Tuesday, October 07, 2014

HOPE Wants You to Vote for a Poverty Free Hamilton

(Here is a story I posted last month at www.hamiltonjustice.ca) 


Last week the Hamilton Roundtable for Poverty Reduction and the Clinic co-hosted a Community Conversation with Mayoral Candidates at the Central Library.  We focussed the Conversation on five issues.


You can read about the event on our website’s make Change page at  http://www.hamiltonjustice.ca/make-change.php Interestingly and not surprisingly, Hamilton Organizing for Poverty Elimination (HOPE) is shining a light on some of the same issues in their continuing campaign for a Poverty Free Hamilton.


HOPE was founded in 2008. This volunteer group brings together leaders in anti-poverty activism from Hamilton and the surrounding areas.  Their goal is to make “poverty part of Hamilton's history, not part of its present.”
They’ve put a neat little two page flyer together that looks at issues in the October 27th election.


Here is the flyer:   http://1drv.ms/1pmpO3r


In it you’ll find current and helpful background information on affordable housing, safe and affordable public transit, and food security and on Hamilton’s Living Wage Campaign. In addition, there are “sample questions” for candidates.  These questions can be asked of any would-be representative who comes to your door or posed in public at any all-candidate events in your area.
There are lots of such meetings coming up.  For example, there is a Mayoral Debate at St Giles united church this Wednesday October 1st at 7 p.m.
Joey Coleman, “Hamilton’s Own Local News Source 24/7,” live streams some of these events.  He also keeps readers informed of upcoming debates at http://joeycoleman.ca/