46% of children in Hyde Park and Woodhouse still live under the poverty line, as do 32% of kids in Kirkstall. You’re looking at Harehills on 42%, 45% in Richmond Hill, with an overall average of 21%.
Some of you might remember my last blog about this and the Better Leeds idea I put forward saying we need to do something about it.
Since the idea passed, I’ve been working with others in the city to try and bring together interested people and organisations to start delivering projects and ideas that will help the ~33,000 children in our city who are living under the poverty line.
As part of this, LUU has been involved in organising a “Results Factory”, a three hour session focusing on bringing together people to form and work on project ideas, with the aim to kickstart the conversation and see it carry on after the meeting. The first Results Factory happened in January, and projects are in formation on fuel poverty, and culture & community cohesion. It’s a slow start, but things are beginning to happen.
What we need next is the involvement of more people, and it would be fantastic to see more students helping to get even more ideas off the ground. Our next session is on Friday April 27th 9-12am, here at LUU in Room 6. You can sign up for a place by clicking here (it’s free, naturally). Whether you have an idea about what needs to change in this city, or whether you want to do something but you’re not entirely sure what, this is a good place to meet others who can point you in the right direction.
Hopefully we’ll see some of you there – if you can’t make it but want to be kept in the loop there’s a facebook group, a blog with regular updates and a mailing list for people getting involved with projects.
And remember, with local elections coming up on May 3rd, there's no better time than to ask your councillors (and prospective candidates) what they're doing about poverty in their area.