A drive towards a comprehensive strategy to reduce poverty in Prince George will be revived this week after running into some turbulence that saw the whole initiative put on hold for more than a year.
In May 2012, then Children and Family Development Minister Mary McNeil was in this city to announce a pilot program in partnership with the Union of British Columbia Municipalities and that Prince George will be among seven B.C. communities selected to participate.
A consultant was appointed and set out to work with a local committee to develop a plan in consultation with the public, low-income families, service providers and other stakeholders.
And a plan was drafted, but then the provincial election got in the way and the consultant moved on to another position. As a result, the plan developed in 2012 did not move forward.
But now a poverty reduction strategy working group is scheduled to return to action starting with a meeting on Thursday.
Working group member Betty Bekkering said she will attend but also expressed concern that the momentum may have been lost, noting that plenty of good work had been done only to see it put on the shelf.
"There were about 30 of us at the beginning," said Bekkering, a school board trustee. "Every agency in Prince George that deals with the poverty issue was involved...and it fell apart after the election, everything went into this kind of a limbo."
City councillor Murry Krause, who sits on the UBCM healthy communities committee, said he knows committee members have been frustrated with the delay but noted a provincial-level coordinator has been appointed and there's been "more of an investment as well."
Some good work had been done on the ground, he also said. Fifteen local families were selected to participate and with guidance from the consultant, were given help dealing with what can be a complex system.
Achievements noted in an update report released last week included helping a single mother maintain her apartment despite an eviction notice and helping another single mother gather the resources to get her roof repaired.
"The work was also around assisting families navigating the system and certainly our navigator did some great work," Krause said.
In a statement, current Children and Family Development Minister Stephanie Cadieux said the provincial government is continuing to work with families and community partners in Prince George to identify and address key barriers to moving out of poverty.
"At this time, we believe that there is still more to learn so we will be continuing our work in each community and trying to determine whether we will roll it out to other communities," Cadieux said.
