| Apr 07, 2016


Northern Frontenac Community Services (NFCS) is leading a community process to respond to issues of poverty and homelessness.

NFCS has received a grant from the United Way to respond to the issues in Frontenac County with support from Southern Frontenac Community Services (SFCS).

“One of the strategic directives of the City of Kingston's 10-year plan to eliminate homelessness is to develop a rural homelessness strategy and that is what motivated our agency to take on this initiative,” said Louise Moody, executive director of NFCS.

The rural strategy addresses the following goals in rural areas: expand housing options for low-income and homeless individuals; improve access to services; enhance targeted prevention; and promote local leadership in “ending homelessness” (i.e. putting an effective system in place to make the absence of housing short-term and rare, and eliminate long-term or repeated episodes of homelessness).

There are four levels of homelessness as defined by the Canadian Homelessness Research Network, and in Frontenac County the focus has been on level 3: provisionally accommodated; and level 4: at risk of homelessness.

“We have used the United Way funding to engage Kim Allen as a consultant to meet with community leaders, with people who have experienced poverty and homelessness/housing security issues, and service providers in the various communities of Frontenac County,” said Moody.

“Getting to meet people from throughout the county who are facing or have faced these issues, people who work in this area, and others who are interested in making a difference on a community level is key to ensuring that we can truly address these deep and complex issues,” said Kim Allen.

After two months of collecting information about rural poverty and housing security, NFCS is convening an all-day summit in Sharbot Lake on May 6. During the summit, participants will discuss the findings of the community consultations, explore the issues of rural poverty, identify assets in the community and develop new strategies to deal with the issues.

“We will employ a world cafe style process on May 6. The goal will be to access the collective wisdom, encourage intentional conversations, invite diverse contributions to the discussion and foster a sense of commitment to the necessary actions that will be identified at the summit,” said Allen.

A minimum of three strategies will be identified for the community to address/prevent homelessness as well as to help inform the City of Kingston's Homelessness strategy for Frontenac County and the United Way's Youth Homelessness strategy.

The geographic and economic diversity in Frontenac County will likely result in different initiatives being taken on in different communities within the County.

A further hope of the organizers is that by getting people who are committed to addressing these issues they will take it upon themselves to act collectively in the future, within and between the community of communities that is Frontenac County.

If you are interested in learning more about this community initiative or the summit, please contact Kim Allen at 613-583-4569 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

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