Creating a BC where all families thrive.
About Us
The Centre for Family Equity, formerly known as the Single Mothers’ Alliance, addresses family poverty in BC.
We are a membership-based organization of low-income parents and caregivers of all genders and gender identities, located in over 41 locations across the province. We carry out research, community engagement, and advocacy towards evidence-based public policy solutions and provide support programs to address family poverty in BC.
Our four-year strategic plan from 2025 to 2028 focuses on the following areas to address family poverty in BC:
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Access to Quality Jobs
- Equitable Systems and Services
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Strong Social Security
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Health Equity
We address how the social identities of families result in systemic marginalization, discrimination, and poverty for many. We examine and tackle systemic discrimination and poverty that may be rooted in a combination of the following: racialized identity, Indigeneity, gender identity, trans identity, sexual orientation, health and mental health status, social class, marital status, religion, ability, age.
Based on our existing strategic plan, we focus on systemic change in the following areas:
- racial equity
- disability justice
- gender equality
The Centre for Family Equity takes a wholistic, whole-family approach to family well-being. Most children and youth are in poverty because their parents and guardians are in poverty as they work below the poverty line or access provincial income assistance in BC. The majority of families in poverty are lone-parent families led by marginalized genders, and we continue to focus on gender equality within our broadened mandate.
Our direct programming rises from the research we conducted over the past two years in partnership with UBC. Our pilot Parental Mental Health Initiative focuses on mental health group support for low-income parents and caregivers impacted by gender-based and intimate partner violence.
Our Lived Experience Led Model
The Centre for Family Equity consists of an active member network of parents and caregivers throughout the province. Our work is driven by a community-based organizing model shaped by our Basis of Unity, an anti-oppression tool that has worked meaningfully since we founded as the Single Mothers’ Alliance in 2014.
Community engagement determines our strategic priorities.
Our frequent listening campaigns ensure our work towards justice and socioeconomic equality is continually meeting the real and evolving needs of families based on their lived experience.
We strongly believe that our members are skilled leaders.
We are passionate about facilitating access to tools for impacting change and building capacity to motivate movers and shakers everywhere in BC.
Family Poverty in BC
As of 2022, over 147,570 children were living in poverty in BC, a 16.7% increase from 2021, with approximately 1 in every 6 children affected. Of these, a staggering 76,190 children are living in lone-parent households. The child poverty rate for children in lone-parent families is a shocking 45.5%, almost five times higher than in other families. On-reserve child poverty rates in 2022 were even more devastating, with rates dramatically higher than the provincial average of 16.7%. On 61 BC First Nations reserves, the overall child poverty rate reached 34.8%, impacting at least 4,460 children.
Furthermore, rural reserves experienced a child poverty rate of 42.2%, significantly higher than the 30.2% rate observed in urban reserves.
We must recognize the disparities experienced by newcomer and racialized families. Based on 2020 Census data using the LIM after-tax measure, most racialized children in BC face higher poverty rates compared to non-racialized children. Arab, Korean, and West Asian children have more than double the risk of poverty. The census data also reveals that in 2020, over one in five (21%) recent immigrant children aged 0-17 lived in poverty in BC.
These statistics expose the stark reality that certain families in BC face a significantly higher risk of living in poverty. At the Centre for Family Equity, we are committed to advocating for equitable policies and implementing tailored initiatives to address these disparities and create a just and prosperous future for every family.
Statistics on child poverty quoted here are care of First Call's 2024 BC Child Poverty Report Card.
The Centre for Family Equity is a member of the BC Poverty Reduction Coalition and partners and collaborates with a diversity of organizations throughout BC.
More About Our Approach
Our focus on intersectional equity means we address how the social identities of families result in systemic marginalization, discrimination, and poverty for many.
We examine and tackle systemic discrimination and poverty that may be rooted in a combination of the following:
- racialized identity
- Indigeneity
- gender identity
- trans identity
- sexual orientation
- health and mental health status
- social class
- marital status
- religion
- ability
- age
- newcomer and refugee status
- citizenship status
- other characteristics
Basis of Unity
For more information on our approach and the shared principles that guide us please see our Basis of Unity.