Child poverty has been a priority issue for the Committee since 2009. The Committee worked closely with the Ministry of Children and Family Development (MCFD) on the Regional Community Poverty Reduction Strategy, which ran from 2012-2015. This initiative worked with seven pilot communities (Prince George, Cranbrook, Port Hardy, Surrey, New Westminster, Stewart, and Kamloops) to help families struggling to get out of poverty. Each pilot community was provided with a part-time Family Consultant who coordinated and led community teams in developing action plans to address the needs of families living in poverty, and connected low-income families with existing services in their communities.
UBCM continues to monitor the Province’s progress on poverty reduction, through review of the poverty reduction annual reports, and as a member of independent advisory committee.
The provincial government sets annual poverty reduction targets and produces annual reports.