The long-term care strategy builds on a foundation of health and wellness promotion, support for families and assistance to help seniors live independently for as long as possible.  It reflects best practices in our system, as well as in other jurisdictions, and includes made-in-New Brunswick innovations to address the challenges faced by an aging population.   The strategy, which will guide government investments in long-term care services over the next 10 years, includes the addition of 700 nursing home beds, enhanced home support services and new initiatives to keep seniors healthy and independent. The strategy also contains 53 specific actions that are based around five major themes: Informal Caregivers, Formal Caregivers, Affordability and Sustainability, Quality of Service Delivery, and Quality of Care. Some of the initiatives that relate to well-being and poverty reduction include increasing the supports to families, friends and volunteers to help them care for their seniors,  increasing the range of options to manage care at home, increasing the choice of residential options for seniors and reducing the burden on family members providing care for their loved ones.

The Population Growth Strategy is a comprehensive plan that encompasses four areas of focus: increasing and targeting immigration; increasing settlement and promoting multiculturalism; retaining youth and repatriating former New Brunswickers; and adopting family-friendly policies. One of the central elements of the strategy is to meet the challenges of population decline and increase the population by 6,000 through 2009 and 25,000 by 2015. This will keep the province on track of growing the population by 100,000 by 2026. In addition,  there are 43 action items such as an expansion of community sponsorship projects, new orientation material for newcomers, new investments in language training, continued investments in quality child care, working towards a modern maternity/parental insurance program and encouraging employers to incorporate family friendly workplace practices, all of which will contribute to their well being and prosperity.

This action plan is a blueprint for achieving self-sufficiency. The plan is focused on bringing about transformative change through strategic initiatives in four key areas: our economy, our workforce, our relationships, and our government. These transformations will enable us to retain and strengthen our core values, ensure our continued growth and create opportunities needed to fulfill our potential here in New Brunswick. Some of the initiatives that relate to well being and poverty reduction include making sure that every child arrives at kindergarten ready to learn, children leaving grade 5 having mastered the tools to learn-reading, writing and numeracy, graduating from high school having had the opportunity to discover their personal strengths and finding something they love doing and creating a post-secondary system that is student-focused, highly integrated and capable of  preparing students for the jobs today and tomorrow. There are challenges ahead and opportunities that accompany them, but Self-Sufficiency must be our common cause. All New Brunswickers have an opportunity to play an important part in building a better New Brunswick and by acting as responsible citizens, individually and collectively, we can all help make self-sufficiency a reality.

This report serves as a “blueprint” for positive changes in programs and services offered to persons with a disability in New Brunswick and will provide government with the plan needed to include persons with disabilities as they move towards the goal of self-sufficiency by 2026. The 100 recommendations detailed in this strategy fall into the key areas of Full Citizenship, Disability Supports, Poverty, Education, Employment, Housing, Universal Design/Barrier-Free Access, Transportation and Recreation/Wellness, all of which relate to well-being and poverty reduction. The plan also sets quality standards and ensures equitable delivery of programs and services with a measure of accountability. Government is committed to five principles in the report: equality & full citizenship, inclusion & equity of opportunity, empowerment & self-determination, rights & responsibilities, and assured support for basic needs.

When kids come first is a five-year plan designed to ensure New Brunswick’s education system fosters innovative, critical thinkers who have been provided with the opportunity to find something that has ignited their passion for learning. It demands that every adult puts the interest of kids first, that learning becomes an important value of New Brunswick culture, that every child takes pride in learning and that all of our children are helped in every way possible to reach their full potential. There are three goals that reflect the three fundamental stages children will pass through on their journey into, and through, the K-12 education system. These goals are: every child arriving at kindergarten ready to learn, every child leaving Grade 5 having mastered the tools to learn - reading, writing and numeracy and every child graduating from high school having had the opportunity to discover their personal strengths and to find something they love doing. In addition to these goals, there are eight commitments with over 140 specific actions that will move New Brunswick toward becoming a leader in education. Some of the action item initiatives that relate to well-being and poverty reduction include supporting the Department of Social Development for ensuring that training is provided on the early learning and child care curriculum to all child care workers, providing a minimum of $2 million per year in new resources through the Innovative Learning Fund to support the best practices for helping struggling readers and challenging gifted student and developing a policy to ensure that students identified as being at risk of dropping out are given the opportunity to meet with school officials and propose an alternate educational program to allow them to meet graduation requirements.

The Business Community Anti-Poverty Initiative (BCAPI) in Saint John was established in 1997.  By working together with people living in poverty, community organizations and government, they are dedicated to reducing the number of people who live in poverty in Greater Saint John.

BCAPI’s focus is on breaking the intergenerational cycle of poverty.  BCAPI’s primary focus is increasing the opportunities for children, youth and single-parents who live in poverty to succeed in school and achieve employment that pays a living wage.

BCAPI’s secondary focus is the provision of adequate resources in low income neighbourhoods and schools to enable low income families to improve their wellbeing, work toward economic self-sufficiency, and feel valued as contributing members of a vibrant community.

Vibrant Communities is a community-driven effort to reduce poverty in by creating partnerships that make use of our most valuable assets – people, organizations, businesses and governments.  It’s a unique approach to poverty reduction that allows communities to learn from and help each other.  Vibrant Communities links communities across Canada , from British Columbia to Newfoundland , in a collective effort to test the most effective ways to reduce poverty at the grassroots level.

The City of Saint John has been a member of Vibrant Communities since 2002.   Vibrant Communities Saint John represents a growing and committed team of leaders from all walks of life: individuals living in poverty, churches, community agencies, three levels of government, business and trade organizations

The Urban Core Support Network is an organization of diverse membership working to reduce poverty.  Formed in 1994, our group has been fundamental in raising awareness about poverty issues and putting a "face" on poverty through creative educational approaches.  UCSN provides educational workshops and focuses on policies that are barriers to women living in poverty.

The Human Development Council is a based social planning council working with citizens to improve our community's overall quality of life.  It has two key functions: an information role of linking citizens to human services, and a proactive role of developing solutions to meet our community's challenges.

The Human Development Council identifies and addresses social issues in greater Saint John through research, information, coordination and networking.

The Common Front for Social Justice is fighting to build a more human society based on the respect and dignity of all. We want a New Brunswick without poverty. We want a society which give each and everyone a decent living, in particular by having a minimum wage and social income on which citizens can to live on and not just exist.

The New Brunswick Common Front for Social Justice works for more justice, more social policies for those in need and for more solidarity in our society

Organizations:

Universities:

Organizations:

Universities:

• Pragmatic Solutions for Reducing Poverty and Inequality (Stanford University)
• Institute for Research on Poverty (University of Wisconsin)