Community Partnerships
- Poverty in Leeds and Grenville Infographic
- Print-friendly Poverty Infographic Frequently Asked Questions
- People living in Leeds and Grenville are living in poverty
- Living in poverty means you do not have enough money for basic needs or to feel included in your community
- Poverty is always related to income, being able to access education, health services, and the feeling of being socially excluded
Let’s Start a Conversation About Health – Leeds, Grenville and Lanark District Health Unit Video
- A living wage is the hourly wage a worker needs to earn to cover their basic expenses and participate in their community
- A living wage is not the same as the minimum wage, which is the legislated minimum all employers must pay and is set by the provincial government
- The living wage draws on community-specific data to determine the expenses to a family with two working adults and two children
- Living wage employers voluntarily decide to pay a living wage because it’s the ethical thing to do
- Children who are living in poverty experience a form of intergenerational and/systemic trauma. Adverse childhood experiences have lifelong impacts on health and well-being
- Children in low-income families are over two and a half times more likely than children in high-income families to have lower functioning vision, hearing, speech, mobility, dexterity, cognition, and pain/discomfort
- Inadequate housing may lead to lower school performance, increased risk of asthma and risk of exposure to lead toxins
- Crowded housing conditions can also contribute to exposure to communicable diseases, diarrhea and vomiting, and lower respiratory tract infections in infants
- Household or individual food insecurity is inadequate or insecure access to food because of financial constraints
- Poverty is the root cause of food insecurity in Ontario
- 9.7% of Leeds, Grenville and Lanark households (approximately 18,680 people) reported being food insecure
- In Leeds, Grenville and Lanark food insecurity means people can’t afford to buy food for a balanced diet, people go hungry, they miss meals and may not eat anything for at least a whole day
- Food charity is the act of giving food to people when they need it most; they can include food banks, community hot meals programs and coupons or vouchers
- Less than 25% of those living with food insecurity use food banks
Food banks can be challenging to access and stigmatizing to walk through the door
- Charity is short-term relief that reaches a small number of people in need
- Public policy is long-term change that reaches more people in need
Public policy removes barriers for people and charity is a bandage solution
Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion: An International Conference on Health Promotion
- Families and individuals living in poverty face challenges with the lack of affordable rental housing and discriminatory practices in the rental application process
- Without appropriate housing it is often not possible to get and keep a job, to recover from mental illness or other disabilities, to integrate into the community, to escape physical or emotional violence or to keep custody of children
- The Ontario Human Rights Commission is committed to providing protection against discriminatory treatment in applying for and living in housing, and a right to adequate housing without discrimination
- All people deserve opportunities to have a healthy life and to realize their own potential in a supportive community – individuals have different needs to have a healthy life
- As a community we can help everyone to have a healthy life by listening to needs and being flexible in supports and services we provide
Making The Connections: Our City, Our Society, Our Health Video
- People living in poverty often feel the stigma of being judged, labeled, isolated or stereotyped
- If someone has experienced shame or negativity they are less likely to reach out for help again
- Sharing what you have is an example of kindness; Kindness has a positive impact on a person’s well-being
- Compassion is the feeling of wanting to ease the suffering of others;
- Connecting to others is a natural human instinct that enhances our health and well-being
- HiAP is an approach on health-related rights (human rights) and obligations (healthy community development) such as access to health care, education, job security, food security and community inclusion
- HiAP encourages politicians (municipal, provincial and federal) to be accountable for the impacts that policies and by-laws have on our health
Health in All Policies: Framework for Country Action – World Health Organization
It’s time to change the way we think and act.