Poverty Reduction Survey

Wednesday, 15 October 2014 at 05:27

Social Planning Council of Oxford look to get the conversation started about poverty reduction.

WOODSTOCK - Municipal candidates from across the County were given to the opportunity to weigh in on poverty reduction.

Every candidate except for those in Norwich Township were contacted to take to take part in the survey which was meant to serves as a starting point to an ongoing conversation about poverty in Oxford County.

Executive Director of the Social Planning Council Oxford, Ashley Farrar says while she realizes a lot of the questions were geared more toward County Council members, she was disappointed there wasn't more participation from the candidates.

"I think that it's very clear from some of the responses that poverty reduction is a conversation that needs to be happening at a broader level so that we all have a common understanding of what things can be done together and what has an impact on poverty at the municipal level."

"I was very encouraged that some of the candidates responses included things like regardless of whether or not they were elected, this is an area they would like to see improvements in."

According to Farrar, based on the 2010 after tax Low Income Measure, 12.3% of families live in low income in Oxford County.

Farrar says the survey was an excellent resource in helping community members to identify areas that could use further exploration with our local leaders.

"Municipal government has a key role to play in poverty reduction and it's something that is happening in other communities. Our purpose is to get a sense of what the candidate think of poverty reduction, what the role of the municipality is and sort of what are some of the areas we could do some work in in Oxford County but also figuring out what some of the areas that maybe some of the candidates don't know quite as much about."

Farrar says this is a great tool for figuring out next steps for discussion and projects.

Survey results can be found online at: http://spcoxford.ca/vote-2014.