Niagara Prosperity Initiative Evaluation
In 2018, Niagara Region Social Assistance and Employment Opportunities was awarded funding from the province's Local Poverty Reduction Fund for a three-year research project to review the impact of the Niagara Prosperity Initiative program and to make recommendations for change.
We contracted Brock University to provide the report "Connecting the Pieces: An Evaluation of the Niagara Prosperity Initiative and Call for a Broader Poverty Reduction Strategy for Niagara" which contains five broad recommendations.
The report includes an assessment of the cumulative impacts of over a decade of grant funding for poverty reduction and alleviation projects through the Niagara Prosperity Initiative. Information gathered from testimonials, surveys and interviews established three major themes on how these funded projects benefitted participants. The projects:
- Helped individuals develop supportive social networks
- Facilitated individuals' learning in various ways
- Contributed to individuals' growing self-efficacy
Key recommendations from the report
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Recommendation one: Develop a comprehensive Niagara Region poverty reduction strategy
Niagara Region must commit to resituating the Niagara Prosperity Initiative as one component of a larger comprehensive poverty reduction strategy.
The Niagara Prosperity Initiative is one piece of the puzzle embedded in a wider range of actors, services and strategies needed to affect meaningful and lasting change.
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Recommendation two: Increase investment in poverty reduction
The Region needs to ensure that its ongoing anti-poverty efforts are supported by an appropriate level of staffing, comparable with those of ambitious and successful anti-poverty programs elsewhere.
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Recommendation three: Make deliberate investments and provide longer funding terms
A model based on deliberate investment and longer funding terms has the additional benefit of mitigating the unpredictability and fragmentary nature of services provided through time-limited contracts.
- Recommendation four: Guide investments with enhanced research
The identification of priorities, tactics and points of service should be guided by strong, up-to-date and finely grained research.
To accommodate a deliberate approach to funding, investment is needed to collect, develop and share data and strategies with stakeholder and providers in a way that is transparent, responsive and receptive to community feedback.
- Recommendation five: Design all services for social inclusion aligned with poverty reduction priorities
Niagara Region's various departments design and implement public services. Making such services optimally accessible and functional for vulnerable citizens is itself a form of poverty reduction.
Future responses to poverty
To support Niagara Region's future responses to poverty, staff worked with The Clarico Group Inc. (Clarico) to use the results of the Brock study to:
- Gain an understanding of the Region's broader investments in poverty reduction
- Propose an approach for the implementation of a broader poverty reduction strategy that would consider the investments made in this area
- Propose a new approach for Niagara Prosperity Initiative investments in the context of a broader poverty reduction strategy
Five action items for 2022 to 2024
The following action items will be the focus of work over 2022-2024:
- Develop a Niagara Region Poverty Reduction Strategy led by Niagara Region, Community Services, aligned with the Community Safety and Well-Being Plan, and engage multiple stakeholders under a common agenda
- Establish an Niagara Region Poverty Reduction Strategy Steering Committee, including a Regional councillor as a champion, also aligned with the recommended actions in Niagara's Community Safety and Well Being Plan
- Transition Niagara Prosperity Initiative in-house to Community Services to lead the development of a Niagara Poverty Reduction Strategy informed by Brock University and Clarico Group Inc. recommendations
- Align the request for proposal process with existing initiatives internal and external to the Region to make deliberate investments and provide longer funding terms
- Guide investments with enhanced research and use data to inform decisions on a poverty approach grounded in best practice
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