Church Action on Poverty 2008 annual review

7/30/2019 Church Action on Poverty 2008 annual review

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AnnualReview

2008

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urn

ingup

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A message from the Chairperson

I am SURE that either as a parent, teenager or child we have allheard the expression turn down the volume in a loud voice.

I do a fair bit of travelling in my day job and recently I was ona train coming south. Sitting beside was a young woman whoin the course of conversation said to me. You can hear everyword of that song, as someone behind us was listening totheir iPod with earphones but the sound was coming throughloud and clear to us and the other passengers in the carriage.

At times it is appropriate to turn up the volume, especiallyif there is a lot of background noise and one wishes to hearsomething that is important to them and for others to hearthe message or what is being broadcast.

Therefore it is important now for everyone who is a memberor supporter of Church Action on Poverty to turn up the

volume as loud as they can by telling and informing churches,politicians and others of the good things that we are achieving,

particularly the expansion of ourwork in Changemakers and theParticipatory Budgeting Unit.

I believe that in the next few

years the work that we do asa campaigning organisation,especially for those who have orwill have little or no voice, willkeep the volume up in our society.

Lewis Rose

2Messagefrom

theChair


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Making the case: communicatingthe reality of poverty in the UK

CAP continues to make the case for tackling poverty.

We believe that in a country rich in resources, poverty isan injustice that can and must be overcome.

We believe that all people have the right to share in lifein all its fullness (John 10:10). We believe that povertyactively prevents this.

We believe in the unique value of each person made in

the image and likeness of God, regardless of gender, race,ethnicity, sexuality, ability or wealth. We believe that povertyis a reection of a society that places a greater value on

some than on others.

We believe that people living in poverty are the realpoverty experts and have the right to shape the decisions

that affect their lives.


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Developing more sustainablelivelihoods

CAP aims to enable people in poverty to achieve income

security and paid employment which promotes dignity andjustice.

Current projects in this area include:

Living Ghosts, a campaign to change the laws that makepeople seeking asylum destitute (see page 5);

Thrive, an action research project working in some of the

UKs most deprived areas;Debt on our Doorstep, the campaign for fair nance and

an end to irresponsible lending;

a leading role in the getfaircoalition, calling for an endto UK poverty (see page 7).


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Sustainable

livelihoods

Living Ghosts

When someone is refused asylum in the UK, governmentpolicy is that they are denied any support and cannot work,

making them destitute. CAP is appalled that destitution shouldbe part of government policy, and is campaigning to change thelaw.

This year, hundreds of CAP supporters have lobbied their MPs,using a DVD to raise awareness of the issues. During Lent,many took the Endurance Challenge and spent a week living

on a food parcel like those provided at destitution projects.I felt somewhatdevalued, quitemiserable andbad-tempered.

I was eating out-of-date old food whichfelt degrading...I felt sluggishand tiredCAP supporter Judy Midgley

on her experience living like anasylum-seeker for a week

We will continue thepressure on people withpower to change the lawand treat asylum-seekers

with dignity.

Supporters

camping out in Parliament Square


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Its 100% UNFAIROver the past two decades, the UK has become richer,

but not airer. Its the fth richest country in the world,and yet the gap between rich and poor continues togrow.

According to the Governments own fgures, 12.8

million people in the UK are living in poverty. Tatnumber includes:

30%o children40%o part-time workers 17%o older people30%o disabled adults 20%o women40%

o black and minority ethnic people

Te message isclear. Its time to


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Sustainable

livelihoods

get fair

get fairis a national campaign calling for an end to poverty inthe UK by 2020. It is a coalition of over 60 childrens and older

peoples organisations, refugee and disabled groups, housinggroups, and faith and community groups already working toalleviate poverty.

We aim to help people better understand the causes ofpoverty and what it means to be poor. We also want to inspirepeople to take action in their communities and for politicians

to make eradicating poverty a priority.We want all political parties to commit to eradicating UKpoverty by 2020. Were proposing concrete measures thatwould ensure everyone in Britain has:

an income that meets minimum living standards;

affordable housing and decent neighbourhoods;

fair access to services, without discrimination.

CAP has been very active in building the get faircoalition,participating in the steering group that plans the campaign, andpromoting the campaign to our supporters and the churchesmore widely.

get fairwas ofcially launched in September 2008, and will

keep up the pressure to ensure that addressing UK poverty isa major issue in the upcoming General Election.


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Giving a voice to people in poverty

CAP wants all poor and marginalised people to have aneffective voice in shaping decisions which affect their lives.

Current projects in this area include:our pioneering Participatory Budgeting Unit (seeopposite);

the North Eastern Participatory PovertyAssessment, a major piece of research;

Changemakers broad-based organising in three cities (see

page 11);Voicebox, using a range of media to make the stories andtestimonies of people in poverty heard (see page 12).

We, the people, were to decidehow the money was spent.

A resident who took part in Newcastles PB scheme


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Avoicetopeople

inpoverty

Participatory Budgeting

Participatory Budgeting (PB) is local peopledeciding how to allocate part of a public

budget. Starting in 2000 in the UK, over40 areas are now using PB in some form,and more committed to doing so.

This year CAPs PB Unit has grown with Phil Teece,Programme Manager, and Ruth Jackson, Research &Information Ofcer, joining the unit, and the return of Jenny

Lazarus as Administration Ofcer. The unit has developed atoolkit (a how to guide for PB); some values, principles andstandards as guidance for projects; and a completely revampedwebsite with more easy access information.

In September 2008, we held the rst national conference on

PB, and over 240 people attended. Many delegates found the

conference really informative, useful and empowering.The PB unit is the Governments key partner in its national PBstrategy. This is a great opportunity for us to make the voicesof people in poverty heard by those in powerthroughout the UK.

For more information on the Units work and PB in the

UK, please visit www.participatorybudgeting.org.uk

In four years of beinga Councillor, it was

the best day of my life.A Ward Councillor who took part in

Newcastles PB scheme


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10Avoicetopeople

inpoverty

Changemakers is our citizensorganising project. The aim isto build diverse coalitions ofcommunity groups working for

the common good, enablinglocal people to talk directly to

power-holders and service-providers to tackle issues in theircommunities. The more we do this work the more we realisehow much it is needed so many people feel shut out ofdecision-making processes, and feel powerless as a result.

Changemakers is beginning to happen! Staff are workingin Manchester, Bradford, and Stockton, and together we areengaging with hundreds of people across the three areas. InManchester we now have our rst paying member groups

Carisma (tackling gun and gang crime); the Libyan SolidarityCampaign; and the Boaz Trust (working with destitute asylum

seekers). Many others are on the way.With the help of our partnership with the US-based GamalielFoundation, we have already run a number of training sessionsfor the Changemakers staff and member organisations inManchester.

An effective partnership is emerging between us, Birmingham

Citizens, and Together Creating Communities in North Wales.This gives us a strong sense of being part of something bigger,and opens up the possibility of tackling issues which areregional and even national.

Photos opposite: members of community groups in Manchester build

relationships and learn new skills through Changemakers training.


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11

Massive impact! ... We were constantlyencouraged to question and refect

on our beliefs, values, and actions.The aim was to make us into thebest people and therefore the bestcommunity organisers we can be.

A participant in a Manchester Changemakers training course

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Voicebox

People living in poverty are the real poverty experts. They havethe right to shape the decisions that affect their lives. It is vital

that their voices and their stories are heard by those in power.CAP continues to support groups and churches in runningpoverty hearings, which allow decision-makers to learn aboutthe reality of poverty.

We are also collecting stories, testimonies and case studiesfrom a range of sources, and using new media to make them

available as widely as possible.In Advent 2007, we released a series of podcasts, recordings ofinterviews with destitute asylum-seekers. Their stories inspiredmany of our supporters to prayer and action.

We have established a section of the CAP website(www.church-poverty.org.uk/resources/voicebox)

which gathers together stories from manysources and in many formats. It is a valuableresource for all our campaigners.

The situation of destitution has

really changed me a lot...It has made my heart

very hard.Daniel Munkasa from Zimbabwe talks

about the experience of being destitute for

over three years

Avoicetopeopleinpoverty12


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Mobilising churches to overcomepoverty

CAP wants the churches to actively promote a bias to the

poor both internally and externally, and to form alliances withthose of good will from all faiths and none.

Current projects in this area include:

theJust Churchprogramme (see overleaf);

an annual, nationwide Poverty & Homelessness ActionWeek(see page 15);

holding an annual conference;

recruiting and supporting members through outreachto churches;

helping local CAP groups to grow and build capacity.

The youth group performed a drama for Poverty & HomelessnessAction Week at St Thomas More Church, Seaford, Sussex

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1Mobilisingthe

churches

We organised therst Poverty &

Homelessness

Action Weekin 2008.

In collaboration withHousing Justice andScottish Churches HousingAction, we co-ordinateour supporters all overthe UK in organising their

own local events duringone week at the start ofFebruary.

In Action Week 2008, over

100 events took placenationwide, from church

services to full-scalepoverty hearings. Therewas widespread mediacoverage, raising awareness of poverty issues, our campaignsand local anti-poverty projects in many communities.

Its so easy ... to judge

homeless people soits a very good thingto meet people andhear their story.Rt Revd Stephen Cottrell,

Bishop of Reading


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An effective and sustainableorganisation

We aim to run our organisation and all our programmes

efciently and professionally, to ensure our own ability to takeforward our mission into the future.

We have maintained a focus on these important issues duringthis years expansion of our work in several ways:

a major fundraising programme, with two daysa week of staff time dedicated to working on fundraising;

smooth running of our ofce and nances;

regular supervision and performance objectivesfor all staff;

detailed quarterly and annual reporting to ourCouncil of Management;

a series of events and a special appeal to markCAPs 25th anniversary (see opposite).

Effectiveandsustainable1


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CAPs 2th anniversary

2007 was CAPs 25th year. We marked the occasion withevents, receptions and church services in Westminster,

Manchester and Edinburgh. We also held a special fundingappeal which was very successful, and will help CAPs work tocontinue well into the future.

CAPs Chairperson Lewis Rose said:

Little did those who started Church Action on Poverty everdream that she would still be around today, giving those in

poverty a voice and knocking at the doors of the powerful,challenging them to do something about it

The elimination of poverty is of course an ideal and thepoint is that it is an ideal worth pursuing. If we are to achieveour ideal then we must work as a team and encourage morepeople to join us... Thats the future and the vision

a society where there is no poverty.

1

Our 25th anniversary service took place in Manchester Cathedral


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18 Finance

Finance

Income: where our money came from in 200708

Grants 239,954Donations 83,475

Fees 44,744

Membership

subscriptions

35,762

Bank interest 2,441

Legacies 2,090

Total 408,466

Expenditure: how we spent it

Campaigns & events 150,980

Participatory Budgeting 111,348

Changemakers 51,599

Thrive 38,581Living Ghosts 36,462

get fair 2,252

Just Church & Action Week 8,172

Other 27,638

Total 427,032 Copies of our full

audited accounts are

available on request.


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Acknowledgements

Council of Management 200708

Frances Ballin, Millicent Dews, John Freeman, Julie Green, Wayne

Green, Helen Hood, Alison Jackson, Chris Lawrence-Pietroni, BrianONeill, Cath Mahoney, Richard Marx, Bandi Mbubi, Norbert Mbu-

Mputu, David Price, Lewis Rose, Val Simcock, David Stretton, Rose

Tyrrell, Jackie Worthington.

CAP staff 200708

Janet Ashton, Greg Brown, Alan Budge, Diana Campbell, Niall Cooper,Adam Dickson, Liz Firth, Jez Hall, Patrick Hannon, Ruth Jackson, JennyLazarus, Ocia Koranteng, Joshua Mutebe, Aurelija Polocenkaite, Liam

Purcell, Robina Shah, Lorraine Shaw, David Stott, Alan Thornton, Tom

Viita, Mark Waters.

Thanks

Church Action on Poverty wishes to thank all our members andsupporters for your continued support throughout the year. Without

you our work would not be possible. Unfortunately, there is notenough room to thank everybody, but we would like to make special

mention of the following: Oxfam, Society of the Sacred Heart,

Methodist Church, United Reformed Church, Society of Jesus, Joseph

Rowntree Charitable Trust, Church of Scotland, Lankelly ChaseFoundation, Department for Communities and Local Government,

Capacity Builders, MB Reckitt Trust, Manchester MetropolitanUniversity, Waterside Trust, CAFOD, Iona Community, Housing Justice,

Royal & Sun Alliance, Racial Justice Fund, Scottish Episcopal Church,

John Laing, Ursulines of the Roman Union, Baptist Union of GreatBritain, Institute of our Lady of Mercy, Rowan Charitable Trust.

Acknowledgements


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Make a commitment against povertyUse this side of the form if you wish to make a regular donation to

support CAPs work. Turn over if you want to make a one-off donation.

We depend on committed givers like you!

STANDING ORDER

Your name: _______________________________________

Your address: _____________________________________

________________________________________________

____________________________ Postcode: ___________

To the Manager of(Your Bank): _________________________

Address: _________________________________________

________________________________________________

Postcode: ______________ Sortcode: _________________

Please pay Church Action on Poverty (Charity No. 1079986)

______ every month at National Westminster Bank PLC, 33

Piccadilly, Manchester M1 1LR (sortcode: 01/06/88, account no:

01125508). Please debit my account number ____________

starting on ______________ and until further notice.Signature: _________________________________________

I am a UK taxpayer and would like CAP to treat my donations

as Gift Aid. (If you tick this box we can claim an extra 2.82 for every10 you donate. You must pay income tax or capital gains tax sufcientto cover the amount CAP reclaims. If your circumstances change, please

contact the CAP ofce.)

I am donating at least 18 per year (3.50 per year if

unwaged) and would like to be a member of CAP.This gives you a say in the election of our Council of Management,

and means that you are liable for 1 if CAP should fail.

Return to CAP, Central Buildings, Oldham Street,

Manchester M1 1JQ


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Make a donation to CAP nowUse this side of the form if you wish to make a one-off donation to

support CAPs work. Turn over if you want to set up a regular donation.

Every donation will help to give a voice to people in poverty.

I am making a donation of...

o50 o20 o10 oother: __________

I enclose a cheque for the appropriate amount, payable to

Church Action on Poverty.

Please charge my credit or debit card:oCAFcard oMastercard oSwitch oVisa

oOther: __________________

Start date: _______ Expiry date: _______

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Security code: _______ Issue number: _______

Signature: _______________________________________

Name: _________________________________________

Address: ________________________________________

_______________________________________________

_____________________________ Postcode: __________

Telephone: ______________________________________Email: __________________________________________

I am a UK taxpayer and would like CAP to treat my donations

as Gift Aid. (If you tick this box we can claim an extra 2.82 for every10 you donate. You must pay income tax or capital gains tax sufcient

to cover the amount CAP reclaims. If your circumstances change, please

contact the CAP ofce.)

Return to CAP Central Buildings Oldham Street

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Church Action on Poverty 2008 annual review