Did you know 17.5% of Grey Bruce County struggle to afford the food they need?
Food insecurity is not the same as hunger. Hunger is something we all experience from time to time and can be solved with food. Food insecurity results from policy choices that lead to poverty.
Food insecure households make impossible choices everyday between paying for utilities, housing, food for their families, prescriptions, or transportation.
Food Insecurity can be experienced in different ways, from worrying about running out of food before being able to afford more, to compromising on food quality, skipping meals or eating less when there isn’t enough money.
Food Insecurity is a warning sign that a household does not have enough income to meet basic needs. Households that struggle to pay for food also struggle to pay for the other basic needs placing them at higher risk of poor mental and physical health.
Dear Colleagues,
The Poverty Task Force has released its 2023 Annual Report: Building Upon Game Changers. https://povertytaskforce.com/publications/
“Game changers are ideas or procedures that effect a significant shift in the current manner of doing or thinking about something. Game changing is about verbs not nouns. If you can’t see it in action, it’s not a game changer. The best thing about game changers is they build upon themselves. The best leaders proactively focus on pursuing game changers.” – Mike Myett, Hacking Leadership.
This Annual Report identifies game changers, collates poverty-related data, highlights the work of partners and identifies some collective action for 2024. We appreciate all the work that our 72+ partners contributed to poverty-reduction in Grey Bruce.
UPCOMING EVENTS
National Human Trafficking Awareness Day is February 22nd. Two community panels will be held on February 20th in Kincardine and February 22nd in Owen Sound. See attached poster and for more info go to: https://lnkd.in/gvBQFyiw
Giiwe Sharing Circle: the next and last circle will be on March 22nd, 2024 at 10 am- at M’Wikwedong Indigenous Friendship Centre in Owen Sound. Registration details will come out soon. After 6 years of fostering relationships, building trust, and bringing much-needed healing to Grey and Bruce Counties, the M’Wikwedong Indigenous Friendship Centre is no longer able to fund this particular project. Even though M’Wikwedong wishes to build upon the work already started, it will be dependent on finding the right fit and funding stream. Diane Giroux remains available for future collaborations or consultancy services at diane@asharedjourney.ca
INCOME SUPPORTS
LEAP Updates effective March 1st, 2024: The maximum electricity and natural gas grants be increased from $500 to $650. The maximum grant for those heating with electricity be increased from $600 to $780. Distributors CANNOT run out of money. This will impact those companies such as Westario. Anyone who got LEAP in January/February 2024 can get a top up.
Child Care and Early Years Service System Plan: Bruce County is in the process of developing a 5-Year Child Care and Early Years Service System Plan. They are seeking input from community partners by Sunday, March 11, 2024. Provide Agency Feedback: Bruce County Children’s Services (BCCS) Partnering Agency Feedback Survey (surveymonkey.ca)
Community Volunteer Income Tax Program (CVITP): volunteer recruitment has been underway Community Volunteer Income Tax Program in Grey Bruce needs volunteers!
Call 211 or go to Volunteer4BGtaxes.ca to learn more about volunteer opportunities.
Call 211 or go to freetaxclinics.ca for a listing of clinics. This list is being updated daily.
February 19, 2024: Earliest day to file taxes online. This also means the CVITP volunteers can not file any back taxes until after this date.
April 30, 2024: Deadline to file taxes
June 15, 2024 (June 17, 2024, since June 15 is a Saturday): Deadline to file taxes if you or your spouse or common-law partner are self-employed
April 30, 2024: Deadline to pay your taxes
CRA/CVITP has updated its website for the 2024 tax season: They have a long list of Tax credits and benefits for individuals Tax credits and benefits for individuals – Canada.ca including how to apply for the Canada Dental Plan
Learn about taxes for students and educators teaching materials Learn about your taxes – Canada.ca
Prosper Canada has a Benefits guide that walks you through what to do if you have filed or not filed your taxes Home – Benefits wayfinder
The Benefits Wayfinder also has a portal for agencies supporting clients Agency portal – Benefits wayfinder
Bruce Grey Poverty Task Force has pulled together some tools and resources available to support CVITP in Grey Bruce, including some Support to Community Income Tax Services – Bruce Grey Poverty Task Force
NEW DATA
Monitoring Food Affordability in Grey Bruce has been released by the Grey Bruce Public Health using the Nutritious Food Basket Survey results. Monitoring Food Affordability (publichealthgreybruce.on.ca)
Campaign 2000 released its annual report on child and family poverty, Unprecedented Progress on Poverty Reduction Being Undone. The report finds that in 2021, after the historic progress achieved in 2020, Canada saw a sharp upswing in national child poverty rates. As pandemic benefits wound down and the cost of living rose, poverty rates rebounded, resulting in over 1 million children living in poverty. Read more here: Unprecedented Progress on Poverty Reduction Being Undone – Campaign 2000
Campaign 2000 has released Envisioning a Poverty Free Ontario is the Ontario Report Card along with their national report. 2021 T1FF data shows that 449,380 children under 18 continue to live in poverty. 16% of children in Ontario lived in poverty in 2021, an increase of 2.6 percentage points from 2020. This reversed the positive trend from the year before. Compared to 2019 pre-pandemic data, there was a reduction of 121,560 children under 18 living in poverty in 2020, a drop of 4.2% percentage points in the poverty rate. Read more here: Envisioning A Poverty-Free Ontario (campaign2000.ca)
Stay well, Jill
Volunteers are needed in Bruce and Grey Counties to support people who need help in preparing basic income tax returns.
The Community Volunteer Income Tax Program offers free clinics and virtual filing to people with modest incomes in Grey and Bruce Counties.
In 2022, 3,050 people were helped to file their taxes in Bruce, Grey, and Huron Counties at a return of $11 million dollars to our communities.
This is an incredible opportunity to have an impact on the income of seniors, families, and others in our community. You don’t need to be a tax expert to help. Training is provided and you can join other volunteers in your community.
The Poverty Task Force is encouraging people who are interested in volunteering with the Community Volunteer Income Tax Program to call 211 or go to volunteer4bgtaxes.ca
To find a free income tax clinic go to: www.freetaxclinics.ca
