1.2 Social and Economic Inclusion Initiative
Over the past year, community leaders from across central west Ontario participated in four soundings to explore community interest in population health initiatives using a social and economic inclusion framework. Through these discussions, isolation was identified as a common concern for both urban and rural areas, with youth and seniors targeted as particularly vulnerable population groups on account of the social distance they experience from their communities. The rapid changes taking place in informal structures, formal systems and local governments are creating an environment of reduced social support and citizen involvement for youth and seniors in our community.
The Social and Economic Inclusion Initiative has been funded by Health Canada (Population Health Fund, Population and Public Health Branch) and aims to respond to concerns about isolation and community disconnectedness experienced by urban and rural communities. The focus is on the isolation of vulnerable groups such as youth and seniors to further understand the degree to which people are included or excluded from participating in decision-making and planning in our communities.
Social and Economic Inclusion can be defined as both a process and a goal. As a process, it welcomes individuals and groups who have been left out of the planning, decision-making and policy development processes in their communities. As a goal, it empowers people by offering them opportunities, resources, and supports to promote participation in their communities.
The purpose of our current research has been to measure the process of inclusion and to develop tools and strategies to reduce the barriers to youth and senior participation in our community. This process has included learning forums and kitchen table talks conducted in Waterloo Region and Brant County, with local seniors, youth and community partners as our informants. The project thus far has provided a cross-community perspective to explore social and economic inclusion. The knowledge gained has been used to create strategies and resources to increase community capacity to reduce barriers to youth and senior participation in local communities.
A lot has been gained from this project in terms of education and awareness, learnings about seniors and youth issues, and action oriented methods of implementing processes that will hopefully lead to positive change within the community. This documentation report has tried to reflect the numerous processes and research that took place during the past year in order to complete this initiative. It is hoped that it can be of assistance for guidance as to how the project has proceeded during the past year and what is hoped to be accomplished in the months to come in terms of closing the distance within the community.