Almost all participants (Canadians and community-based organisations (CBOs)) voiced support for the idea of automatic enrolment because it would improve access to the benefit by streamlining the enrolment process for all eligible recipients. As eligible youth are from families experiencing low...

The Behavioural Insights Team, in conjunction with Fair4All Finance, have worked with three community finance providers to launch a new customer engagement support guide to better improve customer engagement using insights from behavioural science. Building on our work with three lenders, this...

Filing a tax return is one of the most important ways for Canadians to access income benefits. However, numerous barriers can make tax filing challenging, particularly for people living on low incomes. After engaging with 31 individuals, we discovered that there are disruptors and compounders that...

The first study of its kind measuring the impact of behaviorally informed advice on investor outcomes. It is common to seek the opinion of an expert when faced with a difficult decision. BEworks' research confirms this phenomenon in a range of consumer scenarios. For instance, parents faced with...

Internet use in Canada is prolific, with 94% of Canadians going online for personal use in 2022, up from 91% in 2018. Not only are more Canadians using the Internet since the COVID-19 pandemic, but more are managing their personal and household finances online. Based on data from the Canadian...

While available research indicates that gender-diverse persons experience intersecting challenges to accessing adequate housing in Canada, there has been limited human rights analysis of this group’s experiences. Available research indicates that trans and gender-diverse persons experience...

One of the goals of The Money and Pensions Service (MaPS) is to provide better debt advice. While debt advice is available in many different forms, many people who could benefit from debt advice do not seek help. In this study, we sought to better understand the barriers and drivers to people...

In their study, entitled, “Experiences of Financial Stress and Supports in Caregivers During Pediatric Hospital Admission,” Nadarajah et al interviewed caregivers of children admitted to a pediatric hospital and conducted qualitative analyses to assess financial needs, health related financial...

This report presents the findings of research aimed at advancing social innovation and social finance in Canada. The study focused on understanding the enablers and barriers of social finance, as well as exploring why social purpose organizations (SPOs) engage in social finance. The research also...

The overall purpose of the collaborative project between Seneca College and Prosper Canada was to build a supportive booking system for tax clinics serving low-income...

If you work with people in Canada living on low incomes, you can play a meaningful role in supporting access to benefits regardless of your expertise or sector. Prosper Canada identified 36 barriers that individuals living on low incomes face when trying to access benefits. More than half of the...

When immigrants arrive in Canada, they face many financial challenges. From opening a bank account to using a credit card, from buying a house to paying for insurance, they may find it difficult to navigate the nuances of Canadian markets. Newcomers rely on industry professionals to assist them in...

When Canadians have a financial problem, want to make a financial plan, or need help with their taxes, most simply reach out to their financial institution, adviser, accountant, or commercial tax preparer for the help they need. But who do low-income individuals turn to? A new report by Prosper...

How we define financial vulnerability ultimately determines what supports are created and for whom. Is the current definition aimed at helping everyone who needs it? This webinar explores the conception and redefining of financial vulnerability in Canada based on the research and findings from the...

Government-issued identification (ID) is essential to gain access to a wide range of government entitlements, commercial services and financial systems. Lack of ID on the other hand, represents a critical barrier that prevents low-income Manitobans from accessing these services and benefits, and...

Last year, the expanded Child Tax Credit (CTC) helped to lift nearly four million children out of poverty and provided economic relief to millions of struggling households. However, many first-time and lapsed filers from underserved and vulnerable populations missed out on these critical benefits....

NB Social Pediatrics and the Saint John Community Loan Fund recently surveyed 157 New Brunswick and Nova Scotia residents about their experiences with finances, banking, and ID to better understand if biometrics or ID banks could be effective solutions for people living without ID.  Eyeing the...

This report, Roadblocks and Resilience Insights from the Access to Benefits for Persons with Disabilities project, provides insights on the barriers people with disabilities in British Columbia face in accessing key income benefits. These insights, and the accompanying service principles that...

This report analyzes Toronto's home internet and device access, quality, affordability, and usage, during pandemic closures of businesses, schools, and community organizations. Read this report to help you: Understand the demographics and geographies of who is not connected or cannot afford...

When women living on low incomes are able to access effective Financial Literacy Education (FLE) programs, they will be better positioned to fully participate in economic life, help build a stronger economy, and improve the quality of life for themselves, their families, and their...

Local governments across the United States are working to help their residents weather the health and financial impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. In many cities and counties, that means deploying their Financial Empowerment Centers (FECs), which provide professional, one-on-one financial...

This report offers an intersectional perspective on how Canada can recover from the COVID-19 crisis and weather difficult times in the future, while ensuring the needs of all people in Canada are considered in the formation of policy. YWCA Canada and the University of Toronto’s Institute for...

Since 2017, the Canadian Observatory on Homelessness and A Way Home Canada have been implementing and evaluating three program models that are situated across the continuum of prevention, in 10 communities and 12 sites in Ontario and Alberta. Among these is an early intervention called Youth...

This report presents an analysis of the impact of COVID-19 on the nonprofit sector drawn from data collected in CCVO's Alberta Nonprofit Survey, data from surveys by the Alberta Nonprofit Network, Imagine Canada, and partner organizations across the country. The analysis in this report shows that...

The engagement of Canadians with lived experiences of poverty in government consultations on poverty reduction is critical. But as hard as governments work to try to include people living in poverty as full participating members in their consultation processes, there are many barriers that continue...