- Brokering role
is important to bridge relationships between different sectors. Also
recognition that sometimes groups are reluctant to talk about issues
with their funders
- Both government
and community agencies take risks in working with each other; previous
negative experiences exist for both
- There are many
benefits to working together; for government, community agencies, and
universities. Often unexpected benefits
- Identified barriers
for government: they see partnerships as cumbersome and time consuming
(especially at first); their concern that groups will have higher expectations
for change; and their limited experience working with a variety of community
partnerships.
Workshop
View From the Front Door
Presented
by Brenda Murphy, UCSN & Rick Hutchins, PolicyLink NB
Community Consultations
on Issues of Child and Family Poverty In New Brunswick
The workshop was based
on information gained in a series of community consultations held throughout
New Brunswick. Both organizations have a focus on issues of Child and
Family Poverty and were seeking public consultation at the community level
on a number of key policy issues.
The presenters offered
background as to the development and purpose of the community consultations
and why the theme "A View from the Front Door" was chosen. They explained
that they were trying to bring poverty to the forefront as a community
issue. To give the issue more visibility and create more awareness in
each community along with an understanding of what their view from the
front door is, it was decided to use "front door" rather than "porch"
so as not to exclude people who live in apartments, primarily in urban
centres.
PolicyLink wanted
to gather information from these communities about their perceptions,
their understanding of poverty (or the realities of poverty in their community)
and how have they taken action i.e. how have they (or have they) moved
from empowerment to capacity. What are the conditions that have to be
(or have been) present to affect change? UCSN 's desired outcomes for
the consultations were to learn more about how their communities are being
impacted by four key public policies, if there are other barriers, what
is happening in their communities and how can their work be supported?
Four sessions were
held leading up to this conference. The communities of St. Stephen, Sussex,
Miramichi and Fredericton each hosted a session. For the purposes of this
workshop, key responses from the consultations were presented to provide
a context for group discussion. The general outcomes of the community
consultations follow.
Outcomes
Although each of the
community sessions was different there were a number of similarities drawn
from the experience. The primary similarities were identified as:
- In general, community
support for agencies and organizations helping to work with conditions
of poverty in the community was high, being in the form of donations
and volunteer support. However, a community understanding of the underlying
conditions and causes of poverty was not strong.
- There was consensus
in all of the sessions that there is a void in broad-based leadership
at the community level. There are many organizations and groups working
with the issue of poverty but no strong and united voice.
- There was a deep
concern that problems in many areas were worsening and that there needed
to be change in policy at a number of levels of government in order
to reflect changing (worsening) conditions.
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