The Organization

The National Anti-Poverty Organization (NAPO) is a non-profit, non-partisan organization that represents the interests of low-income Canadians. NAPO is officially registered with Revenue Canada as a charitable organization (Charitable BN 130916638RR0001).

History

The National Anti-Poverty Organization was founded in 1971 at Canada's first nation-wide poor people's conference. While it has had a variety of specific priorities and structures since that time, it has continuously been directed by activists working within low-income communities, all of whom have personal experience with poverty. Some issues have consistently been priorities for the organization, including social assistance and other income assistance programs, health, housing, education and training, and opportunities for participation by poor people in decision making processes and policy making.

Goal

The goal of the National Anti-Poverty Organization is the elimination of poverty in Canada. While NAPO has adopted the Statistics Canada Low-Income Cut-off Lines as a dollar-figure approximation of poverty in Canada, the complete elimination of poverty will have occurred when all Canadians share the following characteristics:

• adequate income,
• access to high-quality human services,
• autonomy and choice within their own households and lives,
• recognition of the contribution -- paid or unpaid -- made to the community, and
• freedom from all forms of discrimination and complete social and economic equality.

Mandate

NAPO recognizes that other non-government and governmental organizations share this goal. It is the particular role of the organization to build on its unique membership and its direction by low-income Canadians to carry out two particular mandates:

• to provide a voice for low-income Canadians on national issues; and,
• to assist local and regional organizations to bring the voices of low-income Canadians to decision-making and policy-making processes in their communities.

Function

To carry out its mandate, NAPO undertakes the following broad activities:

• raises public awareness about poverty and issues of concern to low-income Canadians;
• advocates the concerns, values and wishes of low-income Canadians so that they are reflected in public policy;
• identifies and priorizes issues of concern to low-income Canadians;
• gathers and carries out research on issues of concern to low-income Canadians; and,
• works with local activists and organizations to strengthen national and local efforts to eliminate poverty.