On the 17th March at 12pm we want you to join us for an urgent conversation about poverty here in Coventry.

It’s easy to think poverty is all about not having enough money for food but that, sadly, is just one example among the many causes and impacts of poverty here and in other major cities.

Poverty among working people as well, among particular groups like migrants, women, disabled people, the rising cost of living, have only got worse as we emerge from the pandemic.

It all adds up to a situation that is harming the potential of Coventry and its people.

We know this isn’t news to you and that’s why we hope you’ll join us on the 17th for some open discussion and practical action.

There are lots of us - services and community groups - that work with people who are struggling. Yet we still don’t seem to be able to make the difference needed to really shift the dial on poverty. It’s frustrating and we want to see if, by joining forces, we can do something about it

We might not be able to do anything about government policy on benefits but we can make sure that we’ve got the best connected and responsive network of help possible.

In bringing us all we’d like to

• deepen our understanding of the harm poverty is doing in our city and understand more about what's already happening in our city to help people

• identify ways we could collaborate, get upstream and prevent some of the suffering we see

We will end with an invitation to join forces and forge an alliance, built on the commitment and dedication of all of you, to make the most difference we can to those in our city who have least.

What will happen?

We will have two big conversations:

1) What work are we doing to mitigate the impact of poverty and how are we doing it

2) What potential can you see, what obstacles lie in your way, complete the sentence it would be even better for my work against poverty if …

Before committing to some joint action

Who is there?

A wide range of people from both the voluntary Sector, Community groups, Coventry City Council, and people with lived experience of the issues.

But the most important contributions will come from you. So please join us and register for March 17th 12pm to 2pm The Zoom link will be sent directly to you before the event

We need to talk about Poverty