Iglika Ivanova did the math: it costs less to reduce poverty than to allow it to continue and pay for the consequences: poor health, lower literacy, poor school performance for children, more crime, and greater stress. Reducing poverty and easing human suffering is the right thing to do, and it's also a sensible economic choice.
Read The Cost of Poverty in BC and watch and share our 3-minute video, What is poverty costing BC? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pd_nkCi-pVo
Help change the conversation about poverty:
SHARE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pd_nkCi-pVo
LEARN http://www.policyalternatives.ca/costofpovertybc
TAKE ACTION Look up your MLA using the MLA Finder at http://www.leg.bc.ca/mla/3-1-1.htm and call, email, or visit their office (report in hand) to tell them that the cost of poverty is too high. Contact them while they're in their home constituencies over the summer and let them know we want to see a poverty reduction plan in their party's platform ahead of the next election.
You can also view a subtitled version of the video here: http://www.universalsubtitles.org/en/videos/buNZTmgCNAvH/info/
CCPA not only does first-rate research; it also connects with the real world by putting powerful information in the hands of advocacy groups and by presenting intelligent, progressive ideas in the media. It is a BC jewel and I urge everyone to support it.
— Kathleen Ruff, founder, RightOn Canada