As part of Dumfries and Galloway Council’s ongoing Anti-Poverty work, and to tie in with Challenge Poverty Week (17th – 23rd October), Carla McCormack from the Poverty Alliance recently travelled down from Edinburgh to pay a visit to the Council Headquarters in Dumfries so that the Council could sign up to the Alliance’s Pledges and ‘Stick Your Labels’ campaign.
The ‘Stick Your Labels’ campaign highlights the negative impact of attitudes to poverty through a range of statements including ending stigmatising language and challenging stereotypical perceptions about people experiencing poverty. The main aim of this work is to overcome negative attitudes towards those experiencing extreme hardship.
The Stick Your Labels campaign asks for Local Authorities to sign up to three pledges:
1. Poverty is not inevitable
2. Attitudes matter
3. Actions change attitudes
In 2012/13, 820,000 people were classed as living in poverty in Scotland and 4,025 people living in Dumfries and Galloway are affected by at least 3 dimensions of deprivation (income, employment and access to transport). Dumfries and Galloway is therefore one of the most deprived rural areas in Scotland.
Over the past year, since the agreement of Dumfries and Galloway Council’s first Anti-Poverty Strategy in June 2015, and through achieving living Wage accreditation in the same month, we have had a new focus in our work to help families living in severe need to help change their situations.
Our Strategy aims to tackle deprivation by preventing poverty, supporting people who are experiencing poverty and importantly, helping people to escape from poverty. The specific pieces of work which flow from the Strategy therefore address all of these things and include tangible assistance to those who need it most.
Through signing up to the Poverty Alliance’s pledges we undertake to go beyond our core duties: to provide practical assistance to those in need, and promise to challenge perceptions, ensuring we use non-stigmatising language in all our work.
Council Leader Ronnie Nicholson said: “We are very proud to be signing up to the Poverty Alliance’s pledges. We recognise that negative attitudes towards people experiencing poverty need to be challenged. We must reduce the negative perceptions targeted towards people who are currently experiencing severe hardship. People living in severe deprivation have enough to worry about without the addition of stigmatisation”
“We can only do this by challenging people’s views and by reviewing our own language when we talk about the topic and always show respect and understanding. Our work will start with school pupils and Councillors and Council staff so that everyone is clear that the Council doesn’t promote any false perceptions and myths about which people are living in poverty, and why.”
“This is just the first step and there is much more to be done. Tackling poverty is a generational issue and one that requires every single person in our region to play their part – it’s not going to improve overnight and it’s not going to be sorted by the Council acting alone. The nurturing and caring people of this region all need to work together to help those who are experiencing tough times, perhaps temporarily, get back on their feet so they are ‘on the up’ and looking to a better future.”
Photos show, left to right
D & G Council Poverty Alliance Pledge photo
Councillor Jim Dempster, Chair of Social Work Committee
Councillor Jeff Leaver, Chair of Education Committee;
Leader of the Council, Ronnie Nicholson;
Councillor Tom McAughtrie, Chair of Community and Customer Services Committee;
Councillor Archie Dryburgh, Chair of DG First Committee
Carla McCormack, Policy and Parliamentary Officer, The Poverty Alliance
Provost Ted Thompson;
Council Anti-Poverty – On The Up Arrow photo
Councillor Archie Dryburgh, Chair of DG First Committee
Leader of the Council, Ronnie Nicholson;
Councillor Tom McAughtrie, Chair of Community and Customer Services Committee;
Councillor Jeff Leaver, Chair of Education Committee;
Carla McCormack, Policy and Parliamentary Officer, The Poverty Alliance
Provost Ted Thompson;
Councillor Jim Dempster, Chair of Social Work Committee
