Mayor Nolan Crouse added not only his voice to a list of 14 regional mayors, all united in pledging to eradicate poverty, during a United Way event at St. Albert Place last Friday.
He also added his signature. After a public announcement to a small crowd in the building’s foyer, he put his name to a massive banner under the title “Poverty is solvable.”
“Poverty doesn’t stop at the city boundaries,” stated Ruth Kelly, the chair of the organization’s poverty campaign. “It impacts every community in our region. It will take the concerted effort of all of us to address it, including our governments. And I’m thrilled to have the mayor of St. Albert joining our efforts.”
She added that poverty is a complex problem and collaborative efforts between governments, corporate partners, private citizens and the non-profit sector are necessary in order to even start to address the issue.
“Great things are possible when people work together,” Kelly said.
She continued that there are approximately 120,000 people in the metropolitan Edmonton region who live in poverty; roughly a third of them are children. These children have decreased language and math literacy and are four times more likely to be high school dropouts than their middle class counterparts. There are also long-term health implications including more chronic disease and shortened life spans.
Everything is connected, she continued, so when these children struggle, the rest of society struggles. The economy struggles too. She said the most significant cost of poverty is in “lost opportunity.” Eliminating poverty would add between $5 billion and $7 billion (through increased productivity, tax revenue and consumption) to the province’s economy alone, even before the savings to health care, social supports and law enforcement are even taken into account.
“Imagine what this community would be like if everyone currently living in poverty was instead contributing their talents and energy to our economy. Imagine how much more prosperous, productive and safe our communities would be,” she said.
Crouse agreed.
“When you talk about poverty and low income, everyone is touched,” he announced, adding that civic leaders have an obligation and a responsibility to work to counter the problems.
“Imagine for a moment if every municipality took a public policy position on ending homelessness or ending poverty… can you imagine what would really happen?”
The other communities that joined the coalition include Edmonton, Spruce Grove, Stony Plain, Strathcona County, Leduc, Fort Saskatchewan, Leduc County, Beaumont, Calmar, Devon, Warburg, Thorsby and Redwater.
The United Way has a 70-year history of working to help people achieve financial stability and independence by strengthening the well being of individuals and families.
Donations help the agency to deliver more than 100 programs through its 55 community social service partners including the KARA Family Resource Centre, the St. Albert Family Resource Centre, St. Albert Food Bank, Canadian Mental Health Association, Institute for Sexual Minority Studies and Services and the Community Information and Volunteer Centre, among many others.
The organization’s annual fall campaign kicks off today. Last year, it pulled in a record $23.3 million. A goal for the new campaign was not available by press time.
Members of the public can join in by adding their names to the online statement of support found at www.myunitedway.ca.
