Parishes Tackling Poverty: Hope Through Action

By Teniola Yusuf, Business Development Officer at Resolve Poverty

The role of addressing poverty lies with everyone in the community and is not just limited to VCSE organisations or government authorities.

This year, Resolve Poverty, in partnership with Caritas Salford, delivered a bespoke training session titled ‘Parishes Tackling Poverty: Hope Through Action’ to members of the community across Greater Manchester and Lancashire. The training equipped attendees with a deeper understanding of local poverty and provided practical tools and best practices to address poverty.

Caritas Salford is a not-for profit organisation working to support people across Greater Manchester and Lancashire that might be experiencing poverty, disadvantage, homelessness, and discrimination. They offer a wide range of support, including crisis support, access to food, and educational support that extends beyond the school.

The training brought together people from a range of roles, including headteachers, parishioners, parish priests, volunteers supporting asylum seekers and refugees, and other parish representatives. The training was delivered through two tailored in-person sessions – the first focused on poverty in Lancashire, and the other on poverty in Greater Manchester.

While each session explored poverty specific to the local area, both covered:

• An understanding of poverty within the local community, including how different factors can impact a person’s financial situation
• How to identify when someone may be struggling financially and best practices when offering support
• Various kinds of financial support to help people maximise their household income.

Following the sessions, 91% of attendees said that the training had exceeded their expectations, and 67% of attendees said they felt very aware of the impact poverty has on people and households.

Attendees also shared why they found our training so useful, and how it deepened their understanding of poverty. They said:

• “The session highlighted the complexity and sensitivity of the issues of poverty”
• “[The training] approached poverty from a different angle and perspective”
• “The session was very well-presented and extremely informative with very great relevant details”
• “The statistics, the data, were comprehensive and made the morning worthwhile”
• “Clearly structured, useful for provoking desire for social change.”

If you’d like to find out more about our bespoke training offer, please contact Teniola Yusuf at teniola@resolvepoverty.org.

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This article is featured in our Greater Manchester Bulletin.

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