Introducing...

October 12, 2015

Meet Lucas, Lisa, Natalie, and the residents

We’ve taken on some new team members on the ReMaking a Living Project for an intensive apprenticeship, to help us generate 10 fresh ideas that could measurably improve the lives of people feeling stuck in unemployment. After a few days of training, our newly formed team went out to knock on some doors, with the goal of meeting some folks who might not readily engage with employment services, to learn about their experiences with work and unemployment in Peterborough.

The Characters

Lucas Barrie, a secondee from Employment Planning & Counselling, where he has been a Youth Leader in the Jobs for Youth Summer Program for three years.

Lisa Murray, a local designer who recently graduated from Trent University with her Masters in Public Texts. She’s a self-taught design geek who always went the extra mile with her elementary school diorama, and nothing much has changed.

Natalie Napier, a project manager in COIN, who is passionate about community economic development. In this picture, Natalie is showing a ReMaking a Living Project participant how to use our Self-Portrait Pack.

Residents of the low income neighbourhood we visited.

The Challenge

We were looking to meet the unusual suspects – folks who might try to avoid employment and other services, maybe because they haven’t had a positive experience in the past; people feeling a bit stuck or hopeless. Rather than setting up an an attraction in a busy place, our strategy was knocking on doors in a low income neighbourhood on the outskirts of the City of Peterborough.

The Props

A box of pizza! Actually we brought several.

A deck of cards to help people tell us about how they spend their time – and how they wished to spend their time.

We also brought some pop and juice to go with the pizza.

What we heard

Arriving in the early afternoon, we were struck to find that in most households we entered, there was at least one person working or recently laid off. Often others were pursuing schooling or had a start date for a degree program. We talked to families young and old, single mothers and younger adults. People were working precarious jobs that were known to come and go, reduce or expand in hours, supporting a whole family, in most cases. It was that lack of stability, and constant upheaval, that made it hard for households to to feel like they were ‘getting anywhere’.

Whole families discussed how they used their time to make money and look after each other.

Conversation often became animated when people got onto the topic of how getting a job affects social assistance, and can make your whole family feel more vulnerable – because of lost health care plans, for example. Working also meant sometimes quite substantial increases in rent at rent-geared to income housing units. People felt like it was difficult (impossible?) to get ahead and stay ahead, by working.

This couple has big plans to become financially independent – to be off assistance, away from food banks, and in a neighbourhood of their choosing. They think it will take four-six years to get there, if they put up with the squeeze now.

Natalie sitting beside a young guy who tried to explain why he works. It was hard to put it in words, but it makes days better.

A day later, we tried it again. These two days have given us insight into some of the structural and systemic barriers to retaining employment and moving forward in life. Next week, we’ll be following up with some of the folks we met, to dive deeper into the granular detail of life, out of work, in Peterborough.