Suchismita Majumdar, Research & Policy Officer, ESDEG
On the first day of #LondonChallengePovertyWeek 2024, 4in10’s Strategic Project Manager Ms. Katherine Hill and Research & Learning Officer Ms. Emily Barker led a delegation of grassroots charities working on child rights to the City Hall to meet Deputy Mayor for Communities and Social Justice Dr Debbie Weekes-Bernard. Debbie was accompanied by Elizabeth Mahoney and Tom Wilson, senior policy officers at the Greater London Authority (GLA).
The following organisations and their representatives were part of the delegation –
Jessica Greenhalf from Home-Start London
Karen Torres from IndoAmerican Refugee and Migrant Organisation
Celeste Pergolizzi from InKindDirect
Clare Macnamara from London Youth
Muna Yassin & Emma Triggs from Rooted Finance
Katie Taylor from Tonybee Hall
Suchismita Majumdar from Education and Skills Development Group (ESDEG)
All the members of the delegation work in the area of child rights with particular focus on children living in poverty but our organisations offer a diverse range of services including financial advice, early childhood support, tackle hygiene poverty, tackle unfairness, SEND support to a wide range of service users including migrant, refugee and low-income households in different parts of London and some pan London, so we each had a unique perspective to share with the Deputy Mayor.
For the 45-minute meeting Katherine had worked on a schedule covering the following topics –
- How can we work to ensure the national Child Poverty Strategy is fit for London’s purpose?
- How can child poverty be addressed through the London Partnership Board’s missions?
- The future of local authority emergency support provision, after the Household Support Fund
- Migrant and refugee children’s experiences of poverty
- The impact of poverty on children and young people’s (and parents) mental health
After a round of introductions, Katherine led the discussion and made sure that each member of the delegation had a chance to share their understanding on the experiences of children and their families living in poverty in London, and their recommendations on how to include children and their families in inclusive growth.
Debbie shared her own perceptions on child poverty and the steps the Mayor’s Office had taken to tackle the problem and their future plans. What impressed me was how well aware Debbie was about the grassroots issues and how eager she was to hear more from each member of the delegation. The meeting did overflow, but by the end of it we managed to cover and highlight a wide range of important issues affecting children and their families from low-income households. Debbie also promised to connect us with her colleagues at the Violence Reduction Unit (VRU) and the Health Inequalities team.
The feedback from Debbie and her team have also been extremely positive and the first day of the #LondonChallengePovertyWeek did start off on a great note.
You can read about Debbie’s take on the meeting, child poverty in London and the London Challenge Poverty Week campaign in her LinkedIn post titled Working Together in London To Tackle Poverty Head On.
Photo credit for all three photos members of Debbie’s team.
Last year on the first day of campaign we had gone to the Parliament with parents whose children have special needs. You can read about that experience in details here.