AN EVOLVING RESPONSE TO POVERTY

The North Hastings Community Trust was created in 2003 by a handful of local people to provide assistance to neighbours with emergency needs. Those emergencies included shortfalls in rent, firewood, groceries and other necessities. The Trust responded with financial assistance, usually in the form of cash or food- and gas-cards. The program was generously supported by local donations.

In 2015, the Trust board decided that a more comprehensive, sustainable response to poverty was needed. To help the organization evolve in this direction, they hired a new executive director, Jan Kali, and gave her a mandate to develop longer-term programs and approaches that were strongly rooted in community and that sought to lift the stigma of poverty.

One of the first steps in moving the Trust forward was a change of location for its office to a more welcoming space shared with a local centre for the arts and a coffee shop. At the same time, the Trust launched two key programs. Harvest the North focused on

community gardening to widen the availability of nutritious food. And Wood Share provided an avenue for people in the community to share emergency firewood.

At the same time, the Trust began to move towards a more inclusive model of planning and decision-making that reflected a more seamless view of community: sometimes we have resources to share and sometimes we need resources. But we are all members of the same community.

In 2016, the Trust launched a poverty consultation in the towns of Bancroft, Coe Hill and Maynooth that drew together a wide

spectrum of community members to discuss what might be done to more effectively address the roots of poverty. The consultations provided a springboard for introducing other programs related to food and housing, and to harm reduction for local drug users.

Two years later, the community of the Trust had grown to the point that a new, larger space was required. The move to more flexible facilities just down the street has enabled the Trust community to continue to evolve its inclusive programs and welcoming environment––and has enabled it to continue its mission through a difficult year of pandemic.