POST – October Issue

October 7th, 2020, Issue Number 2

Message from our Founder, Pamela Jeffery

I hope everyone enjoyed a beautiful summer!

While some took a well-deserved break, many have been working diligently to move us forward.

Many of the Initiatives are gearing up well. Our website update 3.0 is now complete. New features include:

• Founding partners and new incoming Initiative partners
• News and Media Centre with a blog page

I wrote an Op-Ed which about TPP which ran in the Globe and Mail and La Presse. Feedback was encouraging. A going back to school Op-Ed was published in the Toronto Star a few weeks ago. We have a piece for the French-speaking Quebec market and one on maternity leave which is currently being pitched to various media outlets. If you have a POV to share, we would love to try publishing it. Several Founding Visionaries and Visionaries are joining panels, webinars, workshops across the country and/or doing interviews to promote TPP, we encourage all of you to help us continue to build awareness.

I am delighted to share below the list of our Founding Partners and the initiatives they are supporting:

•  Matching Program (connecting not-for-profit organizations with skills and expertise)
  • Co-presented by Accenture
    
• Modern-day Rosie the Riveter Campaign and programs (raising awareness of challenges and solutions for women in the Canadian workforce)
  • Presented by Ontario Power Generation
•  Prosperity Study (long-term research on women and the economy)
  • Co-presented by Deloitte 
• Annual Gender Diversity Data Tracking (measuring the progress of women in leadership and management roles)
  • Co-presented by KPMG 
• Canadian Households’ Perspectives (national surveys)
  • Research Partner Pollara Strategic Insights
• National Media Partner  –
  • The Globe and Mail 

Other firms committed to The Prosperity Project include:

Founding Partners

Up to $200,000

• Deloitte
• Ontario Power Generation

Up to $100,000

• Accenture
• Enterprise Canada (Strategic Communications/Public Affairs)
• The Globe and Mail
• KPMG

Up to $50,000  

• Crowe Soberman

Up to $25,000  

• McCarthy Tetrault
• The Respect Group

Founding Believers

• AGF
• Angle Media
• EY
• Logistec
• RBC
• WebNames
• Weir Foulds

We are all very grateful for our partners’ tremendous support. I have completed the remaining Future Skills Centre funding applications, secured additional in-kind donations and have made presentations to several potential partners over the course of the last few weeks.

On September 10^th, we successfully launched our first Initiative, Canadian Households’ Perspective on the New Economy in collaboration with TPP’s research partner, Pollara Strategic Insights. We have received a tremendous amount of media attention and the findings continue to generate a great deal of engagement and conversations on social media.

We are still working on the recruitment of our 100 Visionaries. We are putting a particular emphasis on ensuring we have the requisite representation of Canada’s broad diversity and geographic distribution.

The co-chairs and their respective Working Groups have made incredible progress in the last few weeks. Please see the result of their hard work below.

Pamela Jeffery
Founder, The Prosperity Project

Modern-Day Rosie the Riveter-Inspired Awareness Campaign 

Co-chairs Maureen Jensen and Susan Hodkinson are moving forward with:

1. Creation of an online mobile-friendly portal (that will provide STEM, skilled trades, employment pathways details, publish information on the progress women are making, etc.)
2. Skills and Education/training webinar series hosted by women
3. Mentoring program

The Campaign, presented by key partner OPG, will communicate our messages. A sub-working group is being created to work on the campaign development.

Gender Diversity Data Tracking (GDDT)

This Initiative will collect, analyze and publish annual data that will track women in board, executive and senior management roles in Year 1 and in the pipeline to senior management in Year 2 in Canada’s largest 120 companies and crown corporations.

Accomplishments:

• Identified 120 organizations. (January 2021 report).
• Drafted introductory and follow up letters for CEOs, Board Chairs, CHROs and Corporate Secretaries.
• A list of 4 names for each organization has been completed.
• Organizations will self-identify individuals reporting as Indigenous, disabled and visible minority members. (as per the Canadian Employment Equity Act 1995).
• Provide templates to ensure comparable data.
• Letters to be sent out in late-September.

Canadian Households’ Perspective in the New Economy (CHP)

Through quantitative research, the CHP Initiative is looking at assessing prevailing attitudes and COVID-19’s impacts on women’s careers, skills development, workforce trajectories and economic security.

In late August, more than 1000 Canadians were polled by market research firm, Pollara Strategic Insights, The Prosperity Project’s Research Partner. The CHP provided feedback on COVID-19’s effects on family life,  work/life integration, responsibilities at home and overall household spending. While some of the findings are not surprising, it’s nevertheless disappointing to see that:

There is still a great deal of compelling information to be shared. We will continue to publish these findings on our social media platforms.

For more details, please click here for the press release and research report.

Matching Initiative

The Matching Initiative will focus on NPOs that serve women through:

• Skill development.
• Training and employment pathways.
• Crisis counselling
• Mental and Physical health.

Women and men from the private sector with required skill sets will be introduced to the staff and existing boards of NPOs to complete one to four-week (40 to 160 hours) Volunteer Consultant’ assignments to:

• Review and revise budgets
• Analyze required technical skills and operational changes
• Change and help pivot service delivery models and build capacity
• Deliver legal, financial and human resources support

Volunteer Consultants will be certified thanks to the generosity of our Partner, Respect in the Workplace. We are recruiting Volunteer Consultants in accordance with our non-gender diversity targets which reflect Canada’s population according to the 2016 Census.

Over the course of October, we will:

• Organize 25-50 engagements with Volunteer Consultants and NPOs and operationalize through a test and learn cycle.
• Do a soft launch of the site and program ensuring Volunteer Consultants are contributors to a psychologically safe workplace by Respect in the Workplace certification.
• Monitor program with key metrics defined and initial program feedback using reporting modules.

The Matching Working Group has the followings asks:

1. Please provide names of Volunteer Consultants you know who would like to assist with the Matching Initiative
2. Please suggest Pan Canadian Not For Profit agencies that might wish to participate in this Initiative
3. Please provide your feedback to matching@canadianprosperityproject.ca

Prosperity Study

The 10-year Prosperity Study will enroll 10,000 Canadian women who will complete a quarterly questionnaire measuring

• Skill development
• Employment/income
• Partner and children well-being
• Health
• Support networks and community engagement
• Resilience and well-being data

We will share our findings with policymakers and others to inform practice and policy around skills and employment to improve economic resilience and reduce disproportionate impacts on women.

In early September, a Working Group session explored these themes to construct frameworks for gathering intersectional data from recruited women.

• The New Social Contract
• What problems are we solving?
• Job Participation for women of colour and immigrant women
• Intersectionality in the workplace
• Evaluating the missing links of gender equality in Canada
• Corporations are stepping Up
• Gender equity = Economic growth

Friends

The Friends Working Group is delighted to welcome:

• Marg McCuaig-Boyd, a teacher and former Alberta Energy Minister
• Ilona Dougherty, the founder of Apathy is Boring, Managing Director of the Youth and Innovation project, University of Waterloo
• Laura Mirabella, Commissioner of Finance and Treasurer for the Regional Municipality of York.

Friends Chair Penny Collenette has been holding national conversations with women who want to support The Prosperity Project:

Working Mothers: 9-5 workdays are disappearing. Flexibility is dependent on the sector and the employer’s choice to embrace a less traditional workplace. Many male bosses needed to be convinced that women could work productively remotely. Male partners wishing to support their family encountered barriers from reluctant executives. Concern was raised about women’s leadership aspirations and work to mentor and encourage women to apply and succeed in promotions. These efforts are at risk. Special acknowledgment was granted to single mothers and women who have children with disabilities.

Immigrant Women experience issues with safety and are unable to work from home, they also face racism, networking and legal issues. The traditional 10-year transition for professional immigrant women to reach comparable jobs in Canada is now longer. Though resources are plentiful, they are not contained in a “one-stop shopping”.

COVID 19 has impacted women’s access to the law and legal education. Universities are on the verge of bankruptcy, virtual teaching loads are unmanageable and law students have seen dreams shattered. Courtroom capacity is limited impacting legal help for abused women. These legal implications are long term and alarming.

More topics will follow. Email Friends if you wish to be part of future conversations.

HR/Volunteers/Job

Student manpower has been secured to support TPP’s growing needs. Five students have been hired to support each of the Initiatives for a Fall term. Three coordinators will join us at the beginning of October as well as a full-time web designer/IT Technical Lead.

Marketing & Communications

• Encourage your friends and networks to subscribe!
• Website 3.0’s News and Media Centre will allow us to publish a variety of updates
• A Blog section was added to the website

Organizations across Canada have approached us to join panels and support like-minded programs. Requests are being reviewed and engagements have been and will continue to be made where it is mutually beneficial.  Should you wish to represent TPP in any of these panels or webinars, Media Relations Manager Jharna Bajaj will coordinate details and provide you the necessary speaking points.

We are pleased to see measurable growth on Social Media channels! We are grateful for all your likes, retweets and shares to amplify our messages.