The Future is Collective Case Studies of Collective Social Innovation 2025

St John has a population of nearly 75,000 people and is known for its beautiful architecture, stunning landscapes and maritime heritage. The city serves as a vital economic centre for New Brunswick, a province on Canada’s Atlantic coast. However, despite its beauty and heritage, in the late 1990s, the city was experiencing higher-than-average rates of poverty. In 1999, 100 local business leaders assembled to tackle the roots of poverty in their community. They began with a data collection exercise to understand the root causes of poverty and realized that “lifetime” poverty – as opposed to situational or short-term poverty – required concentrated attention. This led them to focus on supporting the most vulnerable families by strengthening their health, education and employment pathways. The collaborative joined Tamarack’s Vibrant Communities Network in 2003, led by four founding organizations, each representing a different stakeholder group (civil society, people with lived experience, business and government). Over a 10-year period, this group developed a poverty reduction strategy, conducted research to understand the roots of poverty in the community, and strengthened the infrastructure of the five neighbourhoods with the greatest needs. Based on a decade of growing together, this collaborative grew further and evolved into a new entity called Living SJ. Today, these efforts have borne fruit: high school graduation rates have increased from 50% to 70% in the focus neighbourhoods and the number of social assistance cases decreased by 17% over the 2010-2017 study period. Overall, the poverty rate in the city has reduced at a more significant rate than poverty reductions provincially and nationally. In 2020, Living SJ concluded its activities and transitioned to a regional initiative led by the New Brunswick province.CASE STORY Living SJ local collaborative The poverty rate in the city of Saint John has dropped over the twenty-year periodThe poverty rate among children has declined between 2015 and 2020 % of population living below the poverty line Source: Statistics Canada Census Measure: Low Income Cut-Off, After Tax (LICO-AT). The statistics were compiled by BCAPI with help from local partners, Human Development Council and Community Foundation. Source: Statistics Canada Census Measure –/uni00A0Low Income Measure-After Tax (LIM-AT) % of children (0 to 17 years of age) living below the poverty line 0510152025 101520253035 2001 % Change 2001-2021 -14.2 -4.9 -6.7Change 2015-20202006 % 2011 % 2016 % 2021 % 2015 % 2020 % City of Saint JohnCity of Saint JohnSaint John CMANew BrunswickNew BrunswickCanada Canada -9.2 -6.5 -6.3 -5.1 The Future is Collective: Case Studies of Collective Social Innovation 68