Anchored in goodwill

It’s a poverty reduction approach based on spending smarter instead of spending more. It doesn’t depend on outside help, focusing instead on institutions already in a community. And — best of all — it works.

Called an “anchor strategy,” it involves redirecting the immense purchasing power and economic clout of hospitals, universities and local government. Instead of pursuing traditional priorities, such as minimizing costs by rewarding the lowest possible bidder, these institutions would look beyond their walls and also consider what best serves the public good. It’s a responsible way to proceed. “An anchor mission is the deliberate and strategic use of resources to benefit communities, especially low- and moderate-income neighbourhoods or historically disadvantaged groups,” states a compelling new report commissioned by the Atkinson Foundation and produced by the Mowat Centre. Such a mission has potential to make “communities stronger by every measure.”

An example citied in the report is a Ryerson University policy requiring at least 25 per cent of food used by the institution to be locally and sustainably sourced. “Mom and Pop producers are able to deliver what we need, while we’re able to put them on a financially sustainable footing,” noted Julia Hanigsburg, the university’s former vicepresident of administration and finance. And students benefit by being served better-tasting food.

There’s immense potential to this approach. Unlike industries, which can thrive or fail, big public institutions generally stay embedded in a community, like an “anchor.” They typically employ a lot of people and dispense a great deal of money. Ontario universities and hospitals, alone, spend $9.9 billion on goods and services yearly, according to the report. Allocating just a small portion of that outflow to communities and local small businesses could channel hundreds of millions of dollars to people who truly need it.

But there’s more involved in an anchor strategy than socially responsible purchasing. Organizations can commit to hiring a greater percentage of their workforce locally and provide specialized job training to people in need of help. For example, the University of Toronto Scarborough has instituted a program for construction projects giving at-risk youth 16 weeks of intense experience in the building trades with a guaranteed job placement on graduation.

There’s an urgent need for action amid dire income inequality and with Toronto’s low-income and very poor neighbourhoods projected to swell by 60 per cent, assuming nothing changes. Anchor strategies can make a very real difference without requiring heavy new costs. It would make sense for governments and public institutions to aggressively pursue such initiatives.

‘Anchor strategy’ is a smart way for Ontario universities, hospitals and local governments to fight poverty