Raising Voices, Changing Minds, Ending Poverty

What is Raising Voices, Changing Minds, Ending Poverty?

Raising Voices was a project commissioned by VOICES, for the Hardship Commission in Stoke-on-Trent. The project was done

by Staffordshire University, Expert Citizens CIC, All the Small Things CIC, and, most importantly, the people of Stoke-onTrent.

Raising Voices was set up to make a real difference for people living in poverty. We met and listened to each other, shared stories of hardship and worked together to help change things that cause poverty.

The project aimed to: • Raise Voices of people living with hardship. We want to take people seriously, support people to take part in the project and work with them as equals by working together to tackle hardship in Stoke-on-Trent.

• Change Minds about poverty and hardship. We want to make people more aware of how poverty feels and how many people are affected. We made a creative and clear social media campaign. We want to make information about poverty from the Hardship Commission easy to find and easy to read and understand.

• End Poverty We want to get a clearer picture how the rules, plans and actions of Government and services affect people’s lives. We want to share stories that show what poverty feels like and how difficult it is. We want to get decision-makers to take it seriously. We want to get lots of people together, to have more power to influence decisions.

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