Dear John

Challenge Poverty Week in England and Wales is now less than a month away, and people’s exciting plans and ideas are starting to come together.

If you or your church are planning an event and if we can help in any way, please reply to this email to let us know.

If you haven’t got anything planned, don’t worry… you still have time, and here are three easy ways you can get involved. 

Three ways to be part of Challenge Poverty Week

1. Invite:  Invite your local MPs, councillors, mayor or journalists to see the work of your organisation and to meet your regulars. Show them what you do, and talk about what policy or system changes would help your community. Getting your message across in person is really effective, and if politicians are happy to be photographed, it can help you to engage more people on social media as well.
2. Write:  Write to your local newspaper, or to local politicians, telling them what you do and saying what needs to change. You could do this individually or organise a letter-writing session where your members or regulars can all write messages, which you can gather together and send.
3. Unite:  Find other like-minded organisations in your community and work together. Perhaps you could organise a local cost of living conversation, discussing what needs to change and how? We’ve seen in Manchester and Cornwall that when organisations work together in Challenge Poverty Week, they have a bigger impact. You can also unite by joining in the conversations on social media, using the hashtag #challengepoverty and following us on twitter, instagram and facebook.

Remember, the theme for Challenge Poverty Week this year is dignity, so speak up about what needs to change in your community to ensure that everyone can live with dignity, free from poverty.

Challenge Poverty Week is a chance to challenge the flawed systems that hold people and communities back, to showcase what is already being done in communities to make a difference, to hear from voices that are often ignored or drowned out, and to build support for dignified responses to the pandemic and the cost of living emergency.

Check out the resources on our website at challengepoverty.co.uk and if you’ve any questions, just drop us an email or get in touch via social media. 

Best wishes

Liam Purcell
Church Action on Poverty