'Let's End Poverty' launched

Group at Manchester Assembly

The 'Let's End Poverty' Founding Assemblies took place on Saturday 14 October as over 250 leaders gathered in nine different spaces across the UK and online to explore building a movement where poverty can't hold anyone down.

Participants explored what it might look like to build a movement of people united under the banner of 'Let's End Poverty'. Leaders from diverse organisations and communities, including a range of Catholic Social Action Network (CSAN) members, shared what they are seeing happening in communities, where more and more people are being locked in poverty and are struggling to afford life's essentials. Alongside this was the knowledge that people are ready for change and want to see a society where poverty does not exist and no one is trapped in hardship. This was energy that gathered people together.

The assemblies in Glasgow, Newcastle, Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds, Nottingham, Cambridge, London and Cardiff and online shared some of the story and ambition of 'Let's End Poverty', heard from people from different communities across the UK, began building a collective ambition for change, and discussed together what our role might be in building a movement to end poverty in the UK. There was an emphasis on leaders getting to know one another, sharing and feeding back.

Ben Gilchrist, CEO of Caritas Shrewsbury, said: "We're here because we know that levels of poverty are rising in our communities, and that the challenges our neighbours are facing are deepening. After facing the pandemic and responding to the cost of living crisis, communities and charities that many of you will be part of and support, are working tirelessly to support their neighbours in hardship under increasing pressure. In our communities and across our nation, more and more people are being locked into poverty.

But we're also here because we believe in a future where poverty is no longer allowed to keep anyone down. Where everyone has enough to eat, has a good quality of life and is supported through hard times, where food banks, clothes banks and warm hubs aren't the accepted norm. Where all of us are able to wake up in the morning with hope, opportunities and options for living a fulfilling life."

Patrick O'Dowd, Director of Caritas Salford, said: "We know there doesn't have to be poverty in the UK - it's an avoidable, solvable problem. But over many years, our society has been built in a way that traps people in hardship and keeps them there. Now, we urgently need to build something better. We need our political leaders to step up and take responsibility. We need urgent, coordinated action on poverty and everything that locks people in it - including the cost of living, poor quality work, inequalities in education, ethnicity and health, an inadequate social security system and the lack of affordable, decent quality homes. We believe that with a shared vision, commitment and understanding, and with the right policies, services and support, we could all be free from poverty in the UK.

We want the next generation to be free from the injustice and prejudice that has been heaped on so many people in our communities - to find it unthinkable that people were trapped in hardship for so long. We need all politicians to take notice and take responsibility. The long term human cost of this neglect is too big and too damaging to ignore. Repeated polling shows a clear, public desire for action - 88% of people say that more should be done to tackle poverty. We need structural, systemic change and political action. This has to be a priority, and a key election issue for anyone with ambitions to be in government. The pandemic has shown how much people in this country care for others. Our leaders have to show this same spirit."

LINK

Let's End Poverty: https://letsendpoverty.co.uk/