State of the INNER CITY Community, Research and Social Change 10th Annual 2014 CANADIAN CENTRECCPA FOR POLICY ALTERNATIVES MANITOBA Community, Research and Social Change: “Its more than a collection of stories: looking back State of the Inner City Report 2014 on State of the Inner City research collaboration” by Shauna MacKinnon isbn 978-1-77125-176-1 “It Takes a Community to Support a Family: December 2014 community based supports for families and the child welfare system” by Molly McCracken and Julia Higgins This report is available free of charge from the CCPA Cover art by Markus Houston, a local Aboriginal artist website at www.policyalternatives.ca. Printed living in Winnipeg. Used with permission for the State copies may be ordered through the Manitoba Office of the Inner City Report. [email protected] for a $10 fee. We would like to thank the funders of this year’s Please make a donation. Help us continue to offer State of the Inner City Report. We acknowledge the our publications free online. generous financial support of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada through We make most of our publications available free the Manitoba Research Alliance grant: Partnering for on our website. Making a donation or taking out a Change - Community-based solutions for Aboriginal membership will help us continue to provide people and inner city poverty. with access to our ideas and research free of charge. You can make a donation or become a member on-line at www.policyalternatives.ca. Or you can contact the Manitoba office at 204-927-3200 for more information. Suggested donation for this publication: $10 or what you can afford. Unit 205 – 765 Main St., Winnipeg, MB R2W 3N5 tel 204-927-3200 fax 204-927-3201 email [email protected] Acknowledgements CCPA – MB would like to thank the many peo- - Rob Neufeld, Executive Director, North End ple who guided this year’s project, participated Renewal Corporation in various meetings and reviewed drafts of this - Darcy Penner, Canadian Community Educa- report. The State of the Inner City Report would tion Development Network (CCEDNET) not be possible without the vision and commit- - Gerrie Prymak, North End Stay and Play ment of our many community partners. Thank - Maria Vigna, Rossbrook House to the advisory committee: - Jim Silver, Urban and Inner City Studies, Uni- - Cynthia Drebot and Tammy Hansen, North End versity of Winnipeg Women’s Centre, Lorie English, West Central - Sharon Taylor, Wolseley Family Place Women’s Resource Centre, Dilly Knoll, An- - Allan Wise, Centre Neighbourhoods Renewal drews Street Family Centre, Bobette Shoffner, Corporation Mount Carmel Clinic, Kate Sjoberg, West Cen- tral Women’s Resource Centre, Tanya Viner, We would like to give a special thank you to Wahbung Abinoonjiiag. Cheyenne Henry and Cheryl James, the com- munity researchers on this project. Thank you Thank you to those who participated in the meet- very much to the parents who participated in ings to guide the research themes: the interviews. - Clark Brownlee, Right to Housing Coalition - Michael Champagne and Grace Scott, Abo- Thank you to the funders of the State of the In- riginal Youth Opportunities ner City Report, all of whom have been long time - Jesse Gair, Daniel MacIntyre St. Matthews supporters year after year: Assiniboine Credit Community Association Union, United Way of Winnipeg, Social Sciences - Darlene Klyne, Tom Simms, Joan Johnson, and Humanities Research Council through the Community Economic Development Asso- Manitoba Research Alliance. Thanks also to all ciation (CEDA) those who financially support CCPA – MB, our - Heather Leeman, Block by Block Initiative organization contributes in-kind to the project - Jamil Mahmood, Spence Neighbourhood As- as well. This project would not have been pos- sociation sible without all of you. - Greg Macpherson, West Broadway Commu- nity Organization Community, researCh and soCial Change: state of the inner City report 2014 iii iv canadian centre for policy alternatives — MANITOBa Table of Contents 1 Introduction 3 It’s More Than a Collection of Stories 18 References 21 It Takes a Community to Support a Family: Community-Based Supports and the Child Welfare System 25 Root Causes 28 Numbers of Children in Care 31 Parents’ Experiences of the Child Welfare System 33 Community-Based Approaches 39 Recommendations and Conclusion 41 References 44 Appendix: Map of Community Based Organizations for Children, Youth and Families Community, researCh and soCial Change: state of the inner City report 2014 v table 1 State of the Inner City Reports 2005 – 2013 Date Reports Topics 2005 The Promise of • Policy Considerations: Investment in - Describing inner city Community-Led - Statistical overview Renewal - Housing, employment development and education • A view from the neighbourhoods: - Comparative analysis of Spence, Centennial and Lord Selkirk Park 2006 Inner City Voices: • A portrait of West Broadway and North Point Douglas Community-Based Solutions • Inner City Refugee Women: Lessons for Public Policy • Bridging the Community-Police Divide: Safety and Security in Winnipeg’s Inner City 2007 Step by Step: • Building a Community of Opportunity and Hope: Lord Selkirk Park Housing Stories of Change Developments in Winnipeg’s Inner City • Costing an Ounce of Prevention: The Fiscal Benefits of Investing in Inner City Preventive Strategies (cost to themselves and society of young women entering the street sex trade) • Is Participation Having an Impact? (how do we measure progress in Winnipeg’s Inner City? A participatory approach to understanding outcomes) 2008 Putting Our Housing • Policy, people and Winnipeg’s inner city in Order • Voicing housing experiences in inner city Winnipeg • From revitalization to revaluation in the Spence neighbourhood • Homeownership for low-income households: outcomes for families and communities 2009 It Takes All Day • Seven individuals document their experiences living on a low income budget to be Poor • Tracking poverty in Winnipeg’s inner city 1996 – 2006 (analysis of census data) • Lord Selkirk Park: Rebuilding from Within (how community and government can work together to make change for the better) 2010 We’re in it for the • Together we have CLOUT: model of service delivery and analysis of “the Just City” Long Haul • Early Childhood Education and Care in the Inner City and Beyond: Addressing the Inequalities Facing Winnipeg’s Aboriginal children • Squeezed Out: The impact of rising rents and condo conversions on inner city neighbourhoods 2011 Neo-Liberalism: • Manitoba’s Employment and Income Assistance Program: Exploring the Policy Impacts What a Difference a on Winnipeg’s inner city Theory Makes • Housing for People, Not Markets: Neoliberalism and housing in Winnipeg’s inner city • Policy and the Unique Needs of Aboriginal Second-Chance Learners 2012 Breaking barriers, • Who’s accountable to the community? (two way accountability government to building bridges community-based organizations) • Fixing our divided city: Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal youth, inner city and non-inner city and Aboriginal Elders’ dialogue on breaking down barriers 2013 A Youth Lens on Poverty • Literature of youth & poverty: safety, housing and education • Youth photovoice vi canadian centre for policy alternatives — MANITOBa Introduction The State of the Inner City Report is an annual the strengths of the inner city while building lo- research collaboration between the Canadian cal research capacity. At the same time, the State Centre for Policy Alternatives Manitoba and of the Inner City Report identifies service gaps community organizations based in the inner city and policy shortcomings and provides policy al- of Winnipeg. This year marks its tenth year an- ternatives identified by experiential people and niversary. Since the beginning, the State of the inner city leaders. The second paper in this year’s Inner City Reports have celebrated communi- Report advances these objectives based on a re- ty-based development and have advanced pro- search priority identified by inner city leaders. gressive policy alternatives put forward by those “It takes a community to support a family”, is working and living directly in the community. about the role of community-based organizations Winnipeg’s inner city has a long history of (CBOs) in supporting families involved in the child struggle with poverty and a comprehensive, geo- welfare system and struggling with poverty. The graphically focused response emerged. This be- number of children in care in Manitoba contin- gan in 1981 with the Core Area Initiative (CAI), a ues to rise, and Aboriginal children are severely multi-year tripartite agreement between the three over-represented. The root causes are complex - levels of government, which stimulated creative families struggle with inter-generational trauma community-based development projects. The caused by the impact of colonization along with State of the Inner City Report series emerged with the retreat of the social welfare state, lack of so- an impetus to highlight the subsequent achieve- cial housing and low Employment and Income ments of community-based development. Assistance rates. “Its more than a collection of stories,” by one The Phoenix Sinclair Inquiry, Achieving the of the founders of the State of the Inner City Re- Best for All Our Children, released a year ago port, Shauna MacKinnon, highlights the objec- highlights the importance of community-based tives and accomplishments of the Report series.