Every person with the lived reality of poverty has an essential contribution to make.
Every organization/church needs such a poverty expert on their team.

The value to the worker is incalculable in terms of increased opportunities, skill development, connection, knowledge, community strength, and partnerships.

The value to the organization is immeasurable in terms of increased sense of hope, increased insight and understanding of poverty, increased credibility in community and increased power to act.

The Background:
River Bend Integrated Community Ministry, a United Church of Canada  Ministry,is mandated is to build relationships of justice, compassion and solidarity
among inner city residents, organizations, churches and neighbourhoods.
We look at our context not in terms of need but in terms of assets.
We follow models of Community Development and Appreciative Inquiry.
In past years this has meant involvement with community economic development projects; Working Group to Stop Sexual Exploitation of Youth and Children, Rainbow Community Centre and co-chairing the Anti Poverty Coalition.

The Poverty Industry:
Even so, it is still hard to escape the patterns of :

• paid professionals “helping” the poor;
• folks from the outside directing development within the neighbourhood;
• and, too often, paid white folk “helping” aboriginal and ethnic minorities.
This system ensures that organizations like ours are always in control; we get to define what happens, what the limits are and what will work for us. It also ensures nothing will ever change. You can see immediately the element of failure and false reality structured into what we call the “poverty industry.”

The solution was in their strength and our need:
We decided to provide space for those who live in poverty to be heard, to contribute and to direct the development of their own community and to give authenticity to our work.


• · ICM is committed to learning and needs help. Our lack of understanding about the lived reality of poverty was detrimental to our faith; we needed to broaden our knowledge base.
• · Low income people have much to contribute to society; particularly their wisdom about poverty and its consequences (impact on health, family, education, work, community) and its alleviation. Their input is critical for any economic development to be successful. They are the experts.
• · On social assistance a person is not able to earn over ~$120.00 per month before the government claws it back. This policy eliminates the vast majority of part-time work opportunities and thus limits transitional development.
• · Many people on social assistance are not able to move to full time work in the near future; perhaps never (due to health, accessibility, family concerns).

Characteristics of Essential Voice Work Initiatives:
1. persons on social assistance receive the maximum allowed (~$120/ month)
2. they bring their skills to projects which engage the community and lead to partnerships/bridging among groups, individuals of Saskatoon.
3. they receive mentorship and support
4. their wisdom, insight and learning is fed back into the organization
5. the organization makes stronger decisions based on wider knowledge base

Purpose of the Essential Voice Work Initiatives

1. to respond to community realities
Through awareness and consultation ICM tries to make sure that the projects that emerge fill a need in the community and are not competitive with other organizations. We are mandated to build relationships of solidarity, compassion and justice, so most of our projects aim to build community in a solid, slow, often quiet way.

2. to inform and enrich ICM.
The people with the expertise ICM needs, live in the community and are the only staff pool we draw from. They have the lived experience of poverty or of the neighbourhood as well as a wealth of skills, community and social knowledge. Their contribution to ICM and thus to the United Church is invaluable.

3. to build capacity in the core neighbourhood.
Our staff has shown that an opportunity to work in such a manner can be “life changing”. Many people are not able to work full-time yet have a lot to offer society. When given a flexible, empowering work opportunity that draws on their strengths, the outcomes are amazing. We hope to match passion to work and to emerging issues and connections.

4. to decrease dependence on the ICM.
Part of the philosophy of ICM is to guard against initiatives that only serve to build dependence and loyalty to the ICM. Our role is to create space for development to be directed by those most affected. ICM intends that its programs make the community stronger, not necessarily ICM in particular or the church in general. We fight the temptation to control and to “use poor people” for our own ends. We encourage initiatives to find the path they are meant to find as ICM steps into the background. We remain in solidarity and partnership.


In what ways can you become part of Essential Voices? At work? In your volunteer commitments?