Will you be encouraged to work after 67?

Two questions raised by Donna McCaw  in a recent article bear some consideration. The first question is about poverty in the over 65 crowd.

She states, that based on a the Luxembourg Income study the Canadian middle class is the richest in the world along with Britain, and richer than our American counterparts! Great news for the middle class, however, the elderly poverty rate has been rising since the mid 1990’s and then there are the bankruptcy rates for the over 65 crowd to consider.

The conference Board of Canada states that by 2050, the number of people aged 65 and older will more than triple, to 1.5 billion worldwide. Aging presents a significant challenge to the long-term sustainability of public finances through increases in demand for public pensions, health services, and long-term care in Canada and its peer countries. Together, rising life expectancy and low fertility create a demographic pincer movement, the impact of which is sharpened by increasingly early retirement. In Europe, there are about 35 people of pensionable age for every 100 people of working age. If present demographic trends continue, there will be 75 pensioners for every 100 workers in 2050.

Canada, like its peers, has a greying population. In 2030, an estimated 23 per cent of the Canadian population will be over age 65, double the share in 1990.

Elderly poverty is both a social and a fiscal problem that will be exacerbated as higher percentages of populations in developed countries move into the over-65 demographic. Poverty rates among the elderly tend to be highest among women, particularly widows over the age of 75. This is largely due to pension allowances that have traditionally been linked to employment history

Should we be concerned because in   Canada,  the poverty rate  amongst seniors is now at 6.7 per cent.  Canada’s publicly supported retirement security system comprises a universal component (Old Age Security), a negative income tax (Guaranteed Income Supplement), and an earnings component (Canada/Quebec Pension Plan). The first two establish an income floor that is available to all, regardless of participation in the paid labour force. Canada over time has reduced the poverty rate amongst seniors.

Dalhousie University economics professor Lars Osberg has called the reduction in the elderly poverty rate over the past three decades “the major success story of Canadian social policy in the twentieth century.

According to OECD data, Canada’s elderly poverty rate increased from 2.9 per cent in the mid-1990s to 6.7 per cent in the late 2000s. The biggest jump occurred in the group of elderly people living alone—most likely widowed women.

Statistics Canada, however, has Canadian data going back to 1976. Using this data set, Canada’s elderly poverty rate fell by an extraordinary 25 percentage points—from 36.9 per cent in 1976 to 12.3 per cent in 2010.

The pronounced decrease in Canada’s elderly poverty rate has largely been attributed to the implementation of the Canada Pension Plan and Quebec Pension Plan in 1966. Pensions as a proportion of disposable income among Canada’s elderly more than doubled between 1980 and 1996, from 21 to 46 per cent.The first cohort to receive full public pensions turned 65 in 1976. The generation that followed became the first beneficiaries of private occupational pensions that were expanded between the 1950s and the 1970s.

According to a recent Statistics Canada report, the increase in the low-income rate for seniors indicates that their income has not risen as quickly as the income of non-seniors. The report’s authors suggest that a possible factor behind the slower growth of seniors’ income was the slowed growth of government transfers to seniors: Starting from the early 1990s, the median government transfers to seniors increased at a slower rate relative to the period before the early 1990s. Indeed, from 1976 to 1994, the annualized growth rate of median government transfers to seniors was 8.7 per cent, while from 1995 to 2009, the annualized growth rate was 2.0 per cent.

If current trends continue, the sustainability of public pensions and Old Age Security may be at risk and that may mean an increase in poverty amongst seniors.

There are a number of ways to offset the labour force and fiscal pressures that will arise as a result of Canada’s aging population: The one favoured by the Conference Board of Canda is to develop policies and practices to increase the labour force participation of older people

Indeed, most developed countries have introduced policies and organizational practices that target older workers, including:

• reducing incentives for workers to take early retirement
• encouraging later retirement and flexible retirement
• passing legislation to counter age discrimination
• helping older workers find and keep jobs

Another plea to help the food bank in your community

I am a big supporter of the Food Bank in my community and the need is great at this time of the year. Each and every gift counts.  I received the following email from Food Banks Canada and thought I would share and ask you to help support your local food bank.  

 The need is great this year, and that’s because more families are needing our food banks. In fact, as you may have read in our recent HungerCount report, approximately half of the people that come for help to our local food banks will do so for the first time this year.

You may have seen another troubling figure in our report —38% of food banks have been forced to cut back the amount of food they provide to each household because they don’t have enough on their shelves.

And that’s why we count on you.

Will you please make your gift to Food Banks Canada right now? You’ll help us meet an immediate, critical need for food this winter by helping us support local food banks who provide food every day to those most in need.

Your gift will be put into action to support our network - feeding more of our neighbours today—hungry men, women and children in your community and across Canada. And your gift also helps us prevent hunger tomorrow by advocating for change to address the root causes of poverty like unemployment, lack of affordable housing and insufficient pensions.

Please, make yourself count today. Help us ensure that our local food banks are able to give our neighbours the food they need this winter and holiday season.

Yours in caring for our neighbours,


Katharine Schmidt 
Executive Director 

The Catalyst Center

I have posted on this before, as a Board member I would encourage anyone who has any ideas on how to help us to get in touch with us at SHARE. The following editorial was in our local Newspaper and shows we have support for this idea, we just need innovative people to come forward.

Nearly 3,000 Tri-Cities households received food last year from the food bank run by Share Family and Community Services and those numbers don’t show any signs of dropping.

Week in and week out, hundreds of people line up outside one of three food banks in the Tri-Cities. They get a bag of groceries, a kind greeting and leave a little lighter, except for the bag of pasta, canned food and other ingredients in their arms.

The community is happy to support the food bank and no doubt there is a lot of need.

But could there be a better way to deal with poverty and hunger?

Share seems to think so and is looking at creating a new model of food bank, the Catalyst Centre, which would do more than simply collect and distribute food. If the model gets the go-ahead after six months of development and funding is identified, people who now get food from the food bank would also have a case worker to help them figure out how they can become more independent and improve their quality of life, and what they need to achieve this transition.

Job skills, language skills, whatever it takes, Share would find a way to match food bank clients with resources to help them improve their lot in life. Some food bank clients might even give back as volunteers in the community (though it wouldn’t be a requirement for food), thereby enriching their own relationships in the community with all the social and economic benefits that would entail.

Locating community resources in one area with case management and referral is not a new idea. But transforming the food bank from a simple collect-and-distribute model to one that is more responsive is novel and worth considering. For it to work, however, Share must leverage existing resources and government services rather than relying on community generosity, which is already stretched.

A hand up instead of just a hand out is a smart idea, and we wish Share all the best in this transformation.

The Tri-Cities Catalyst Centre

Many of you are aware that I am on the Board of Directors of SHARE Family and Community Services which serves the Tri-Cities (Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam and Port Moody, BC). The Board recently approved the investigation of a new model of delivery for some of our services.

  As part of the new model,  SHARE has issued a Request for Proposals and we hope to have selected an individual or firm to help us complete the development of the model. The information below may help and the RFP information is included here. If you are interested check out our website for more information.

Backgrounder

Every year, SHARE is the “starting point” for thousands of people who need assistance. Although we have been active in the Tri-Cities for 42 years, we sometimes struggle to keep up with the different programs and services that are available to vulnerable people in our community. If this is happening within our agency, it is safe to say it is happening on a larger scale in the Tri-Cities.

If we struggle to stay abreast of the services available in our community, imagine the challenge that clients face in navigating the system and getting the help that they need, especially when we consider that they are often dealing with significant income, health, mental health, language, housing, abuse and/or other issues.

In response to this challenge, SHARE will be developing a new approach to providing services for people who are struggling to meet their basic needs: a “Catalyst Centre” model, that will help clients develop the skills and get the support they need to move forward. Potential services might include:

The focus of the proposed Catalyst Centre will be to quickly and clearly understand the needs of clients and to bring together, in one location where possible, the services and supports required to help them develop and implement a plan to move forward.  Putting this information and support under one roof, or in a campus or networked setting, would:

ü  Lessen the travel, time and cost burdens for people with limited incomes and limited transportation options;

ü  Help us consolidate our information-gathering systems, to create a clearer and more reliable picture of service needs, outcomes and other useful information;

ü  Create more opportunities to leverage skills, knowledge, relationships and resources from multiple individuals and agencies, towards common goals;

ü  Simplifying referral procedures between services and agencies;

ü  Identifying and addressing unnecessary duplications of systems and processes that create delays in service.

Clients will complete an intake process where key information is gathered and initial priorities related to basic needs are established. Clients will be assigned a Coach who will be their primary contact and who will act as a case manager, advocate and referral agent. The Coach will help clients develop a realistic plan and will regularly check in with clients to monitor their progress and provide feedback and other support where appropriate.

The goals that will be pursued, in all circumstances, are increased independence and improved quality of life for all clients, which could mean:

- improved ability to secure and prepare appropriate food;

- improved employment-related skills that are appropriate for the labour market;

-   participating in recreation programs;

- achieving a high school diploma;

- getting government identification cards;

- staring a small business;

- finding affordable child care;

- improving literacy skills;

- learning a new language;

- dealing with a chronic health or mental health concern;

- finding stable housing;

- escaping abuse;

- building supportive and constructive relationships;

- dealing with an addiction.

Our interactions with clients will focus on finding their strengths, helping them build their skills and knowledge, asking them to be part of their own solution and asking them to give back.

It may seem counter intuitive to ask people with significant economic and other challenges to give back, but the very act of asking clients to give back communicates that they have something important to give to others, which is a value that SHARE supports. Giving back could mean many things, including:

- helping to raise, sort, cook or distribute food;

- child minding;

- repairing broken items;

- tutoring;

- teaching others how to use a computer, or a mobile device;

- leading a cooking class;

- planting a community garden;

- providing translation services;

- helping with an afterschool program;

- translating;

- preparing tax returns.

The Catalyst Centre model will not require clients to give back in order to receive the support, but, where and when it is appropriate,  we will invite clients to participate, which moves us further towards an approach that is based on an exchange of value.

We believe that there are many potential benefits attached to this new direction, including:

ü  Developing and implementing a more substantial data gathering and reporting function, built on stronger intake and client engagement  processes, that will help us identify:

- gaps in service;

- approaches that work;

- approaches that don’t work;

- service trends in the Tri-Cities.

ü  Creating opportunities for clients to experience more success and to gain critical new skills and self-confidence.

ü  Developing more meaningful opportunities for volunteers to provide service and support.

ü  Decreasing the amount of time it takes for clients to get the services they need.

ü  Decreasing transportation, child care and other costs for clients, by offering more access to services in one location.

At this stage, the Catalyst Centre model needs to be more fully developed. SHARE has issued a Request for Proposals and we hope to have selected an individual or firm to help us complete the development of the model, including:

ü  A complete funding proposal, including rationale, that can be submitted to multiple potential funding sources for support

ü  Roster of permanent and itinerant services to be provided

ü  Complete intake and referral procedures

ü  Data gathering and reporting systems and procedures

ü  Staff organization chart and job descriptions

ü  Start-up and annual operating budgets

ü  Potential sources of funding

ü  Potential service partners (permanent and itinerant)

ü  Service delivery space requirements and flow

ü  Completed logic model

We are excited about the development of the new model and believe that this evolution of service delivery will increase our ability to bring efficient and effective services and support to vulnerable people in our Tri-Cities community. We will be looking for input from people and groups throughout our community as the Catalyst Centre model is developed.