Toronto's Strong Neighbourhoods Strategy and UrbanHeart Assessment

Overview of the Toronto Strong Neighbourhoods Strategy

The Toronto Strong Neighbourhoods Strategy (TSNS) exists to support "healthy communities across Toronto by partnering with residents, businesses and agencies to invest in people, services, programs and facilities in specific neighbourhoods" (Toronto.ca, 2015). The objective of this program is to "strengthen the social, economic and physical conditions and deliver local impact for city-wide change." The methodology involves the City Council selecting neighbourhoods that will become Neighbourhood Improvement Areas. There are 140 such areas designated within the City of Toronto.

The goal is to identify the needs of these neighbourhoods and, by providing targeted resources to key areas of weakness, improve them with respect to programs and services. A key aspect of the program is that it gathers feedback from each community about its needs and how well the city has performed in meeting those needs. The program was launched in 2005 with 13 neighbourhoods selected, and the latest iteration is the Toronto Strong Neighbourhoods Strategy 2020, which features new neighbourhoods. Some of the target categories include newcomers, seniors, and youth. Newcomers are prioritized because Toronto is a magnet for immigrants and one of the most diverse cities in the world; newcomers benefit significantly from programs that help them integrate into Canadian society. Seniors and youth are also groups that have been shown to benefit substantially from social programs, representing a significant quality-of-life issue.

Wellbeing Toronto is another facet of this program, in which measures are tabulated for each neighbourhood to track its social and economic progress. The premises underlying the Strong Neighbourhoods Strategy are threefold. First, as a City of Toronto strategy, it rests on the assumption that the City has the ability to deliver services that will improve quality of life in these neighbourhoods. Second, by working with local stakeholders, the City can determine which neighbourhoods are most in need of such programs and can gain critical insights into what services are needed most. Third, the program assumes that delivery of services should occur at the local level, especially direct human services. The City implements TSNS and has gathered substantial information about the city's neighbourhoods, identifying areas that require the most assistance.

UrbanHeart: A Data-Driven Measurement Framework

UrbanHeart is a research framework that seeks to measure outcomes for each of Toronto's 140 neighbourhoods. It assesses economic opportunities, civic engagement, human development, physical environment and infrastructure, and population health. UrbanHeart was originally created by the World Health Organization. The methodology underlying UrbanHeart is based on different premises than those of TSNS. While TSNS relies on the core belief that direct feedback from stakeholders is one of the best ways to learn about neighbourhood needs—making it qualitative in nature—UrbanHeart is quantitative and data-driven.

UrbanHeart rests on three premises. First, the system developed by the WHO can be adapted for use in Toronto. Second, gathering data will be a productive means of learning about the needs of different neighbourhoods. Third, the city can continually learn from UrbanHeart measures; the inquiry is more closed-ended than that of TSNS, marking a fundamental difference in philosophy. The UrbanHeart methodology was first developed in 2008, making its application to Toronto a novel undertaking. It uses publicly available data to paint a picture of different neighbourhoods, and proponents tout its ability to help make sense of all available data across different social outcome measures. The result is a survey that can be presented to Council, explaining outcomes for each neighbourhood and justifying the kinds of investments that would occur under TSNS.

Defining and Measuring Poverty in Toronto

TSNS has published an information sheet on poverty in the City indicating that 25 percent of children under 14 live in poverty, totalling over 100,000 children. The document places the number of Torontonians living in poverty at 374,530 and notes that many groups are more vulnerable to poverty than others. Income thresholds for poverty are defined as $820 monthly for single adults, $1,465 for single parents, and $2,055 for two-parent families. Shepherd (2014) notes that UrbanHeart measures poverty in terms of unemployment rates, social assistance usage, and the percentage of residents considered to be low-income.

Both tools define poverty in quantitative terms and use already-published data, typically census information. While some qualitative understanding of poverty exists, numbers form the basis for determining how many people in each neighbourhood live under poverty conditions. The approach is entirely statistical, allowing for consistent comparison across neighbourhoods and tracking of changes over time. This data-driven approach enables administrators to direct targeted resources to communities with the greatest need.

Youth Entrepreneurship as a Poverty Reduction Pathway

Youth entrepreneurial work can provide a valuable pathway out of poverty. TSNS notes that many traditional pathways out of poverty are less effective than in the past. For example, 23 percent of college graduates are working in low-wage jobs, indicating significant stratification in the job market that leaves those without strong skills working only in low-end positions that do not pay well and offer no path out of poverty. Significant barriers to starting a business exist, ranging from regulatory requirements to the need for startup capital. Youth entrepreneurship programs, particularly those involving incubators, can remove some of these barriers. When faced with the choice between low-paying jobs and opportunities to apply their skills and education to create their own income ceiling, youth are likely to find entrepreneurship an effective poverty-reduction strategy.

It is worth noting that unattached individuals living alone, young people, recent immigrants, and single parents are all among the most vulnerable to poverty. When such programs are targeted at other at-risk groups, such as First Nations or racialized communities, the effects of increased opportunity become amplified. Because current poverty measures are based primarily on income, any opportunity that community members have to increase their income should have a positive impact. Entrepreneurial activity also has cascading effects: successful small businesses must hire, and in many cases that hiring will first come from the same community that received support. The predicted impact stems from the fact that entrepreneurial programs represent an infusion of capital and a reduction in barriers to startups, two factors that reduce risk and encourage more people to engage in entrepreneurial activity. While not every business will succeed, many will, and those that do can deliver economic benefits to the community by increasing aggregate economic activity and reducing unemployment.