{"id":231,"date":"2016-04-16T14:53:46","date_gmt":"2016-04-16T18:53:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/voicesfromthestreet.com\/?p=231"},"modified":"2018-07-13T10:45:31","modified_gmt":"2018-07-13T14:45:31","slug":"231","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/voicesfromthestreet.com\/?p=231","title":{"rendered":"Agents of change rise from the streets"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/h2>\n

Carol Goar<\/h4>\n

June 19, 2009<\/p>\n

The four-month interlude between the announcement of Ontario\u2019s poverty reduction plan and the release of the provincial budget was a tough time for Children\u2019s Minister Deb Matthews.<\/p>\n

The economy was deteriorating. Her government colleagues were questioning the wisdom of a new financial commitment. She knew low-income Ontarians were counting on her.<\/p>\n

What guided Matthews as she wrestled with these conflicting pressures, she told anti-poverty activists this week, was the image of Linda Chamberlain and the words of Mike Creek.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Chamberlain has pink hair, a 10-megawatt smile and schizophrenia. She once lived on the streets, slept in a plastic bag and feared for her life. Now she can read and write, earn a living and advocate for others with mental illness. A one-bedroom supportive apartment made the difference.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Creek is a cancer survivor who lost his job, his home and his savings as he battled the disease. He is now one of the leaders of the anti-poverty movement. During Matthews\u2019 consultations, Creek told her: \u201cWhen the economy is good, everybody ignores the poor. When it\u2019s bad, they say they can\u2019t afford to do anything.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Both Chamberlain and Creek are graduates of a program called Voices from the Street, a kind of poor people\u2019s academy. It trains men and women who have lived on the margins to become agents of change.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cYou kept me grounded,\u201d Matthews told them. \u201cIt\u2019s not tokenism when I say you are the experts.\u201d<\/p>\n

She was speaking at this year\u2019s graduation ceremony.<\/p>\n

Judging from their public debut, the 14 newest members of Voices from the Street will be equally persuasive. They delivered their graduation speeches with passion and confidence. They urged policy-makers to listen to people who know what it\u2019s like to be homeless, hungry, trapped in an abusive relationship, addicted to drugs and paralyzed by shame.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cPoverty makes you invisible,\u201d said graduate Jo-An Samuels. \u201cIt\u2019s hard to break the cycle.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

She tried. Despite growing up in public housing with a mother who struggled to support four kids, Samuels dreamed of going to university and becoming secretary general of the United Nations. \u201cI was determined not to be a young black female from the projects who dropped out of school because of pregnancy.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

But she did get pregnant. And although she finished school, she didn\u2019t go on. No one encouraged her. She got involved in a bad relationship. Drugs and misery followed.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Samuels is now a recovering cocaine addict with three children. She is speaking out so their lives will be better than hers.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve never had a graduation \u2013 except from a treatment program,\u201d said Kelly Macklin. She was sexually abused as a child. \u201cFor almost all of my life, I wanted to die.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

She drank and took drugs at 11, had her first brush with the law at 13, never finished high school and became a crack addict.<\/strong><\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t until she was 41 that she decided to face her demons and build the life she never had. \u201cAs an adult, I\u2019ve found my voice. I know that I am resilient and determined. Now I can help others.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mike Riley, who grew up in a series of foster homes, never fit in anywhere until he showed up at the Good Shepherd Centre one night. He got shelter, treatment and help finding housing.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Now he and his dog, Angel, are a team. They look out for people who are falling through the cracks.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Theresa Schrader was the class valedictorian. She fought her way through depression, poverty, prostitution and a vicious assault.<\/strong><\/p>\n

She hailed her fellow graduates: \u201cWe are the chosen ones. We are the voices from the street. We can give others back their voices.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Credit: Social Policy in Ontario<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Carol Goar June 19, 2009 The four-month interlude between the announcement of Ontario\u2019s poverty reduction plan and the release of the provincial budget was a tough time for Children\u2019s Minister Deb Matthews. The economy was deteriorating. Her government colleagues were… Continue Reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[16],"tags":[9,20,18,43,22,38,45,34,19,32,23],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/voicesfromthestreet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/voicesfromthestreet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/voicesfromthestreet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/voicesfromthestreet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/voicesfromthestreet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=231"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/voicesfromthestreet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":878,"href":"https:\/\/voicesfromthestreet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231\/revisions\/878"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/voicesfromthestreet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=231"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/voicesfromthestreet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=231"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/voicesfromthestreet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=231"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}