As the level of government closest to the people, the City of Edmonton continues to put poverty elimination as a priority.

Edmonton’s prosperity has not reached everyone. More than 100,000 Edmontonians live in poverty—30,000 of them are children.

In 2017 the Poverty Elimination Council Initiative was launched to ensure that the City implements the 18 City-led actions in the EndPovertyEdmonton 5 Year Road Map and advances a human rights approach among City staff in their work. The Council Initiative and EndPovertyEdmonton are interdependent and complementary; each one with a specific role in tackling the multi-layered factors causing poverty.

Terms of Reference - Poverty Elimination Council Initiative

The City’s role has evolved into that key partner, funder and advocate for actions to tackle poverty. In 2017, the Corporate Poverty Elimination Steering Committee was formed and tasked to coordinate the City-led actions in the Road Map, track progress and impact, and ensure the City’s commitments are met. City staff from across various City departments meet regularly to build their understanding and capacity around ending poverty as it pertains to municipal actions and to advance this work.

EndPovertyEdmonton is the primary steward of the Road Map, with wide and deep connections to the community which are essential to building a robust movement to end poverty in the city. EndPovertyEdmonton champions the call that ending poverty in Edmonton in a generation is everyone’s responsibility.