By Kendall Worth!
I have been thinking about the various issues I have been reporting on, and the title popped into my head after thinking about:
The need for the creation of a Union of People Living in Poverty given that BRAG no longer exists.
The need for a Social Prescription Program to get started in Halifax Nova Scotia
The support provided through the Feed Nova Scotia Christmas Program, this year is not going to provide what people living in poverty need this Christmas.
There is a suspected increase in the number of people who are going to be alone for Christmas this year according to the community I am regularly in touch with.
Income Assistance Recipients still have problems with the Employment Support and Income Assistance Program.(ESIA)
The introduction and debate on Bill C22 in Parliament; the end result still a mystery.
The welfare recipient who this story is about, has, in fact, had to retire from her Two day a week Part-Time job, as a cleaner. Her Doctor told her that she should no longer be preforming the work related duties that require heavy lifting, at this job she has been doing for 13 years. This means with this week being her 5th week of not going to work/since retiring but longer due to being off on stick leave before retiring, those 2 days per week means she is now living life even more socially isolated then before. She is happy that she has not been admitted to Hospital yet, and she remains optimistic that getting admitted to hospital can be avoided.
A second quick update is about Katlin’s story. We named her Katlin in this story. It turns out since the story was posted, she got an unexpected phone call from her MLA. who’s staff asked two questions.
#1 – If she would be interested in applying for a housing subsidy? and her MLA advised her that the Housing Subsidy will not affect her Income Assistance.
#2
– her MLA was also able to hook her up with a donation of a
small shopping cart, which Katlin can take on the bus with her.
Katlin has accepted the donation and within the next few days she is
planning to fit whatever little items she can fit into that cart and
make Daily Trips to Value Village and Mission Mart. This may not
cancel out the Need for her to eventually get a truck but
every-little-bit she can get moved out of her apartment on those
upcoming days will help.
The lack of resources is what binds those two stories together and what links them to the title “Ging Jangling” is the fact that limited money to live on means limited money for going out and socializing with people. This is what people, like the two examples above, who are part of the community of people I advocate for, are faced with. Even if an increase in Income Assistance rates, or the passing of Bill of Bill C22 was to happen before Christmas, having more money to live on is not going to solve all the problems that the people in the above stories face.
Unrelated to how much money they have to live on, the reality is, it also requires getting rid of stigma, improving mental health, and, with the new year coming up, organizing an anti poverty protest ...with no one to organize it.
When thinking about Ging Jangling another story comes to mind, which gives some thought to another aspect of the title. . .And then, This article gives another example of Ging – Jangling around with ideas.
The question How to get an Antipoverty Poverty Protest going in the new year, remains unanswered. It would be great to see in spring, when, I suspect, Province House will be sitting again. But, with No-One to Organize it how can it happen? Last year, there was a rally -- some people in the community believe this protest was poorly organized and the organizers could have done better in organizing this event.
If any of you – that is, people living in Social Isolation/Poverty - feel you would benefit from the existence of a Social Prescription Organization in Halifax, and are reading this, I want to let you know I am in discussion with, and working on a proposal with someone in my community, about getting something started. We are not ready yet to go public with the details, but we are planning to announce when we feel the time is right, sometime in the New Year.
I have written extensively about the social isolation of those on social assistance. But there are others, who are not on assistance but who live alone and would benefit from a social prescribing program. A jurisdictional review reveals that other places that already have a social prescription program leads to the organization offering a lot of group activities with opportunities for socializing. This article, from the UK government explains the social prescrption program in England. And here is a link to the Ontario program. Here in Nova Scotia, it is clear that the limited $950.00 Income Assistance, Standard House-hold Rate, encourages Social Isolation. However, many factor are involved.
The following is a SWOT Analysis based on the dream I have for a Social Prescription Program, in Halifax:
Strengths:
Having lived experience myself, plus years of talking about social isolation through my
Outgoing, motivated, friendly
People person, efficient
Goal oriented
Persistent
Helping people in need of making Social Connections.
writing, and, getting to know, through the experience of others, the connection between social isolation and poverty.
Weaknesses:
Networking
People Could run into Difficult situations with making Social Contacts/Friends within the groups we are trying to Create.
Some people, living in poverty, will not show up at organized event/social gatherings unless they know that food is going to be offered. The organization may not always be able to offer food depending on the operating Budget.
Opportunities:
Pursuing this overall plan, gives program directors/staff/volunteers a chance to work with the general public, in particular the community of people living in Poverty, and the Disability Rights Community.
Demonstrating to the community of people living in poverty/mental health consumers, that there are Better off People who do not believe in the stigma about them.
This program could provide an opportunity for students studying social work at Dalhousie to gain work experience.
For people who have things in common to come together and meet.
Creation of new social experiences for the people the program would serve.
For people living in poverty to have other opportunities in their personal lives, besides standing in line at the Food-Bank and Attending the Soup-Kitchens / Dropins for getting out and socializing with people.
Threats:
Some people living in poverty call the Food Banks and Soup Kitchens their way of getting out and socialization with people. That may be all the socializing that those folks need or want.
Some disability Communities already have organized Social Networks.
If you mix the Community of People living in Poverty and the Financially Better off community together, there may be problems, because some people believe the stigma attached to welfare recipients like:
Welfare encourages people to not work.
Welfare recipients can milk the system indefinitely.
Undocumented immigrants abuse the welfare system.
The welfare system is full of loopholes that get exploited at the taxpayers’ expense.
Most welfare recipients are single mom or single men with mental health issues.
People who depend are just too lazy and do not want to work for a living.
People on welfare are uneducated.
In conclusion, although we are working on a proposal to initiate a social prescribing program, in Halifax, we first need to have a clear vision of exactly what we are going to do, and what the program or whole new organization, is going to look like. The SWOT analysis is bassd only on a dream – nothing that is official or funded.
Continuing to ging-jangle around with ideas – I have been tossing around the idea of a Union of People Living in Poverty and that it could be the organization through which social prescriptions could be implemented.
The Number #1 main principle and program I am promoting here, is that those who currently depend on standing in line at the food bank and attending soup-kitchens, want to start having friendships outside of people they know from those places.
Lets find ways to make this reality!
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