Comox Valley Poverty Data Walk moves indoors for the fall
The data walk is an initiative of the community group Thriving Together, Comox Valley’s Poverty Reduction Table. (Heather Watson / CHLY 101.7 FM)
On Tuesday October 21st at the Comox Valley Regional District Board meeting, Social Planning Coordinator Michelle Hebert presented a staff report regarding the Comox Valley Poverty Data Walk.
“This report is about the Comox Valley Poverty Data Walk. It's an initiative that comes underneath the Poverty Reduction Strategy work that's being done. It's one of several things that are happening, we’ll be coming back in a few months to give more information on other things related to poverty reduction work, but we wanted to bring this forth because it's happening now and [we] wanted it to make sure information goes out about it,” Hebert said.
According to the regional district’s website, the Comox Valley Poverty Data Walk “aims to inform, create conversation and encourage community members to explore ways of reducing and eliminating poverty in our community.”
The webpage acknowledges that “poverty isn’t always visible, but the data is, and it tells a powerful story.”
The first in the series of posters demonstrates the Poverty Line, and puts that within the context of Comox Valley households. (Comox Valley Regional District/Comox Valley Community Health Network)
The walk is made up of a series of posters sharing local data, reflecting households below the poverty line, basic living expenses, housing challenges, food insecurity, costs of transportation and childcare, and the impacts of discrimination.
The Comox Valley Regional District encourages residents to participate in the data walk, either in person or online. Those who have already participated are invited to share their reactions to the experience, as well as any ideas on how to create change in poverty reduction within the local communities.
The Virtual Data Walk and the Reactions and Ideas survey are both accessible online at engagecomoxvalley.ca/povertyreduction.
At the Tuesday board meeting Director Vickey Brown, mayor of the Village of Cumberland, noted previously seeing signs for the Data Walk posted in Cumberland that have since been taken down. Michelle Hebert explained:
“The posters have been hopping around on purpose, so yes, that's correct. They've been in each place for about several weeks, including places like Comox Boardwalk and different fairs and different events, and they're also gonna be in indoor locations now. [They] have already been in the Courtney Library and other places, and this next part of the data walk is mostly indoors because of the weather now,” Hebert said.
The next location for the self-guided Comox Valley Poverty Data Walk will be at the Comox Valley Aquatics Centre, from October 28th to November 21st. On November 5th there will be an Indoor Data Walk and Community Conversation held at Berwick Comox Valley, for Berwick residents and their guests. Other upcoming indoor locations, as well as the virtual data walk, can be found on their website.
The data walk is an initiative of the community group Thriving Together, Comox Valley’s Poverty Reduction Table. The group is made up of community members and representatives of local organizations, businesses and government. Led by the Comox Valley Community Health Network in partnership with the Comox Valley Regional District, the goal of the collective impact group is to address the root causes of poverty in the Comox Valley with collaborative action. This includes implementing the Comox Valley Poverty Reduction Assessment and Strategy laid out by the regional district in Fall 2021.
More information about the Comox Valley Community Health Network, and ways to get involved with poverty reduction initiatives in the Comox Valley, is available online at CVCHN.ca.
Funding Note: This story was produced with funding support from the Local Journalism Initiative, administered by the Community Radio Fund of Canada. Reporting done in the Comox Valley is done in partnership with DIG FM.