How you can help challenge poverty in your community
As a charity committed to tackling poverty across Greater Manchester and Lancashire, we wanted to share some ways you can take action to address inequality in your own community…
Did you know…?
- 302,158 children are living in poverty in Greater Manchester and East Lancashire.
- 4,978 households across our diocese are living in unstable temporary accommodation.
- Poverty levels are consistently higher for disabled people.
- Across our diocese, 217,657 households are in fuel poverty. That’s 15.08% of all households.
We believe this is unacceptable.
At Caritas Salford tackling poverty and its causes underpins all our work, service provisions and advocacy. Our mission is to protect and promote human dignity for everyone.
What are we doing to tackle poverty?
We’ve recently published our policy areas dedicated to tackling poverty across Greater Manchester and Lancashire.
Ways to take action
We’re also working to mobilise our communities to adopt the See-Judge-Act method to inspire, develop and strengthen community participation in addressing issues such as poverty. There are just three steps you need to take to ensure you have full understanding of an issue and its causes, guided by engaging with people with lived experience. It also helps us discern and develop the most appropriate course of action.
See:
Seeing refers to our understanding of the reality of the situation. This could involve researching poverty levels in your local area and listening to people impacted by poverty, to strengthen your insights into poverty and to understand the specific needs and challenges.
Judge (Discern):
This can help us get a more complete picture of the situation, as we make sense of it. This may involve looking into and understanding why poverty exists and the root causes and guiding us towards our course of action.
Act:
This leads us to forming ideas and practical plans for how we can change the situation and address its causes. How might this look for people in poverty and what could you do?
Supporting people in crisis:
There are lots of ways you can support people in crisis, whether through signposting or developing an initiative in your community which offers support to those who need it.
Some examples could include…
Form a community group in your parish, school or wider community:
Create or join a community organisation or group dedicated to poverty alleviation. Collaboration is often more effective than individual efforts.
Raise awareness:
Invite a member of our Caritas team to come and talk about poverty and the issues in your area including its causes, its consequences and any practical action that can be taken. You can find out how to get in touch on our contact us page.
Advocate for policy change:
Support our specific proposals for policy change by lobbying your local authority to adopt an anti-poverty strategy, or asking central government and MPs to implement policies and programmes that address the root causes of poverty and inequality. Advocate for affordable housing, access to healthcare, and quality education. You can find out more about the areas we advocate for on our policy and advocacy page.
Support local businesses:
Encourage the growth of local businesses through things such as shopping locally, joining any local-led campaigns and supporting grass-roots organisations and businesses. They can provide employment opportunities and contribute to economic development.
Food security initiatives:
Support or develop community gardens through volunteering or donating. You could also assist and contribute to existing food banks to ensure that vulnerable individuals and families have access to nutritious food. Find out more about our services to support people experiencing food crisis now.
Homelessness outreach:
Community development projects:
Identify and work on projects that can improve the overall living conditions in your community, such as infrastructure development or environmental initiatives.
Volunteer and donate:
Contribute your time, skills, or resources to Caritas Salford working to alleviate poverty. We’ve lots of ways you can get involved or support our work. Find out more on in the get involved section of our website now.
Networking:
Build partnerships with other community organisations, government agencies, and businesses to leverage resources and expertise. Keep an eye on the events pages on our website as we often share ideas on how you can get involved there too.
Engage youth and the next generation:
Involve young people in poverty alleviation efforts to ensure sustainability and a long-term commitment to positive change.
We have lots of information on this website about ways you can support people in your local community, including a range of downloadable documents on our resources page. We’ll be adding to these in the coming weeks and months, so please do continue to come back and signpost others to them too.
We’d love to hear from you if you’re taking action to support people in your community so please get in touch to let us know what you’re up to. Details of ways to get in touch can be found on the contact us section of the site now. You can also send us a message on social media using the accounts linked from the bottom of this page.
However you choose to take action – whether big or small – it can make a huge difference to the lives of local people in your community.