Union of People Living in Poverty?

 

Union of People Living in Poverty??

By – Kendall Worth!

I want to start this post off by going back to this BLOG Post where I broke the news that the Benefits Reform Action Group (BRAG) is no longer up and running. Since this post was published I had the opportunity to sit down with people who have given me a few ideas to look at, while thinking about starting a brand new group with different membership and a different agenda. The agenda is related to, but adds onto, the demands of BRAG.

In this article, I brought up different ideas for re-branding BRAG, and what a new group could look like. New agenda items for a new group, as I talked about in this link, include:

• Maybe the original BRAG membership could merge with the Basic Income Group and start advocating for a Guaranteed Income/ Basic Income.

• Maybe a New-and-Improved-Benefits-Reform-Action-Group could offer more, maybe first voice Counselling and Support Services.

• Maybe we need to do a better job of making sure we are inclusive of all genders and communities (that would be the goal moving forward)

One person, (from the link above) suggested we could go about starting to promote a new and improved group by starting with a public event, at the Central Library, to educate the public on what role BRAG filled, why we need something new and what the name and agenda of such a group should be. The new group could be something like the Union of People Living in Poverty (UPLP).  Would you attend such a meeting at the Central Library? 

Conversations in the community have continued since my blog posts about the demise of BRAG on January 23, 2022 and April 27, 2022 . These conversations continue because in the past we needed an organization like BRAG , to be a voice, for first voice folks, and to speak up for them. Everyone having these conversations agrees that advocacy to raise the Income Assistance rates needs to continue. But there are other concerns and we need to begin talking about social isolation and mental health services,  and the gaps and problems that exist. We need to listen to First Voice Folks to express solutions that might work, and to lobby for them. Others want to ensure that we can also be a self-help group – a support group – and help each other with mental health and social isolation and even affordability. We know that some folks were put off by BRAG meeting with the government but that is how you advocate for an increase in Income Assistance Rates and Getting Community Services improvements, and that must continue.

People I have been having these conversations with have asked: “Considering that the government has no control over the belief in stigma, what do I expect any organization, or the government to do about it?”

It was suggested to me that perhaps there are things a service organization can do to help people with social isolation that an advocacy group cannot do. Our goal as BRAG was to raise the rates and get better supports in place. That may be why other items (Meaning Non Directly Related Items to the Employment Support and Income Assistance Program within itself) got put on the back burner, and today we know that they matter a lot.

There are some areas where the mental health issues, experienced by Income Assistance Recipients, is making them not want to return work, or do any advocacy to make their situation better – often things that are the jurisdiction of Department of Health and Wellness.

Maybe when it comes to considering a new organization, we have to recognize that we will have to meet with and lobby not just Community Services bureaucrats and minister, but to also set up meetings with Department Of Health and Wellness Officials and Minister. While meeting with the Department Of Community Services Minister will be for the purpose of continuing the fight to raise the Income Assistance rates and advocating for other DCS policy changes, meetings with Health and Wellness minister and officials would be to find ways to improve the lives of Income Assistance clients where the mental health system needs to take the lead, and to discuss solutions that can be offered through the mental health system in Nova Scotia.

It may be a good idea to look at at the possibility of establishing a real non-profit service/support AND advocacy organization, that would bring together folks with disabilities, Income Assistance recipients and the working poor – all those who are “people living in poverty”. However, we need to look at advantages versus disadvantages.

I have concerns that if you bring the Community of Income Assistance Recipients and the Financially Better Off Community together, that could increase stigma against the Community living in Poverty. Also for a service oriented Not-For-Profit Organization, unlike an Advocacy group, takes incorporating, writing a Business plan, and getting a Board of Directors behind you. All it takes for an Advocacy group to get started is simply a few to get together and make plans.

I will End this Post by saying “Someday Hopefully Someday A New Voice will Get created to be a voice for all folks living in Poverty in Halifax, and/or Nova Scotia.”

Want to join the Union of People Living in Poverty? Do we need a new group, or is there one we should all be joining?