Poverty can break families apart, cause strain in relationships, make people shrink away from society, and lead to closure of local businesses and town centres said Stockton North MP Alex Cunningham today during the Stockton Poverty Truth Commission progress event.
The Stockton Poverty Truth Commission has an aim to ensure people who have experienced poverty first hand are at the heart of how the borough thinks and acts in tackling poverty and inequality. It does this by having half of its members as people who have real life experience of poverty, coming together with the other half made up of people with senior roles in civic and business life. This combination has led to a new way of thinking to identify ways to tackle poverty.
One of the key areas of focus has been poverty in schools, with issues identified such as the price of school uniforms, period poverty, and school trips.
Speaking at the event, Alex Cunningham said
Often it is easy to look to economists or politicians when talking about poverty and the impact it has on society. But this commission works with the real experts – the people who have lived experience of poverty.
It is them that will know the impact of having to go without food so that their children can have more. This can lead to them being less productive at work. Stress and worry grows. Hours on offer at work go down. The poverty cycle continues, and this is what the commission wants to stop.
If you would like more information about the Stockton Poverty Truth Commission, you can visit the website https://www.stocktonptc.com/
