The work of the Enough for All (E4A) strategy may look complex and sometimes it is, but as Vibrant Communities Calgary stewards the strategy, it’s our job to help untangle the complexity and work with others toward clarity, finding ways to shape how we all work together to end poverty in our city.

The ultimate vision of the strategy is that ‘we live in a community where there is enough for all.’ As the stewards, we connect organizations and individuals throughout the E4A strategy, across the principles and 10 levers of change (specific areas of focus that must be addressed in order to reduce poverty). Everyone engaged in the strategy must consider how these levers of change present uniquely for Indigenous people, women, youth, seniors, newcomers and refugees, and LGBTQ2S+ people in our community.

Poverty is the condition in which people are without the supports, means and choices needed to attain and maintain a basic standard of living. We know that 189,000 Calgarians live in income poverty (MBM, Canadian Income Survey 2018). It’s also clear that poverty impacts women and racialized individuals disproportionately in our city. 

Poverty and low-income are not the same by definition. However, lack of income is the greatest determinant of poverty. By poverty we mean a number of issues or ‘levers’ such as poor access to healthcare, transportation or housing, lack of opportunity for education and literacy, poor early childhood outcomes, or inadequate income from employment or income supports. Poverty includes many dimensions.

Enough for All Champions are organizations that are working to reduce poverty in our city. Every organization in Calgary has the potential to link to the poverty reduction strategy in some way, whether through clear alignments in organizational mandates, an organization that actively pays employees a living wage or an organization that is community-minded and is working to contribute and act as an agent of change.

Contributions from Enough for All Champions align with the principles of the strategy, and provide expertise, leadership and dedicated resources to support progress within the levers of change; understanding the necessary commitments to the voices of lived experience and the Indigenous community.

Champions' work relates directly to a lever of change or they act as a critical lens across all levers of change. A Champion is a part of a network that works to spotlight initiatives and advance policy changes to address the roots causes of poverty. E4A evaluations create a critical line of sight between action and impact.

Some Champions provide support by building awareness, others align through their day-to-day work, and others dedicate and combine resources (staff time, funding, etc.) to create sustainable groups that capture and mobilize the efforts of all involved.

VCC works with Champions in a number of ways, including increasing public awareness of how together we’re tackling the root causes of poverty and helping make changes to programs, services and supports; as well as changes made to policies, regulations, structures and practices that impact Calgarians living in poverty. 

Individuals can contribute to poverty reduction and champion the strategy by taking the Poverty Pledge and committing to different actions.

In 2021 VCC released a report, Examining Calgary's Emergency Food Assistance System, which sparked various conversations and led to I Can for Kids becoming a Champion in the Spring of 2021. I Can for Kids started out focusing on childhood hunger, trying to fill a gap in the food system by addressing summer hunger. The pandemic pushed I Can for Kids to find a more dignified way of providing food supports to kids and their families and they found that innovations like a shift to gift cards provide financial relief to households, dignified and autonomous access to foods, and enables healthier eating. The goal is to understand the underlying conditions that give rise to food insecurity in order to change outcomes for kids. 

The Justice Sector Constellation has been working for over a decade, seeking to intervene at the intersection of poverty and the legal system so that everyone facing a legal issue can access the justice sector resources and services they need. Great progress has been made in educating about the relationship between poverty and the legal system, including an interactive online module, Poverty and the Law-Expanding Perspectives.

Effective income support programs are the result of effective municipal, provincial and federal policies, and advocating for effective policy requires information-sharing, collaboration and coordination within the human services sector. Vibrant Communities Calgary co-chairs the Social Policy Collaborative, a group of community organizations committed to working together to inform the development and implementation of public policy that improves the economic and social wellbeing of Albertans. This group aims to bring a clear and collective voice to government to advance policy opportunities.

We're all interconnected in some way or another

The Enough for All strategy is in place to raise awareness, to define, and to reduce poverty in our city and to convene and connect the organizations, collaboratives and individuals working in various ways to reduce poverty throughout Calgary.

We recognize the need to address the root causes of poverty. Often the opportunities to effect systemic change are rooted in policy changes. We work with Champions and other collaboratives on various policy and advocacy-related matters, like the Social Policy Collaborative’s work and recommendations on income support, to press for sustained changes. 

We speak up and speak out as the need to capture the attention of decision-makers is required in pursuing long-term changes in the systems we use. 

Our work with the Alberta Living Wage Network has led to in-depth discussions around why it’s important for all employers to pay a living wage. The evidence is clear that increasing wages for the lowest-paid employees can also be an effective spark for the economy because the lowest-paid workers are more likely to spend in their communities. This is especially important as policymakers talk about a just recovery.

We question how much more information we need to gather before we act. Action comes in numerous ways, big and small. We greatly appreciate and honour the voices of lived experience and the sentiment behind the phrase ‘nothing about us without us.’ 

Our work with the Canadian Poverty Institute has provided important findings on the depth of poverty, food security, and poverty broken down by each ward in Calgary. These findings challenge the stigma around poverty, showing that individuals in poverty can be highly educated or work multiple jobs, yet individuals may still be confronted with circumstances that are out of their control, reinforcing the fact that poverty is not about individuals, it’s about systems.

As we consider how we impact poverty in our communities, we must look at intervention and prevention.

While many social change efforts are typified as prevention, the majority of effort particularly in the social services sector can be identified as intervention. Food banks, shelters, reading support programs, policing, health services, mental health supports, etc. mostly deal with individuals who have already experienced a crisis and require an intervention to help prevent further challenges.

One question to think of is, which efforts prevent poverty from occurring, and which efforts are supporting those who have already entered a state of poverty? As a general rule, primary prevention efforts usually stem from impacting the conditions or causal systems that create the problem; while intervention efforts focus on meeting immediate, usually individual needs in real time. 

VCC uses a collective impact approach, an intentional way of working together and sharing information, for the purpose of solving a complex problem like poverty. 

We do this through an active governance structure that includes guidance from our Indigenous Advisory Committee and the lived experience of Poverty Talks! members.

We also bring members of the community together to address the root causes that contribute to poverty. We convene,       support, advocate and build public will. 

Considerations as we approach poverty reduction

Leave the stigma behind, challenge your assumptions about poverty. 

Try not to focus on poverty based on one individual, poverty has to do with systems and structures. 

Take political action to influence government – voting, letters, political engagement, etc.

Become more educated about poverty, spread awareness, focus on the root causes.

Choose to volunteer or engage in community service.

Consider the systems that are maintaining poverty in our city and seek change.

What the Enough for All strategy proposes is that Calgarians come together not to have the same conversations we’ve already had or affirm the status quo. We aren’t just here for incremental change; we are pushing for ways to be innovative in the disruptive and game-changing spaces where we can transform the lives of Calgarians and apply generational thinking. 

Collective impact and collaboration at the centre of reducing poverty in Calgary

Enough for All Changemakers constantly ask ‘what’s possible?’

Enough for All Changemakers constantly ask ‘what’s possible?’

Collective impact and collaboration at the centre of reducing poverty in Calgary

Enough for All – the work

E4A Champions take action

Champion highlights

We're all interconnected in some way or another

Considerations as we approach poverty reduction

Ways everyone can help reduce poverty

Transformative change