Tackling the root causes of poverty is complex. Solutions involve multiple approaches and an "all hands-on deck" spirit, including all levels of government. Municipalities like the City of Toronto play a critical role. The City of Toronto will launch its Third Term Action Plan on the City’s Poverty Reduction Strategy (PRS) this spring. Join SPT for a conversation with Bryony Halpin, the City’s new Manager, Poverty Reduction, to hear about her approach to collaboration, collective impact, and human rights in the implementation of the next (PRS) Action Plan. Bryony is joined by Orpah Cundangan from the Tamarack Institute’s Communities Ending Poverty, a powerful collective impact movement comprised of 330 municipalities (including the City of Toronto) and represented by eighty regional roundtables.
Learn more about Social Planning Toronto's work on poverty reduction here.
About the speakers:
Bryony Halpin comes to the City of Toronto from the Ontario Federation of Indigenous Friendship Centres (OFIFC), where she was the Director of Housing & Employment. There, she led the strategic development of housing and employment policies, programs, and services for 31 Friendship Centres across Ontario. Prior to OFIFC, Bryony led the Ontario Human Rights Commission’s (OHRC) response to COVID-19, as well as the OHRC’s work on poverty reduction, including the development of the Poverty Point of View Action Plan focusing on housing/homelessness, mental health and substance use, and service system access.
Bryony has also worked at the Ontario Public Service (OPS) at the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing (MMAH), where she supported the development of an Indigenous Housing and Homelessness Strategy. While at Ontario’s Indigenous Affairs Office, she led the housing/homelessness and poverty reduction files. She holds a PhD in Environmental and Urban Change from York University and has taught courses on environmental justice in Toronto and gender and family policy at York University and Toronto Metropolitan University. Bryony grew up in the east end of Toronto and now lives in the west end with her partner, Micah, and their 9-year-old son, Louis.
Orpah Cundangan (she/her) has worked in the nonprofit sector, supporting organizations focused on poverty reduction and youth homelessness, for over 10 years. She began her career working for an international development charity before moving into an operations role at an organization focused on preventing and ending youth homelessness in Toronto. Wanting to further support national efforts around youth homelessness, she then joined a national coalition where she spent more than five years working with incredible community partners in the youth homelessness sector. In her role as Learning Lead for Communities Ending Poverty at Tamarack, she is most excited to help amplify community learnings around equity, diversity, inclusion, justice, and reconciliation as part of their poverty reduction efforts. She is constantly inspired by the way communities continue to adapt and collaborate in order to provide support to everyone who may need it.
This event took place on April 4, 2024.