What is the Oldham Poverty Truth Commission?
The Oldham Poverty Truth Commission will draw on experiences of people who have been in poverty alongside those with power in Council services, businesses, and charities to make deep changes to the causes of poverty in Oldham. For over ten years Poverty Truth Commissions have now been involving people who have experienced poverty in identifying possible solutions, including Commission’s in Salford and Leeds which continue to impact their local areas’ approach to poverty.
The Oldham Poverty Truth Commission aims to:
- Build relationships and trust between local people and ‘civic’ leaders that increase understanding of poverty
- Prompt changes in policy and practice within organisations
- Provide a positive example of involving lived experience that Oldham can reference
- Develop new skills for all participants which can be used elsewhere
How can I help?
We believe everyone’s experiences are assets as valuable as a qualification or decades working in an area. Whether you grew up in poverty, experienced long periods of unemployment, struggled with your mental health, have been homeless or countless other experiences, we’d like to draw on your assets to help prevent others from going through similar in the future.
If you would like to add your voice to a team of people with similar experiences – in a place where it will be heard by those in positions to address the things you went through - then you might be the ideal ‘Grassroots Commissioner’. In the role, you will work alongside those with power to identify responses that might work in Oldham. We are not looking for quick fixes, but we need you to help us create the long-term solutions.
How does it work?
We are now seeking looking to recruit Grassroots Commissioners who want to use their voice to have the experience of living in poverty heard by people with power. If that might be you, read on to find out what is involved and how you can be a part of it.
There is support available to help you participate and get the most from the Commission, and we would be delighted to speak further with you about directly about what it would be like. To find out more and tell us why you would be interested, you can make contact with us:
Via phone speak to Nayan or Robbie on 0161 339 2345 or
via email Robbie at robbie.cowbury@actiontogether.org.uk or
Via a support worker or similar through whom you heard about the opportunity