Organised by The Poverty Alliance, Challenge Poverty Week will take place between 7-13 October, and will enable the local authority and its community partners to raise awareness of how living in poverty impacts on the lives of people in Stirling and show the local supportive services and programmes in place all year round.
It will also provide an opportunity to demonstrate the Council’s efforts to address the three identified drivers of poverty – income from employment, income from social security and benefits, and costs of living.
Planning is underway for a range of activities during the week that could include speaker events, public meetings, community and school discussions, Councillor visits to organisations and open days.
Really important campaign
Convener of the Community Planning and Regeneration Committee, Cllr Chris Kane, said: “This is a really important campaign that will shine a light on poverty and the actions taking place 365 days a year in Stirling to tackle it.
“While this is an opportunity to recognise the positive work going on in communities to reduce inequalities, the focus must be on how we can all work together to solve this national tragedy.”
More than 240,000 children in Scotland live in low income households. People from black and minority households, disabled people, lone parents and young people are also all at a significantly increased risk of poverty.
Marked and persistent inequalities continue across Stirling and while the percentage of children living in poverty in Stirling (19%) is below the national average, huge disparities still exist in income and life expectancy across the region.
Recently, Stirling Council has implemented several transformational initiatives across a diverse spectrum to tackle poverty. These include:
- Free sanitary provision in schools, which will also soon roll out across communities
- Holiday fun clubs
- Pre-loved school clothing
- The Home Energy Efficiency Programme Scotland (HEEPS)
- Paying employees the Living Wage
- Increasing the school uniform grant above the nationally approved payment
- Pre and after school clubs
- Promoting inclusive growth through The City Region Deal
- Cheap low-carbon heat through The Stirling District Heating Network
- Demand Responsive Transport (DRT) for rural areas
- Direct Funerals
- Investing in solar panels and battery storage technology in Council homes
- Developing active travel networks across Stirling to reduce transport poverty
- Employability programmes, including Fair Start
- Investment in digital inclusion
- Provision of money debt and benefit advice.
Challenging the stereotypes
Vice Convener of the Community Planning and Regeneration Committee, Cllr Maureen Bennison said: “Targeting all forms of poverty in our communities is one of our six key Council priorities and we are working with partners to finalise our plans for this crucial campaign.
“By opening up conversations about poverty and challenging the stereotypes around it, we want to show that we can do something about this growing problem and demonstrate that we live in a just and compassionate society.”
For more information on Challenge Poverty Week, visit: www.povertyalliance.org/campaigns/challenge-poverty-week-7th-13th-october-2019/
Picture details
Picture shows one of the projects involving Stirling Council with the aim of tackling poverty – Pre-loved Clothing