Durham Community Social Investment Project in Lakeview
The Durham Workforce Authority (DWA) recently received a Regional Municipality of Durham Community Social Investment grant to support its work in the Lakeview Neighbourhood in Oshawa. The DWA will operationalize three previously funded research projects focused on labour market attachment challenges in the Lakeview Neighbourhood, which recommended delivering labour market attachment programs and services in Lakeview to improve human services and labour market outcomes for residents of the neighbourhood.
The project aims to enhance labour market outcomes in Oshawa’s Lakeview neighbourhood through targeted, place-based strategies. The DWA will act as the backbone coordinating body for Lakeview Connects and will plan, coordinate, and partner to deliver employment services, literacy, and community connections support as a hoteling model one day a week in Lakeview. This effort will address the notable lack of access to programs and services within the neighbourhood.
The dearth of neighbourhood-level programs such as mental health care, employment support, and education and training impacts area residents who, in 2020, had a median household income in Lakeview that was 22 percent lower than in the rest of Oshawa and significantly lower levels of education. Research has revealed that 22 percent of the population has not completed high school, and only 42 percent have completed postsecondary education, compared to 56 percent overall in Oshawa. A hyperlocal coordinated service delivery in Lakeview will address dignity and ensure healthy and resilient communities. The project will focus on direct service delivery, community building and labour market attachment initiatives.
Lakeview Connects will provide hyperlocal placed-based community labour market support services derived from a community strategic plan built from key informant interviews and conversation cafes that identify priority labour market supports required in Lakeview to assist with labour market attachment. Lakeview residents report that the community services support desert is a significant barrier to system navigation; service providers also noted the lack of service coordination in Lakeview impedes their ability to provide services in this high-needs area. These inequities impede community connection and support and do not help Lakeview thrive.
Residents will be provided access to labour market attachment programs in their neighbourhoods, creating more equitable access to these supports as is found in other Oshawa and Durham Region neighbourhoods that do not experience a services desert. Social and economic conditions that create barriers to labour market participation impact labour market development for many residents in Lakeview. These conditions contribute to instability, stress, and lower well-being levels, making labour market attachment difficult for many in the community. Such conditions include income insecurity, food insecurity, unstable and/or inadequate housing, family instability, mental health and addictions, lack of accessibility support, and a lack of access to transportation. These conditions are more prevalent in Lakeview than other Oshawa and Durham neighbourhoods.