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Key to helping kids is in good wages for parents One example is the local Boys and Girls Club which runs an after-school program at Bobby Orr, a much-needed service in a community where after-school daycare rates are unaffordable for many. Darlene Ciuffetelli-Parker is an associate professor of education at Brock University, who has looked at how schools tackle poverty. Hero teachers Schools that are successful have hero teachers, who spend their after-school hours writing grant requests for playgrounds and breakfast programs, she said. They are schools that respect the dignity of parents, that make community connections. "It does revolve around how school communities understand deeply what it means to live in poverty and not to blame students and parents for living in poverty, but blaming the conditions of poverty," she said. But she cautions schools cannot eradicate poverty as it requires a more complex economic solution. Schools can only help those who are in school "Schools can fix the conditions of poverty only when the students are at school," she explains. In York Region, 360 Kids Support Services has been in the community for more than 25 years supporting youths between the ages of 13 and 26. Director of Operations Bonnie Harkness explains her organization helps youths incrisis, many of whom are experiencing poverty because of family breakdown or mental health and addiction challenges on the part of the youth or family. "Youths are still kids, it's not the 1950s and you can't pull up your bootstraps and find a job if you don't have a university education and you can't get a university education if you don't have money." The organization serves up to 1,000 youths a year at drop-in centres in Richmond Hill and Vaughan and in early March opened an emergency shelter that already sees 60 youths a day. To battle poverty, 360 Kids supports employment programs and transitional housing services. `Wrapping around' homeless youths "When our kids become homeless, in the past the only opportunity for them was to go downtown... our goal is to wrap around these kids and change their situation." That means housing support that gives them time to develop life and employment skills, partner them with a mentor and slowly work their way up to affording market rate rents. Harkness is now working on adopting the Britain's NightStop program, which would see community members, who have a spare bedroom in their home, partner with youths who need a place to stay. "It's really getting the community involved in dealing with the issue," she explains. Simcoe Hall Settlement House has been reaching out to Oshawa families living in poverty for 81 years, said executive director Elizabeth Fernandes, and still the problem of poverty persists. 31 | Thursday, October 13, 2016 | OAKVILLE BEAVER | www.insideHALTON.com A Boys and Girls Club runs an after-school program at Bobby Orr Public School in Oshawa where after-school daycare rates are unaffordable for many. | Metroland Media Youths are still kids, it's not the 1950s and you can't pull up your boostraps and find a job if you don't have a university education and you can't get a university educatin if you don't have money. Bonnie Harkness I think they really need to come down and see what's going on, be on the frontlines, a lot of the people who come through the doors here say, ` Oh, I didn't realize it was so bad. Elizabeth Fernandes director of operations, 360 Kids Support Services executive director, Simcoe Settlement House Before becoming executive director, she ran the organization's food bank for eight years and saw a mix of families looking for support. Some were generationally poor, Simcoe Hall clients, who visited as children now visiting with their own kids, while others suffered from situational poverty as the region's manufacturing industry hit tough times. In 2015, the organization served 8,023 people, including 2,432 children. Families can visit the food bank once a month and Fernandes said she wishes people could visit more frequently, but the organization already goes through 60,000 pounds of food every three months. Like Harkness, Fernandes emphasizes the importance of life and employment skills as the key to breaking out of poverty. One program, conducted through the local YMCA sees youths paid a minimum wage to take a four-week course where they learn those essential skills. A similar program can be accessed in York Region, said Harkness. "It's been a great course because I've seen some of the kids that have been with their parents that are in this generational thing of the OW (Ontario Works) and that going on and they're breaking out of it," said Fernandes. "It's how to address a person when going somewhere and looking for a job, and just giving them those coping skills, how to budget your money, how to find a job, how to go about doing up a resume, all those things." Fernandes said the key to helping children experiencing poverty is helping their parents and, as it stands, there are a lot of barriers to people breaking the cycle. She points out people who receive Ontario Works rarely receive additional skills training with it and if they find a job, they see their benefits clawed back as expenses for childcare and transportation mount. Many jobs these days are precarious, and a parent, who finds a job can be back two months later after getting laid off, and the cost of food continues to increase. Fernandes said she believes government officials looking to tackle poverty need to look beyond reports and numbers. People need to see it to believe it "I think they really need to come down and see what's going on, be on the frontlines, a lot of the people who come through the doors here say, ` Oh I didn't realize it was so bad,'" she said. Jean-Yves Duclos is Canada's federal minister of families, children and social development. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has appointed him the lead in the creation of a Canadian Poverty Reduction Strategy. Duclos said the first step to addressing child poverty are the changes to the child benefit program announced in the 2016 budget in late March. The changes mean lower income families see their benefits increase while the government cuts universally-available tax credits like the $150 child fitness tax credit, which the government believes were a small dollar figure doled out to many families who didn't need it. Under the new formula, a single parent with an income of $30,000 and a child under the age of six will receive $6,400 a year, tax-free. Those who need it most "It's directed to those families that need it most, nine families out of 10 will benefit from that, it's a very large number of families that will benefit from this change," said Duclos. The poverty reduction plan will include support for indigenous and northern communities, and fund childcare and social housing services through the provinces. In early February, Duclos met with the provincial and territorial social services ministers, the first such meeting in a decade. But even as the federal government prepares to invest in childcare and social housing, the minister cautions that it can never fully address the need. "Those resources will never be enough, they'll be significant, but limited," he said. "We have to think of a manner in which we can use our resources as effectively as possible." At Bobby Orr Public School, Morrison naturally has a wishlist of things that could further benefit her students, but she's proud of what's been accomplished to date. "I've seen a change in the school in two years, a change for the positive," said Morrison. "Kids see a brighter future, our parents are welcome in the school."