Suzie Johnson-Smith is one of Canada’s foremost poverty-reduction and community wellbeing coaches. Her workshop focused on describing the cycle of systemic poverty — and how to break it.

A proponent of poverty-expert Dr. Ruby Payne, whose programs are netting results all over North America, Ms. Johnson-Smith speaks to thousands of groups, agencies and residents across the country. 

 “There’s a lot of good intentions and wanting to help,” noted County Community Initiatives Coordinator Hilary Fennell, “but then there’s the big question, ‘how?’.” 

Inviting Ms. Johnson-Smith is a first step in creating a local poverty reduction framework.

“We’ve got residents, volunteers, board members, social service and non-profit organizations, municipal staff, councillors and critical decision-makers here today,” Ms. Fennell said. “To say this is a large and impactful group is an understatement.”

Predatory Relationships

Among workshop tasks was a Mental Model of Poverty and Instability exercise to map the services and businesses a person or a family living in poverty might rely on.

Locations identified during brainstorming included cheque-cashing and payday-loan businesses, Rent-to-Own stores, corner stores, pawnshops, fast food chains, and even laundromats.

Ms. Johnson-Smith asked what those businesses might have in common?

“They are exploitative,” an attendee offered.

It was the right answer. Ms. Johnson-Smith affirmed people living in poverty rely on commercial relationships that are largely predatory. A key poverty mindset as that of “the tyranny of the moment.” 

A trip to the laundromat can require a full day for someone without transportation and might even create child-care concerns. Likewise, a quick drive-through the McDonalds seems cheap, fast, and easy. 

But processed food takes a toll on both the pocketbook and, worse, one’s health. Cheap and fast exacts a serious price over time.

Staying out of the Trap

A reactive mode becomes a trap. “People who are struggling in poverty often have difficulty planning because they’re in this reactive tyranny of the moment, trying to survive,” she said.

Breaking the cycle requires resilience, motivation and high-end problem-solving skills.

In addition to promoting inner change and growth, larger systems must offer help and collaboration. Ms. Johnson-Smith told of a local business in her home town of Peterborough near the Social Services office. The owner would “make friends” with clients, handing out cigarettes and offering to cash social assistance cheques — for a fee.

Teaching financial literacy was a positive step to breaking this cycle. But tangible results only came after a local bank got on board and issued cheque-cashing ID cards.  People receiving assistance started to open bank accounts and stopped needing to cash cheques at predatory payday loan operations or private businesses.

Local Programming

Among the agencies attending the talk was Prince Edward Learning Centre, which is taking local poverty reduction programming a step further. It will soon be offering a front-line anti-poverty training class. Getting Ahead in a Just-Gettin’-By World is a supported, 10-module, step-by-step journey of self, system and supports discovery. It helps participants to trace historical pathology, and focuses on goals and strategies for building a whole new life. The program helps students develop relationships with people who will support them along the way. 

The first Getting Ahead class will open  in early 2026.

At the session’s conclusion, Ms. Johnson-Smith said she’s conducted Bridges training for larger groups — but never with such a wide segment of so many invested and engaged participants. About 150 were in attendance. 

“I hope today grows into a consensus on understanding that poverty is complex. It creates instability and that instability is the community’s business, whether you are decision-maker or you are receiving services.”