Poverty2Solutions group named as a leading 2020 'Changemaker'

Back in 2016, Dr Ruth Patrick collaborated with graphic designer Dan Farly to bring together three groups led by (and for) people with direct experiences of poverty: Dole Animators (Leeds), Thrive Teesside and ATD Fourth World. Together they started to explore solutions to poverty, grounded in their own expertise of experience, and looked at the consensus that exists about where change is most urgently needed.

 

Out of this work, Poverty2Solutions was born and the coalition has had notable successes in their efforts to improve the representation of people with direct experiences of poverty in policy making and wider political debates. Most recently, the group established a 'Do your duty for equality campaign' which called for the implementation of a socio-economic duty and launched at the 2019 Labour Party Conference in Brighton. Following successful meetings with several members of the shadow cabinet, this commitment was incorporated into Labour's Manifesto for the last General Election.

 

The group are delighted to have been chosen as one of 100 'Changemakers' to watch in 2020 by The Big Issue. They are already busy planning activities for the year ahead and are determined to continue in their efforts to change how the expertise of experience is incorporated into policy making.