Poverty and Inclusion – Grassroot Case Studies

Since its start, the Barrow Cadbury Trust has had a strong focus on combating poverty, social exclusion and inequality. The ‘Poverty and Inclusion’ funding programme encourages groups to be creative and responsive in tackling these issues. We aim to use the learning from the grassroots projects we fund to help shift the focus of debate on to ways in which poverty and exclusion can be tackled productively and collaboratively.

Examples of projects we have funded under this programme are:

• Castle Vale Tenants’ and Residents’ Alliance (CVTRA), to set up a community space in Shard End in which members of the community can access information, receive support from local agencies and create their own responses to poverty and cohesion issues in the area. CVTRA will work with the local community so that by the end of the project, the centre will be run and managed by local people.

• St Margaret’s Community Trust, to part-fund a community development worker to be based in the Ward End area of Birmingham. The community development worker will focus on strengthening communities at risk of social division and equipping them with skills to participate in local decision making. Through a previous grant from the Trust, St Margaret’s Trust helped seven organisations come together into a consortium which has successfully bid for contracts. With the current grant, St Margaret’s will build on this so that the consortium is able to expand the work it does (see gallery below).

• Women Acting in Today’s Society (WAITS), to assist women in the West Midlands (particularly Black and Minority Ethnic women) who are isolated through poverty, domestic violence, low incomes and poor opportunities. The organisation helps women have a voice in decision making processes and gain access to the welfare benefits, education and employment to which they are entitled. Their peer mentoring programme helps women become involved in local decision-making forums, whilst free counselling helps women who have experienced domestic violence to build their confidence.