Manifesto for Change

Manifesto for Change

The Raising Voices steering group have written a Manifesto for Change. This is what we believe is important and our plan to fight hardship and poverty in Stoke-on-Trent. The manifesto is the shared voice of the Raising Voices steering group and is based on what we heard from people who took part in the project. We got the information from people at Raising Voices Steering Group meetings, community events, an online form, and Raising Voices Postcards that people sent to us. We used this to help us write the manifesto.

The Manifesto for Change was agreed and signed by Steve Wyn Williams, the Chair of the Hardship Commission for Stokeon-Trent and Monienne Stone who represents the Raising Voices steering group. We had an official signing at the Raising Voices Exhibition launch night.

Raising Voices Manifesto for Change

Raising Voices and Stoke-on-Trent Hardship Commission are committed to working in partnership to:

• Raise the Voices of people experiencing hardship and poverty.

• Change Minds about hardship and reduce the stigma attached to it, and

• Work closely with decision-makers to create the changes needed to End Poverty.

To do this we will:

• Form an alliance between the Raising Voices Steering

Group and Stoke-on-Trent Hardship Commission in which lived and learned experience are equally valued as driving forces for change.

• Challenge each other to understand the full picture of hardship and poverty through using both statistical data and stories from lived experience.

• Set ambitious targets for reducing levels of hardship and poverty in Stoke-on-Trent.

• Encourage open dialogue with local decision-makers, including Stoke-on-Trent City Council, MPs, and service leaders to constructively share the realities of hardship, review policy and work collaboratively to reduce levels of poverty. • Actively seek the involvement of people with experience of hardship to identify and enact solutions.

• Work collaboratively with services to increase opportunities for communication, reach people with lived experiences of hardship and take action on poverty together.

• Increase the visibility of hardship and connect with allies both locally and nationally, by sharing stories and good practices through social media and other means.

• Bring together the Raising Voices Steering group, the

Hardship Commission, local decision-makers, and allies to identify and campaign on issues to address hardship and poverty.

• Humanise the issue of hardship by sharing stories and challenging the stigma attached to hardship.

• Work together to ensure we are inclusive and address the issues of inequality that underpin hardship and poverty.

• Work in partnership to secure funding for impactful projects to address poverty and hardship.