Fife Gingerbread: new strategy unveiled to tackle child poverty
Fife Gingerbread has launched a new strategy to tackle child poverty in the Kingdom.
The organisation dedicated to supporting lone parents and families in need has unveiled its ‘Stargazing’ plan which it says will see a focus on changing the systems while it also supports families. Laura Millar, chief executive, hailed it as “a really exciting time” as she unveiled the strategy’s key components.
She added: “We might be a small grassroots charity, but we have big ambitions to be change-makers in Scotland.”
Fife Gingerbread, which supporting 834 families through projects last year, launched its strategy as it looked at where it was - and where it wanted to be - and put in place an action plan to deliver those long term-goals.
Key areas include positive workplaces for lone parents, transforming child maintenance, improved housing for families, tackling the cost of the school day, and looking at multi-year funding for the voluntary sector
Ms Millar said: “This new strategy reflects our commitment to continuing to provide vital support to families in Fife to ensure children and young people can flourish. Poverty and trauma are the common threads connecting families we work with- 74% of families were surviving below low-income thresholds and two in three had experienced trauma.
“By focusing on the systemic challenges facing families we will have a greater impact. It is critical that we not only deliver services to meet the needs of families, but we also shift some of our focus to transforming the systems that hold families stuck in place.
“We will be relentless in our pursuit of creating better todays and brighter tomorrows for lone parents and families in need. It is a really exciting time for us as we might be a small grassroots charity but we have big ambitions to be change-makers in Scotland.”
The strategy was developed in consultation with families, partners, funders, volunteers and staff. As part of its launch, Fife Gingerbread - established in 1987 -will be launching a social media campaign from Monday, February 3 on its channels and meeting local and national partners to share the strategy in more detail. Download a copy at www.fifegingerbread.org.uk/stargazing-strategy