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•T he IFP• H alton H ills, Thursd ay, M ay 2, 2013 15 come see for yourself Alicia Tait, Mississauga the food we buy at FreshCo is so fresh and such a good price" " Dairy Farmers of Ontario would like to thank all of the volunteers that help run the Elementary School Milk Program. Milk Coordinators and their helpers have been volunteering their time in over 2800 Ontario elementary schools for the past 26 years. Cold, nutritious milk is made available to over 1,000,000 students daily, with their dedicated help. Elementary School Volunteers Get involved! Learn more or to start an Elementary School Milk Program please visit www.milkinschool.ca. Milk. Really keeps kids going. Attitude to poverty must change People in poverty are just busy surviv- ing, says Community Development Halton (CDH) Research Associate Rishia Burke. Some are barely scraping by on social assistance; others are caught up working multiple jobs so that they can continue to provide for their families. Burke said she can't imagine the "tremen- dous stress" that comes along with surviv- ing-- the hard choices people have to make each and every day, the isolation felt when you feel you have no one to turn to for help. She said communities are fragmented in a way now where we're too afraid to talk to each other when we could be working to- gether to build healthy neighbourhoods. CDH believes that poverty can be elimi- nated if everyone, including governments and community groups, come together to build strong and supportive communities. "It is structural in how we respond to it and poverty is something we know enough about that we can change it," said CDH Executive Director Joey Edwardh. Edwardh said that, although the recession has helped people understand there are bigger causes that create unemploy- ment than a person who just doesn't want to work, there are still misconceptions about those living in poverty. "Halton's stereotyping of the poor when you don't see people and don't want to know has always been something we've had to deal with here at CDH," she said, adding that CDH has been going out into the neighbourhoods to break these stereotypes, engaging in community building activities. A part of its strategy to tackle poverty is bringing neighbours together to build "their own relationships and trusts and what we call in our business 'social capital' to effec- tively take action together to make their neighbourhood a better place for them to live and for their children to grow up in or for their seniors to be contributing mem- bers," said Edwardh. It's a slow methodical process, but one CDH believes is essential. The organization has been working with other groups to build community gardens. It has also been engaging groups across Hal- ton to hold events in their respective com- munities like dinner and movie nights or community dinners. CDH has also been working with sports groups to make recreation more accessible to low-income families. Meanwhile, members of the Halton Pov- erty Roundtable (HPRT) have been working to raise awareness among the region's poor about government services, such as guaran- teed income supplements, tax credits and more, which many qualify to receive but which few actually use. Easing the bureaucratic nightmare low- income families must go through to get the services they need was another suggestion that emerged from talks with the commu- nity undertaken by the HPRT. Specifi cally the group is calling for the creation of a Halton Housing Centre so there would be one place peo- ple could call to fi nd out about housing supports within the Halton community. In an effort to address the af- fordable housing needs in Hal- ton communities, Halton Re- gion has been looking at ways to increase the units currently being offered. Sheldon Wolfson, the Re- gion's social and community services department commis- sioner, said Halton administers 4,299 assisted housing units, which is a mixture of social housing units (3,997), afford- able housing units (302) and rent supplement and housing allowances (684). Through it's Investment in Affordable Housing Program, the Region plans to build 300 assisted housing units by 2014. Wolfson said the units will be a mix of new units and subsidies through new rental assistance programs. "In partnership with Habitat for Human- ity Halton, 20 eligible households will re- ceive down payment assistance," he added. "These units are included in the 300 assisted housing units." Its investment in building these units is $1.6 million, according to the Region's 2013 budget, and another $810,000 will help sup- port low-income residents through the Com- munity Homelessness Prevention Initiative, which combines fi ve housing and homeless- ness programs into a single, municipally- delivered program to better address local priorities. The Region's budget also includes an additional 100 child care fee subsidies for low-income families and additional special needs services for about 20 children. Living in Poverty A Special Report By JULIA LE and DAVID LEA Metroland Media Group Part 4 of a 4 part series Rishia Burke is a Re- search Associate with Community Develop- ment Halton , who goes door-to-door looking to foster inclu- sion. Photo by Graham Paine/Metroland West Media Group For more visit www.theifp.ca