Thank you. It's a pleasure to be here.
Canadian Business for Social Responsibility is a national non-profit professional association. We have over 100 corporate members. We are Canada's globally recognized source for corporate social responsibility, and we support our members to advance their social, environmental, and financial performance and contribute to a better world.
We mobilize companies through our three business lines. Our member services deliver candid counsel, learning and networking, and access to an international network of CSR thought leaders. In our advisory services area, we have expert consulting services in strategic community investment, stakeholder engagement, strategy development, CSR assessment, benchmarking, climate change, governance, reporting, and communications. The area I lead on behalf of our organization is the programs area. We operate two programs that mobilize companies to take action on the issues of poverty, employability, homelessness, and at-risk youth. They are called Seeing is Believing and Ready for Work.
Today I want to talk about the Ready for Work program. This is a national model for governments, business, and community to invest in work experience and skills training for marginalized people. It is a managed, coordinated, and measurable program to reduce poverty across Canada.
Canada's poverty rates are predicted to grow during the current economic crisis, and the overrepresented groups include new Canadians, aboriginal Canadians, lone-parent families, women, and visible minorities. The persistence of poverty also disproportionately affects our children. Poverty is the leading cause of homelessness, poor health, chronic health problems, lower education levels, and higher mortality rates. Taken together, the combined effects of poverty negatively impact every Canadian by adding to our social costs and by reducing our country's economic potential. Each group represents a complexity of issues, with the common issue being lack of employability.
Bringing marginalized people into the workforce should be focused on partnerships and programs that support employability over time and not on short-term initiatives and subsidies. The investment will pay off as more and more people move from income assistance toward financial independence and tax contribution.
The Ready for Work program is operated in the U.K. by our sister organization, Business in the Community. Canadian Business for Social Responsibility will operate this program as their licensee in Canada. The Ready for Work program has a four-phased and long-term approach. Candidates are formally registered and given a program introduction where they are taught work and life skills, given pre-employment training, and then matched to a work placement that takes into account their particular experience and interest. Clients then complete a two- to four-week work placement within a company, and they have a workplace buddy assigned to them on a one-on-one daily basis. At the end of the placement, they're given a recommendation as well as a performance reference. Then they are paired with a job coach for up to six months. That job coach is also a volunteer from the corporate sector who will meet with that individual on a weekly basis to help them with their job search.
Solutions to the issues of poverty will absolutely have to involve government, business, and community. Unfortunately, the P3 landscape can also be difficult to navigate because of limited mutual understanding across the sectors. Community agencies are experts in service delivery and client support, but at the same time they operate unlimited funding cycles with increasingly scarce resources. This challenges the sector's ability to offer stable and effective programs and hinders its capacity to deliver on long-term partnership commitments.
Although most companies also agree that poverty is an urgent issue, they too lack the knowledge, skills, and experience to navigate this confusing and disparate sector, with its wide variety of community organizations and the many variations of programs and initiatives. As a result, there's a crucial role for a broker offering a defined solution with an existing network of corporate partners and the ability to measure success in terms of increasing percentages of marginalized people getting work and living independently.
CBSR alone has this cross-sector experience to bridge the corporate community gap. Our leadership in the social services sector and in the business sector has been proven to mobilize business engagement at a strategic level and effect real social change. The Ready for Work program has a tested and cost-effective model.
Since 2002, in the U.K., the Ready for Work program has supported over 3,500 clients. Approximately 1,500 have gained employment, and over 800 have sustained employment for at least six months. In 2009, they have over 142 companies that support the program through placements, job coaches, and venues for training. In addition, 283 homeless projects and other employability organizations refer those clients all across the U.K.
The government can lead in the development of partnerships between government, community, and business. Business must play a key role in providing the jobs, the training, and support as part of its social responsibility agenda. However, our experience shows that upfront government investment will be required to launch a national employment initiative.
Business involvement and leadership will grow as their engagement generates bottom-line benefits in the form of enhanced reputation, improved multi-stakeholder trust, improved community economic outlook, and of course, a healthier balance sheet. One of the key success factors in the U.K. has been in its P3 funding model. In looking ahead, a key priority must be to ensure access to fulfilling work for all those who want it. By building bridges across the sectors and launching the Ready for Work program, we will take the crucial leap to bring marginalized individuals off the streets and into the work force.
Thank you.