Basic Income Guarantee: Can it be a sustainable solution to poverty? Stay tuned as Ontario's pilot rolls out

Monday, May 15, 2017

Will the numbers from Ontario's Basic Income pilot add up to people being able to lift themselves out of poverty? 

By Erin Walters, Health Promoter and Educator at Quest CHC, St. Catharines

Across Ontario’s political spectrum, support is growing for a Basic Income Guarantee. The idea isn’t a new one: “Mincome” has roots in the policies of the Manitoba NDP in the 1970s. Now, the concept has backing from a former Canadian senator, a former Canadian bank CEO, the World Economic Forum, and now the Ontario government, which is launching a pilot project in three communities across the province.

The reasons for the growing support are many.

For each of the current provincial and federal income support programs available to Ontarians, conditions are attached, which means that many people fall through the cracks. For those who do qualify for social assistance, the amount of financial support provided makes it hard to live a dignified life. As one of many Health Promoters working in Community Health Centres across Ontario, I witness first-hand the negative effects of these challenges on people’s overall health and wellbeing.

An Ontario Works recipient receives $706 per month, which often isn’t nearly enough to cover basic needs such as housing, food, clothing, medications, and transportation. People are forced to make choices about whether to pay the electricity bill or buy a bus pass, or to buy nutritious food or allow their child to attend a class fieldtrip. These are heartbreaking decisions that limit a person’s ability to fully participate in life, and ultimately harm their chances of leaving poverty – and its ill effects on health -- behind.

With a volatile labour market that has seen a rise in precarious employment and job losses due to automation, more people than ever are struggling to attain income security. That’s why now is the time for changes to Ontario’s social assistance system. Can a Basic Income Guarantee be part of the solution?

Basic Income Pilot

Radically re-thinking the way in which social assistance is delivered to the people who need it could be an effective way not only to address shortcomings of the current system, but also might be a way to reduce stigma related to income assistance, encouraging more participation in the labour market and community life overall.

That brings us to Ontario’s Basic Income pilot project.

The pilot project will replace the current Ontario Works (OW) program and Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) with one that: provides an adequate amount of income every month to ensure all basic needs are covered; requires less monitoring as money is provided without conditions; and distributes income support automatically without a difficult application process. This income support, which is delivered through a negative income tax model, would be available to individuals whose income falls below a certain threshold, whether or not they are currently receiving OW or ODSP.

On April 24, the provincial government released additional information regarding the design of the pilot project based on feedback from 35,000 people. The pilot will randomly invite individuals 18-64 years of age living on a low income from Hamilton, Brantford, Brant County; Thunder Bay and the surrounding area; and Lindsay to participate in the pilot.

Participants will receive up to $16,989 per year for a single person, or $24,027 per year for a couple. People with a disability will receive an additional $6,000 per year. Importantly, people on social assistance who are chosen to participate won’t lose their drug and dental benefits.

Policy Discussions and Concerns

Policy circles have been abuzz since the pilot was first announced in 2016. Countless social policy think tanks, including the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, Mowat Centre, and Maytree released reports discussing important considerations about the implementation of a Basic Income program. Other organizations, including AOHC, have released official statements on the topic (AOHC’s official statement can be found here in English or French.) And while it remains clear there is broad support for the idea, there are reservations about potential design elements and concerns that the pilot project may postpone other necessary poverty reduction actions, such as raising social assistance rates, increasing the minimum wage, and investing in new affordable housing. Another key question will be whether $16,989 - 75 percent of the Low Income Measure (LIM) - will be enough for individuals to lift themselves above the poverty line.

For now, proponents of poverty reduction and health equity must await the Ontario pilot project’s full launch this spring and be prepared to monitor its roll out and progress carefully. Since there are AOHC member centres in Thunder Bay, Hamilton/Brantford and Lindsay, it’s our hope that we’ll get to see what the benefits can be for a person when a Basic Income Guarantee is combined with the kind of wraparound, interprofessional, team-based services and programs that my colleagues and I deliver across the province every day. While those of us who work on the frontlines of community-governed primary health care know the significance of income as a determinant of health, we also know that the intersection of income and other social determinants – such as education, race, gender and sexual orientation, housing or social support – can have profound impacts that go well beyond what a boost to income alone can address.

As a Health Promoter, I’m optimistic and I look forward to the coming years because I see a Basic Income Guarantee as an incredible opportunity to go from the constant uphill battle of trying to help people beat the odds to attain the best possible health and wellbeing, to permanently changing the odds for all people affected by poverty.

 

 

 

Confronting complacency and responding to racism: a conversation with Lawrence Hill

Monday, May 8, 2017

To improve health outcomes and reduce health disparities, the Association of Ontario Health Centres works to eradicate social inequality and advance health equity. For this reason we’re very pleased that on June 8, award-winning author Lawrence Hill will speak at AOHC's annual conference and reflect on how we can achieve these goals. In The Book of Negroes, The Illegal as well as many other works, Hill has written extensively about social inequality -- in particular racism. In advance of his conference keynote, Lawrence Hill joined us for a brief conversation to set the stage.

In your 2001 book Black Berry, Sweet Juice, you noted that Canadians don’t like to talk about racism.

Yes, Canadians loathe discussing racism, and its corollary -- racial identity. We tend to feel it’s beneath us, that these are problems faced by our nasty neighbour to the south, not ours.

Sometimes people still use the term “post-racial” to suggest that we’ve moved beyond racial injustice. We’re happy to talk about To Kill a Mockingbird that tells the story of racism in Alabama instead of discussing the history of slavery in Canada. It’s morally convenient to turn to Harper Lee for instruction on injustice instead of looking at ourselves. My job is to shake people out of that complacency.

What’s the impact of this reluctance when it comes to anti-black racism?

Many people are skeptical about advocacy groups that talk about anti-black racism and demand change. As recently as the 1950s, my parents were fighting to persuade the Ontario government to enact anti-discrimination legislation. At the time, the government’s response was: “We don’t need legislation because we don’t have racism. Prove to us that racism exists and then we will enact anti-discrimination legislation.” And so this is what my mother did with a group called the Toronto Labour Committee for Human rights, a coalition of Jewish people and blacks who pushed the government to enact anti-discrimination laws -- laws that eventually formed part of the Ontario Human Rights Code. To this day, many people are unaware of deeply systemic issues, for example the low expectations placed upon students with racial minority backgrounds. Students from racial minority backgrounds continue to be streamed into non-academic programs. Many black parents who have children in the school system will express these concerns.

Through your work as an artist, you’re helping Canadians come to terms with racism – past and present. At our June conference you’ll be speaking to delegates who work in Ontario’s health system. What’s the call to action for them?

To know their clients and to continue to innovate. For example, we know that many people in this country do not have legal status or documentation. Your centres respond to their needs even though they don't have an OHIP card. This is extremely important.

Building social acceptance is also key and it is important health centres pay attention to this. Many people who lack privilege naturally distrust institutions. This includes health care institutions. For example, in the black community there’s tremendous stigma around mental illness, so some people won’t seek help. The same is often true of domestic violence. So part of the job is to provide good care but another part of the job is to create conditions that encourage people to come forward and seek help. At your conference I’m looking forward to hearing about how your centres create a sense of community to get people through your doors. That is probably half the battle.

To learn more about Lawrence Hill and the rest of our conference program click here.

Ontario's Community Health Centres offer a solution so more people can access team-based care

Wednesday, May 3, 2017

Leading Canadian physicians say that increasing access to interprofessional team-based care -- such as the services and programs offered by this team at Rexdale CHC -- is one of the keys to ensuring no one is being left behind by the health system. A new initiative called TeamCare is doing just that by connecting independent physicians and their patients to their local CHC.

If we want to improve access to primary care in Canada, we have to get away from thinking that it’s a problem of not having enough doctors, leading family physicians told CBC Radio’s The Current on Wednesday.

“The number of family doctors per capita in Canada has gone up very substantially in the last few years,” Dr. Michael Rachlis, an author and family physician who has consulted on health care policy for the federal government and all 10 provinces, told host Anna Maria Tremonti. “But we’re continuing to hear these stories [of people being unable to find a family doctor].”

Dr. Rachlis went on to reiterate what he says dozens of government reports have said for years about the problem: “It’s not the number of doctors, it’s how we’re using them.”

The program then delved deeper into the issue – one which is sure to be part of upcoming election debates in Ontario as voters are scheduled to go to the polls on June 7, 2018.

Dr. Danielle Martin, family doctor and author of Better Now: Six Big Ideas to Improve Health Care for All Canadians, agreed with Dr. Rachlis, noting that encouraging doctors to work differently isn’t enough, and that changes to the structure of how they work needs to be a big part of any solution.

“One of the ways that we can address this problem is by working more effectively in teams of health care providers,” she said.

This is especially true for people managing multiple chronic conditions, and those who face barriers to accessing health care services due to social determinants such as low income and education levels, racism, sexism and homophobia, and being socially isolated.

In Ontario, Community Health Centres, who have a mandate to serve those who face barriers to access, are working with family physicians who don’t currently work in teams to bridge the gaps that providers and the people they serve can face. But the work is just beginning.

To get a sense of the problem: Only 25 percent of people in Ontario have access to interprofessional primary care teams. Across the province, CHCs are leading a ground-breaking initiative called “TeamCare”. It connects 370 primary care physicians and more than 4,500 of the people they serve, with 17 CHCs who have decades’ worth of in-depth of experience serving people with complex needs. To take a line straight from Dr. Martin’s book, which advocates “scaling up successful health care ideas across the country,” TeamCare could be a game-changing move that begins to reimagine primary health care.

But for TeamCare to be scaled up, more resources are needed to facilitate the process. In its April 27 budget, the Ontario government committed $15 million to increase access to interprofessional teams – and this initiative seems like a golden opportunity to ensure providers and their patients can get connected to team-based care.

“TeamCare gives a provider who had been working on their own access to a virtual team – virtual for the provider, but very real for a client who hasn’t been able to access the full complement of comprehensive primary health care services,” said Adrianna Tetley, CEO of the Association of Ontario Health Centres. “This is about much more than enhancing the referrals process – this is a way of building a collaborative approach in primary health care, an approach that we know allows for deeper relationships between providers and their clients that can help close gaps and surmount entrenched barriers, especially for anyone who has difficulty accessing the health care system.”

Les aînés nouvellement arrivés sont reliés aux services de santé, à la vie sociale et les uns aux autres grâce au programme innovant du CSC d’Ottawa

Wednesday, March 22, 2017

(Les services de transport et de traduction sont des éléments essentiels du programme des aînés multiculturels au CSC Pinecrest-Queensway. Photo avec la permission de Pinecrest-Queensway Community Health Centre)

Par Jason Rehel, auteur et éditeur du contenu, ACSO

Une nouvelle loi provinciale donne aux Réseaux locaux d’intégration des services de santé  (RLISS) de l’Ontario la consigne de réduire les disparités de santé en soutenant des programmes qui abordent directement les déterminants de la santé. Dans les prochains mois, nous vous présenterons des récits venus des lignes de front de notre système de santé illustrant les répercussions des programmes qui favorisent la santé et l’équité en santé quand ils sont intégrés à des soins de santé primaires complets.

Un foyer sécuritaire pour sa famille. Des débouchés pour ses enfants. Et l’occasion de contribuer au succès de sa nouvelle communauté. C’étaient les principaux objectifs de Samar Tabbara à son arrivée à Ottawa en provenance d’Oman (via le Liban, où elle est née) il y a 20 ans. Une enseignante élevant de jeunes enfants, Samar Tabbara se rappelle vivement les luttes de sa famille : apprendre à faire face à des problèmes de santé mentale, faire face à des doutes quant à leur décision d’émigrer et tâcher de tisser des liens tout en apprenant l’anglais.

« Il n’y avait pas autant d’informations données aux nouveaux arrivants, et nous n’avions aucune relation, précise Samar Tabbara. On pouvait facilement se sentir épuisé et seul. Je me rappelle que je prenais des comprimés pour la dépression. »

Pour de nombreux nouveaux immigrants, l’isolement social peut devenir une réalité prolongée, avec des effets cruels sur leur santé et leur bien-être général. Pour ceux qui arrivent au Canada à l’âge mûr, souvent pour vivre avec leurs enfants adultes, le risque d’isolement est aussi élevé.

« Les gens qui vivent seuls et qui ont peu de soutien social n’ont souvent personne sur qui compter en cas de problèmes de santé », explique Dre Laura Muldoon, médecin de famille au Centre de santé communautaire Somerset Ouest à Ottawa, qui lutte contre l’isolement social par plusieurs programmes ciblés. 

« Juste le stress de la solitude peut entraîner une aggravation de la maladie mentale et de la santé physique, aussi, ajoute-t-elle.  Je vois souvent des gens chez qui l’isolement a conduit à l’aggravation d’affections comme le diabète, l’hypertension artérielle et la MPOC. Parfois, les gens sont si craintifs de quitter leur maison qu’ils ne demandent même pas d’aide pour des problèmes de santé aussi graves qu’un cancer. »

Pour Samar Tabbara, faire du bénévolat – d’abord à l’école de ses enfants et dans son quartier, et finalement au Centre de santé communautaire (CSC) Pinecrest-Queensway – est un moyen de conserver des liens avec sa communauté et ses ressources, mais aussi d’aider les nouveaux arrivants qui se heurtent à des obstacles en raison de l’isolement social, comme cela lui est arrivé.

« Je fais du bénévolat pour savoir où je suis, confie cette grand-maman de 58 ans. Je sais à quel point l’isolement peut conduire à la dépression. Quand les gens sont frustrés et stressés, ils peuvent devenir exigeants envers eux-mêmes, envers leur famille et envers leur santé. J’aime enseigner aux gens comment utiliser le système. »

Vieillir en santé pour les aînés multiculturels

Au CSC Pinecrest-Queensway à Ottawa, Samar Tabbara travaille comme bénévole à la sensibilisation au programme « Vieillir en santé pour les aînés multiculturels ». Le programme comprend des séminaires de santé mensuels et des sorties de groupe régulières dans les musées et les parcs d’Ottawa. Des interprètes, de l’aide au transport public et un programme de sensibilisation par téléphone permettent de lutter contre l’isolement vécu par ces aînés (toute personne de 55 ans et plus) issus de l’immigration, y compris des réfugiés syriens, indépendamment des obstacles liés à la langue ou à la mobilité. 

Les participants sont aiguillés par les médecins de soins primaires au CSC Pinecrest-Queensway, et aussi grâce à des initiatives de sensibilisation du quartier. Pour sa part, Samar Tabbara est enthousiaste à propos de ses visites hebdomadaires (ou parfois plus fréquentes) à Saada, une musulmane de 80 ans vivant seule dans le centre-ville d’Ottawa, qui offre à Samar Tabbara la chance de partager ses propres expériences d’une manière significative.

« Parfois, elle me confond même avec sa fille, dit Samar Tabbara. Nous parlons en arabe, et elle me raconte des histoires. Elle me fait confiance, et je sais qu’elle me voit comme un membre de sa famille. »

L’appartenance et la communauté en tant que fondements de la santé et du bien-être

Pour les nouveaux arrivants en particulier, la possibilité de participer à des programmes qui améliorent la santé et le bien-être et qui promeuvent les relations sociales peut renforcer considérablement leur sentiment d’appartenance. Afin de surmonter les obstacles comme la maîtrise de la langue, la compréhension et la sécurité culturelle, et les expériences de racisme, des interprètes et des documents traduits comme des dépliants forment des éléments essentiels du programme multiculturel pour les aînés du CSC Pinecrest-Queensway. Et comme beaucoup d’aînés ne conduisent pas et ont des difficultés à circuler en transport en commun, encore une fois pour des raisons de langue, l’aide au transport est un autre facteur clé.

Or, le CSC Pinecrest-Queensway doit compter sur le financement accordé d’année en année par Centraide à Ottawa pour les éléments critiques que sont les traducteurs et le transport. Après 2018, lorsque le flux de financement actuel expirera, le programme des aînés multiculturels, qui a aidé des centaines de personnes âgées isolées pendant plus de 12 ans, pourrait disparaître. Avec un nouveau mandat du gouvernement pour soutenir la promotion de la santé au niveau local, les RLISS peuvent faire en sorte que le programme continue d’aider les nouveaux arrivants âgés pour les années à venir, estime Adrianna Tetley, directrice générale de l’Association des centres de santé de l’Ontario.

« Les soins de santé primaires complets ne concernent pas seulement l’accès aux médecins, aux infirmiers et aux tests de diagnostic pour aider les gens à récupérer quand ils sont malades, précise-t-elle. Les soins vraiment enveloppants visent à garder les gens en bonne santé dès le départ, en s’attaquant aux déterminants de la santé. Les programmes de promotion de la santé tels que les aînés multiculturels favorisent activement un sentiment d’appartenance à la communauté plus profond en faisant participer les gens directement aux programmes et services qui contribuent à leur bien-être. La prestation de soins primaires efficaces en combinaison avec des programmes de promotion de la santé pourrait changer la donne dans notre système de santé en portant la lutte contre les problèmes et les maladies chroniques beaucoup plus en amont que jamais auparavant en Ontario, tout en contribuant à réduire le fardeau qui pèse sur les autres parties du système de santé. »

(La possibilité pour les aînés nouveaux arrivants de participer à des séminaires de promotion de la santé portant sur le diabète et d’autres sujets est l’un des nombreux avantages qu’offre le programme, avec des aiguillages venant souvent des professionnels des soins primaires du centre.Photo avec la permission de Pinecrest-Queensway Community Health Centre)

BIRT recognized internationally for health data innovations in Ontario

Wednesday, March 22, 2017

Mark Mycyk, BIRT Program Lead at AOHC, demonstrates some of the ways that the data analysis tool allows centres to drill down and better understand the people they serve, and the programs and services they need. Photo credit: Oleksandra Budna/AOHC

The Business Intelligence Reporting Tool (BIRT) -- developed by Community Health Centres and the Association of Ontario Health Centres to help inform quality improvement while measuring impacts of programs and services on people AOHC members serve -- has been internationally recognized by Healthcare Informatics, a leading publication in the Health IT sector based in the United States.

BIRT was shortlisted as a semifinalist for the Healthcare Informatics Innovator Awards Program and was the only Primary Care sector submission. BIRT was competing primarily against hospitals and health systems for the honour. In an article announcing the placement among top innovators in the field of analyzing health data, Healthcare Informatics said BIRT “gives member centres a holistic view of operations by consolidating key data and presenting it in an integrated and easy-to-analyze manner.”

“The vision was to produce a high-quality electronic dashboard that you could use to monitor in near real-time what any Community Health Centre was doing across the province,” Rodney Burns, CIO of AOHC, says in the article. Noting the importance of a strong data quality framework and high participation rates among AOHC members in the BIRT program, Burns says the level of analytics that the tool provides means that members can improve data quality, deliver better services, and measure outcomes and impacts more completely, and “in ways others cannot do.” In a nutshell, BIRT enables AOHC members to be at the forefront of quality improvement and health data analysis in Ontario, with a strong focus on the determinants of health and health equity initiatives.

Congratulations to the BIRT team, and to staff at the centre level. To read the full article outlining BIRT’s achievement, click here. 

Newcomer seniors get connected to health services, social life and each other through innovative Ottawa CHC program

Wednesday, March 22, 2017

(Transportation and translation services are vital parts of the multicultural seniors program at Pinecrest Queensway CHC. Photo credit: Pinecrest-Queensway Community Health Centre)

By Jason Rehel, story producer and editor, AOHC

New provincial legislation directs Ontario’s Local Health Integration Networks (LHINs) to reduce health disparities by supporting programs that directly address the determinants of health. In the months to come, we will bring you stories drawn from the front lines of our health system that show the impacts health promotion and health equity programs have when they’re embedded in Comprehensive Primary Health Care.

A safe home for her family. Opportunities for her children. And the chance to contribute to her new community. Those were Samar Tabbara’s main goals when she arrived in Ottawa from Oman (via Lebanon, where she was born) 20 years ago. A teacher raising a young family, Tabbara vividly recalls her family’s struggles: learning to cope with mental health issues, doubts about their decision to move, and trying to connect with others while still mastering English.

“There wasn’t as much information given to newcomers, and we were not connected,” Tabbara says. “You could feel burned out and alone. I remember I used to take depression pills."

For many new immigrants, social isolation can become a prolonged reality, with stark effects on their health and overall wellbeing. For new immigrants who come to Canada as seniors, often to live with adult children, the risk of becoming isolated is also high.

“People who live alone and have few social supports often don’t have anyone they can trust if problems arise with their health,” says Dr. Laura Muldoon, a family physician at Somerset West Community Health Centre in Ottawa, which addresses social isolation through a number of targeted programs.

“Just the stress of being alone can lead to worsening of mental illness and physical health, too,” Muldoon adds. “I often see people whose isolation has led to worsening of conditions like diabetes, high blood pressure and COPD. Sometimes people are very anxious about leaving their home, and may not even seek help for very serious conditions such as cancer.”

For Tabbara, volunteering -- first at her kids’ schools and in her neighbourhood, and eventually at Pinecrest-Queensway Community Health Centre (CHC) – is way to stay connected to her community and its resources, but also to help newcomers who face barriers due to social isolation in the same ways she did.

“I volunteer to know where I am,” the 58-year-old grandmother says. “I know how isolation can lead to depression. When people become frustrated and stressed, they can become hard on themselves, on their families, on their health. So I like to teach people how to use the system.”

Healthy Aging for Multicultural Seniors

At Pinecrest-Queensway CHC in Ottawa, Tabbara works as an outreach volunteer for the “Healthy Aging for Multicultural Seniors” program. The program features monthly health seminars and regular group outings to museums and parks in Ottawa. Translators, public transportation assistance and a phone outreach program make it possible to combat isolation experienced by these seniors (anyone 55 and over) from newcomer backgrounds, including Syrian refugees, regardless of language or mobility barriers.

Participants are referred through Primary Care physicians at Pinecrest-Queensway CHC, and also through neighbourhood outreach initiatives. For her part, Tabbara enthuses about the weekly (or sometimes more often) calls she makes to Saada, an 80-year-old Muslim woman living on her own in downtown Ottawa, which offer Tabbara the chance to share her own experiences in a meaningful way.

“Sometimes she even confuses me with her daughter,” Tabbara says. “We speak in Arabic, and she tells me stories. She trusts me, and I know I am like family to her.”

Belonging and Community as Foundations of Health & Wellbeing

For newcomers especially, the chance to participate in programs that benefit health and wellbeing and promote social connections can be a big boost to their sense of belonging. In order to bridge barriers such as language ability, cultural understanding and safety, and experiences of racism, translators and translated materials such as brochures are vital parts of Pinecrest-Queensway CHC’s Multicultural Seniors program. And because many of the seniors don’t drive and have difficulty navigating transit, again due to language reasons, providing transportation assistance is another key enabler.

But Pinecrest-Queensway CHC must rely on year-to-year funding from United Way in Ottawa for the critical elements of translators and transportation. After 2018, when the current stream of funding expires, the Multicultural Seniors program, that’s helped hundreds of isolated seniors over 12 years, could disappear. With a new mandate from the government to support health promotion at the local level, LHINs can ensure the program continues to help newcomer seniors for years to come, says Adrianna Tetley, CEO of the Association of Ontario Health Centres.

“Comprehensive Primary Health Care isn’t just about access to doctors, nurses and diagnostic tests to help people recover when they’re sick,” says Tetley. “Truly wraparound care aims to keep people well to begin with by addressing the determinants of health. Health promotion programs such as Multicultural Seniors actively promote a deeper sense of belonging in the community by involving people directly in the programs and services that contribute to their wellbeing. Delivering effective primary care in combination with health promotion programs could be a game-changer for our health system by taking the battle against chronic illness and disease far further upstream than we’ve ever seen in Ontario before, and helping to reduce the burden on other parts of the health system at the same time.”

(The opportunity for newcomer seniors to take part in health promotion seminars on diabetes and other topics is one of the many benefits the program offers, with referrals often coming through the centre’s Primary Care providers. Photo credit: Pinecrest-Queensway Community Health Centre)

Spotlight on Health Equity: Black Creek CHC engages with community to build better programs and combat anti-Black racism

Wednesday, March 1, 2017

Photo credit: Kofi Frempong/Black Creek CHC

By Jason Rehel, story producer and editor, AOHC

Kofi Frempong is a Community Health Worker at Black Creek Community Health Centre (CHC) in Toronto’s Jane and Finch neighbourhood. Frempong creates programs, like Freedom Fridayz and Dads Doing Hair, that aim to break down barriers for people who face anti-Black racism. Like all AOHC members, Black Creek’s staff are guided in their work by the Health Equity Charter, which helps them achieve results for people facing barriers to health and wellbeing. In light of the new provincial legislation that directs Local Health Integration Networks (LHINs) to reduce health disparities and combat all forms of systemic racism and discrimination, we asked Frempong about the programs he designs, how he engages with and finds inspiration in the community, and the role of Black History Month in combatting racism.

Kofi, you’re an artist and someone who takes pride in nurturing creative spaces. How does art and its capacity to bring people together underpin your work at Black Creek CHC?

It just fits with the model of care that Black Creek promotes. When it comes to promoting access to all people in the community, I think that creating positive spaces is definitely a key part of that. But it’s also just being sure that we address the issues people face; that’s how we break down barriers.

Can you speak to some of the things you do at Black Creek CHC to engage the community and identify people’s needs?

I know it’s very popular to have town hall meetings and formal focus groups, but I think our job becomes a whole lot easier when the relationships are already there. What I mean by that is, the better your relationships are with the community, the more access you’ll have to information around their needs, interests and what kinds of things will engage them.

Because then people will come to you?

Exactly. It really starts when they walk in the door of the centre, and then encounter certain staff, and how they’re received. Black Creek CHC isn’t a cold machine; it’s a warm environment where someone will take a few extra minutes to see how your day is going, and hear your story while you’re waiting to see a doctor.

When it comes to engaging with youth in your community, what’s been your strategy?

The biggest thing is building up confidence in youth because it’s easier to help people when they are empowered to help themselves. So that’s about education on the one hand, but it’s also about creating opportunities to take leadership roles, opportunities to improve their own quality of life. I think a big piece of this is that we aim to meet people where they are.

Can you give us an example of how you plan programs to meet people where they are?

It’s about designing different platforms for people to share their experience, but then allowing them to evolve according to people’s needs. For example, at one point, we had a BBM (BlackBerry Messenger) youth group. People would post their assignments and they would ask the staff or other students for assistance with their work. The magic thing is that the group transitioned from being just about homework to being about life in general. People disclosed mental health challenges they were dealing with, self-esteem issues and were able to talk about racism and its effects on them. The conversation got really deep with this group, and things that normally wouldn’t come out during a youth program – no matter how great the program is – were able to come out through BBM.

Black History Month just came to a close and plays an important role in building community. How can we all work to ensure Black History Month messages of strength and empowerment resonate throughout the year?

It’s good that there’s a month dedicated to Black history. But it also sends the message that it’s only a small part of history, when the truth is that throughout history, Black people have contributed in every sector, in many different ways. So it’s about asking, “What’s going on in your community that’s impactful? Or in the city you live? In the country as a whole? Around the world?”

The truth is that Black history is a part of everything that we study, it just seems like a lot of it is erased or not mentioned. Addressing that would do a lot in terms of representation and creating positive images and role models.

Can you describe one of your newest programs, Dads Doing Hair?

It’s interesting how Dads Doing Hair got started. I was on Facebook, and I just posed a question: “Are there any programs out there that teach Black dads how to do their kids’ hair?” And I got a HUGE response, both from other fathers who were interested in learning, as well as from people who were interested in teaching.

The power of social media!

I’m telling you! So then I took the idea back to Cheryl Prescod, our Executive Director, and told her there was a huge response. And she moved on the idea right away. The sessions are held directly at the centre.

How was the response to the first session?

It went well. First, a lot of fathers came out. Second, because we were open on a Saturday, it created a beautiful environment. A lot of people who were just doing their shopping and had lived in the community for years were saying things like, “Wow, I didn’t know you guys existed.” So not only were people out learning about how to do hair, they were also learning about the services that Black Creek CHC provides. I thought that was really amazing.

And enjoying the great vibe, too.

Exactly. And that for me was the most important thing. Leaving aside the hair care stuff for a minute, it’s the fact that people could walk into the centre and feel free enough to ask questions and get excited about discovering Black Creek.

Staff from Black Creek CHC will present a workshop on building health equity programs such as Freedom Fridayz at this year’s Shift the Conversation: Community Health and Wellbeing conference, June 7 and 8 in Richmond Hill, ON. Here’s a rundown of all the learning sessions happening at the conference.