TMP Online

Jan Etienne, lecturer in social policy at Birkbeck College, University of London, argues that getting a clear message out and one that does not alienate a whole community is the first step towards achieving progressive consensus.

Reaching out to all communities, we are told, helps build stronger communities but in a society where vulnerable communities are relied upon to devise and deliver their own strategies and solutions to tackling the big issues of the day, where is progressive consensus?

How can young people feel confident or inspired enough to move forward if their leaders have no real interest in finding solutions for them? How can a demoralised and exhausted community find the strength to mobilise and remove itself out of poverty, deal with low academic achievement, tackle gun crime and at the same time cope with the reality of a society seemingly concerned only with those who are able to cope?

Delivering a clear message that says “We are on your side” is a first step to serious community involvement and engagement.

The latest Joseph Rowntree Foundation research into Poverty and ethnicity in the UK (April, 2007) found stark differences in poverty rates according to ethnic group. Over half of Pakistani, Bangladeshi and Black African children are growing up in poverty. Child poverty rates were greater than adult poverty rates across groups, so that children from minority groups were poorer than both white children and adults from their own ethnic groups.

The high rates of child poverty in some groups are of particular concern, both for their present welfare and their future opportunities.

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