Yonge Street Mission is dedicated to its mission of ending chronic poverty in Toronto in one generation. This ambitious goal will only be achieved through the collective partnership with and support of many in our community, including donors, funders, volunteers, community and government agencies and elected officials.

To further actualize YSM’s critical goal, our President & CEO Angie Peters developed and executed an important group exercise, known as YSM’s Poverty Hack-a-Thon, which took place at YSM on May 11, 2022.

From the half day interactive and educational session, Angie has authored a report ‘#HackPoverty: A Plan to End Chronic Poverty in Toronto’ based on the learnings and outcomes of the event.

Led by the Single Parent Family Advisory and Review Panel (SPARP), the session was also attended by representatives from key areas of influence, including residential developers, large scale employers, social policy experts, philanthropists and the media.

SPARP informed and approved the project plan, including the creation of a primer package of materials used to orient and support the understanding of the day-to-day realities of single parent families, as this group makes up a sizable portion of the population affected by poverty in our city.

We determined a focus on a single group notably impacted by poverty in Toronto would not only allow us to impact families today but also contribute to an altered trajectory for the children of those families, which could produce long-term impacts and help remove them from the cycle of poverty as adults.

Participants were organized into collaborative working groups strategically focused on key topics: community supports, housing and income, and benefits. Their work resulted in several key insights, including the realization all participants shared key goals; our barriers are actually key success factors; we need to intentionally design change by putting people, and not systems, first; and an affirmation we can build an understanding between different societal groups.

Ultimately, the event and report showed that the solution to poverty isn’t more programs and services — the solution to poverty is community. And we are so grateful for the role you play in our community, thank you!

You can download YSM’s #HackPoverty report now by clicking here.