Saint John.

On the basis of extensive research into best practices, BCAPI plans to move forward on actions aimed at helping the four target groups. Furthermore, it is the strong desire of BCAPI to partner with existing Saint John organizations and to build on the foundation that exists in the City today.

Next Steps for BCAPI

Over the next few months, BCAPI will focus on three primary activities: communicating their plans, hiring a coordinator, and securing funding.

Effectively helping single parent families will require a coordinated effort; existing community organizations, government and the business community in Saint John must work together in partnership. BCAPI will be communicating their plans and soliciting input from various groups in an effort to create a common vision.

As a volunteer organization, BCAPI is limited in how quickly they can move efforts along and how collaborative they can be in their efforts. Consequently, BCAPI plans to hire a full-time coordinator who will establish partnerships throughout Saint John and proceed to advance the implementation of BCAPI's plans.

Given the need to ensure any programs aimed at single parent families have the appropriate level of funding, BCAPI members will assist with raising the necessary funds in support of their plans.

BCAPI is excited about their plans to assist single parent families in Saint John and is confident that they, in partnership with others, can break the poverty cycle.

Additional Resources:

Deloitte Poverty Study 2000
Deloitte Poverty Study Summary of Recommendations

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