Keep the clothes, but I`ll take the food and shelter!

As I've already mentionned in some Forum postings, the Province of New Brunswick, Canada, is working on a Poverty Reduction Initiative. The government started by holding hearings and receiving comments and briefs regarding the causes of poverty and the possible solutions. It then formed a committee which included many of the people who appeared at the public hearings, as well as other stakeholders. There have been two documents released so far in this regard. The more interesting of the two isA Choir of Voices, a sort of "What Was Said" document. This was followed by committee meetings and the release of a summary report outlining--far too briefly in my opinion--the options. These will be discussed at a final forum on November 12 and 13 in Saint John. Both documents can be read online. To go over the website,click here. I know this may be a better post for the Anti-Poverty Group, but that group seems to be lacking people who want to discuss anything. I'm sure other members have seen poverty in their communities, and perhaps even experienced it. What do you think the solutions could be? Is education enough? Is there such a thing as a handuprather than a handout? Teaching them to fish may be better than just giving them fish, but what happens if there is no more fish in the river, lake or sea? Also, for almost a generation, there have been more available workers than good jobs. This situation is about to change, but it won't be a solutionper se. Business will cry out for more workers, but those who could fill the jobs are often uneducated, disabled or otherwise disenfranchised. What do we do to meet the needs of both? I'd love to hear from anybody who would like to discuss this further. Update: The Final Forum took place as scheduled, Nov. 12 and 13. The final document calledOvercoming Poverty Togethercan be found athttp://www.gnb.ca/0017/promos/0001/pdf/Plan-e.pdf.