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| September 2000 |
Vol. 4, No. 4 |
Oakville: An Audit of a Community in Transition - Insights
Beyond the Town
A study of change in one of Halton's municipalities, Oakville: A Community
in Transition, contributes to our reflection and understanding of the complex
times in which we live. I believe the concerns raised in this study transcend
municipal boundaries and challenge us to reformulate how we think about a number
of issues: human needs, citizen participation, community leadership, education
and awareness, research and development, governance, voluntarism, and pressures
on the not-for-profit sector such as adequate funding, commercialization of
services and sustainability. For this reason, Community Dispatch presents the
salient findings and conclusions of this community-based research. They
challenge us to reflect on our work and the paths we take. Oakville: A Community
in Transition grew out of a partnership between the United Way of Oakville and
the Council and involved many individuals throughout the Oakville community:
representatives of social agencies and business and cultural groups, government
officials and community members.
Joey Edwardh
We are living in times of great change. More and more is being asked from
not-for-profit organizations that provide human services, while the stable
funding base of those same agencies dwindles year after year. New social issues
and community needs continue to emerge, calling for a response. What are they?
What are their root causes? How and where should they be addressed?
Oakville: An Audit of a Community in Transition is an effort to
understand and respond to "this time of great change", based on the
ideas, concerns, questions, thoughts and experiences of individuals who live in
Oakville, those of organizations that serve its residents and also on 1996
Census information in the following areas:
- demographic characteristics
- household and family characteristics
- socio-economic characteristics
Some highlights of Census information captured in the report are shared
below. Each of these demographic trends inform program development and social
investment.
- The 65+ age group has increased from 8% of the population in 1986 to 10%
of the population in 1996
- Female lone-parent families increased in size by 40%, constituting 12% of
all families with children in 1996, an increase of 2% from 1991
- An increase in population of different ethnic groups has occurred between
1991 and 1996. Groups that show increases include Chinese, Polish, Italian,
East Indian and Portuguese
- Oakville has a visible minority community of which the largest visible
minority groupings are South Asian, Chinese and Black
- There has been a dramatic increase from 27% in 1991 to 72% of renters and
respectively 18% to 23% of home owners who are paying more than 30% of their
household income on shelter costs
- One in four youth (defined by the Census as 15-24) are not attending
school
- There has been an increase of 61% in the number of poor families between
1991 and 1996. This figure is well above the rate of population growth. As
well, the number of low-income unattached individuals increased by 11%
between 1991 and 1996
- The unemployment rate in Oakville is 5.6%, the same as Halton's and lower
than the 9.1% for Ontario. However, youth unemployment is 14%, an increase
of over 4% from 1991.
Through interviews with key informants, United Way funded agencies, as well
as questionnaires sent to other community organizations, businesses and
citizens, respondents fear services will not be able to keep up with these
changes, and worry about the health and well-being of those individuals without
financial means. Population growth, population aging, housing costs, public
transit, and recreational opportunities are also highlighted as concerns. While
there is general satisfaction with the performance of local government, concern
about future economic development is identified. Respondents affirm the ongoing
need to develop local business opportunities so that Oakville will not be
dependent on one industry, nor on its status as a commuter community of Toronto.
Environmental issues such as air and water quality are also very important to
respondents who are virtually unanimous in identifying these as critical and
continuing concerns
Two critical service gaps identified by respondents are:
- Services for youth
- Services and issues associated with a multicultural community
Respondents also emphasize a number of areas of concern that they believe are
in danger of being pushed off the public agenda. They deserve special
consideration.
- Poverty
- Affordable Housing
- Emergency Services
- Services to an Aging Population
- Deterioration of Hospital and Health Services
Conclusions
In the voices of the people who live and work in Oakville, we discern the
following:
- A perception that an immense void exists in vision and leadership, a void
which by its presence creates problems, but which also provides space to
design creative and viable solutions to the present human service problems
in our community.
- A perception that the activity of the United Way and other human service
agencies should exist within a framework of sustainable social development.
In other words, the activities of agencies are far more than projects or
'units of service'.
- A perception that people should be active participants in the development
of their community.
- A perception that a shared, sustainable social development framework
emphasizes the importance of empowering social actors (leaders), the role of
social participation, and the role of local communities in the development
of a truly civil society. Such a framework supports a participatory and
democratic culture.
- A perception that the presence of visionary leadership that supports
social solidarity is an important factor in the development of a healthy
community. Without leadership and vision, people find it difficult to
respond to needs in the community beyond their own or those of their
immediate families.
- A perception of the need for critical reflection on the problems facing
the community and on the urgent need to develop new forms of social,
economic, and political practice.
- A perception that we must find new ways to pursue and share knowledge, in
order to create critical awareness throughout the community. New methods of
ensuring and encouraging involvement in participatory research and equally,
developing greater variety in the ways that knowledge is shared and
communicated, are needed.
- A perception that public discourse is full of euphemisms and worse,
doublespeak, where words no longer fit with the facts, or become so bloated
or vague or ambiguous that they are deprived of meaning. In such a
situation, people cease to understand or come to understand all too well and
cease to believe and, as a consequence, become cynical or impotent,
perplexed individuals.
- A perception that we live and work in a way that ignores the growing
complexity of and interdependence of issues in the society in which we are
immersed. This oversight leads to false debates and the false identification
of problems. Solutions are too often designed without understanding or
addressing the root causes of the problems they seek to alleviate, or their
relationship to one another. The perception exists that government, funders
and agencies arrogantly develop programs for people before we know what
people need and want - and what will work for them!
- A perception that the complexity of reality challenges us to adopt new
understandings based on transdisciplinary approaches. Support for this
reorientation comes from the fact that analyzing a specific problem requires
looking at a web of complex issues that cannot be separated easily and
cannot often be resolved through the application of conventional policies or
procedures founded in traditional disciplines and/or sectors.
- A perception that human need is not constantly changing. What changes is
the particular form or shape those needs may assume in a given community,
culture, environment or historical period, as well as the way those needs
are satisfied - which again will vary according to community, culture,
environment, and historical period. This belief, expressed over and over
again by respondents, is of enormous importance for the human services. It
clearly implies that our concerns should be focussed not on naming the needs
but on finding the current and appropriate way to meet them.
- A perception of the interrelatedness of social problems such that we can
only conclude that all human needs are interrelated and interactive.
- A perception that needs are satisfied within three contexts: i) with
regard to oneself ii) with regard to the social group iii) with regard to
the environment.
- A perception that we must reinterpret and greatly expand the concept of
poverty. The traditional concept of poverty is limited and restricted,
referring exclusively to the situation of people whose income falls below a
certain threshold. The voices of Oakville workers and residents remind us
that people in this situation do live in poverty in Oakville. Beyond this,
their descriptions of difficulties and, especially, their fears about the
future give shape to very different forms of poverty - of deprivation. When
real, basic human needs are not adequately satisfied, there is poverty.
Poverty of subsistence exists when people have insufficient income, food,
and shelter. Poverty of protection occurs when violence is a threat or the
health system deteriorates to a point where it can hurt as often as it
helps. Poverty of understanding is due to poor quality of education or lack
of information; poverty of participation is founded in the marginalization
of and discrimination against women, children, and minorities. There are in
fact many poverties. Each form of poverty generates pathologies - literally
"disease" of one kind or another.
- A perception that we are obsessed with form, allowing us to conceal our
unconscious fear about the uncertainties underlying the problems. Law is
confused with justice, and regulations with efficiency. Generosity is
confused with charity and participation with favouritism. Echoes of this are
heard often in the voices of respondents.
- A perception that we live in a period of transition which means that
paradigm shifts are not only necessary but also indispensable.
- A perception that we must learn to respect diversity in our community
whether it be differences between people or differences in ideas. The
coexistence and celebration of many differences enrich us. · A perception
that a critical and vigorous review of the concepts of efficiency,
effectiveness, and accountability - terms cloaked in self-righteousness and
masked by ambiguity - is necessary.
- A perception that the connection between stable funding of the
infrastructure of human services and their ability to serve the community
fully and appropriately is still poorly understood by those who do not have
to try and provide those services. A kind of magical thinking persists,
imagining that everything can be done with nothing. This thinking is tied to
vague, ambiguous, and often misleading, feel-good statements about the
importance of community and voluntary action.
- A perception the neither conventional nor non-conventional resources have
been mobilized to support sustainable social development. In terms of
traditional resourcing, the ability of human service agencies is directly
related to the presence of stable, ongoing, core funding. Programs require
appropriate levels of funds if implementation is to proceed successfully.
There is a perception that in the conventional funding system monetary and
financial reforms are needed to allow public and private resources to relate
better to local needs and to the disadvantaged. The role of government as an
allocator of resources to favour equitable and sustainable development is
reaffirmed.
- A perception that true voluntary action (as opposed to merely unpaid work)
as a form of community development fosters creativity, mobilizes social
capital and energy, preserves communal identity, deploys solidarity and
utilizes organizational experience and popular knowledge for the
satisfaction of individual and collective needs.
The understanding of these perceptions in all sectors of the Oakville
community is one of the challenges of building a healthy Oakville. As daunting
as the task may seem, action is already underway in the community toward this
end, and much more that should be supported.
A copy of the study Oakville: An Audit of a Community in Transition
can be purchased from the Council.
Produced by the Community Development Halton
860 Harrington Court
Burlington, Ontario L7N 3N4
(905) 632-1975, (905) 878-0955; Fax: (905) 632-0778; E-mail:
office@cdhalton.ca
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