Boss of Middlesbrough's poverty-fighting Multibank reveals how many families it's helped in 7 weeks
The North East's first 'multibank' in Middlesbrough handed out more than 200,000 items to 45,000 people in need in just seven weeks since it opened, says the boss of the charity running the base.
Beth Major says the facility in the Middlehaven area of the town - which donates surplus items like clothes, toiletries, home furnishings and baby goods to families - across Teesside has helped some 18,000 children in that time.
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And the Chief Executive of The Junction charity says she's been "overwhelmed" but "not surprised" by demand on the multibank due to the high levels of child poverty in the region.
Launched in November by former Prime Minister Gordon Brown with the help of online retail giant Amazon, the multibank is the first of its kind in the North East and the fifth in the UK set up to make life easier for families living below the poverty line.
Speaking on The Northern Agenda's Our Kids In The North podcast, Ms Major gives an example of a schoolgirl given acrylic pens by the multibank so she could do her homework the same as her classmates.
Listen to the full episode about how the North East is fighting back against child poverty here:
"Because she was going to have to do it with a pencil at home because she didn't have those materials at home," she said.
"And those wider opportunities to take part in, whether it's sport, whether it is learning, all of those have material impacts.
"If you can't for example afford to look after your own personal hygiene because of an inability to pay for personal hygiene products etc etc it impacts just every aspect of a child's development and socialisation really.
"And I suppose for me, the real value in the multibank is our ability to take that weight and worry away from families, relieve that pressure in and in the first instance to enable the support to go in and for families to be able to get the support they need to get out of poverty."
Middlesbrough has some of the highest child poverty rates in the country, with around 70% of children in the town's Newport ward living in poverty.
And the idea behind the town's multibank is simple: companies and businesses have surplus goods that people need like clothes, hygiene products and household furnishings, and local charities working in Tees Valley know the people who need them.
Ms Major said: “We have been officially launched for just over seven weeks, in which time we have distributed over 200,000 items to over 17,000 households, supporting over 45,000 individuals, nearly 18,000 of them being children under the age of 18.
“And that is in weeks not months. Does it surprise me? Unfortunately not. We knew there was going to be a huge demand on this resource because I suppose where we historically are.
"We knew there was going to be a huge demand on this resource because I suppose where we historically are at. We know teachers are out there trying to support students at times out of their own pockets. We know that statutory local authority resources are stretched."
She’s been delighted by some of the support the scheme has had from the business world, while Amazon has offered its expertise in picking, packing and sorting items like at its huge fulfilment centres.
Ms Major said: "Poverty impacts every part of people's lives. Being poor is a full-time job. If you are trying to sort out debt management, if you need to visit the food bank on a Wednesday between 12 and 2, you need to access that thing at that time.
"And so if we can relieve that a little bit and give people a little bit of space to be able to access the support that they need in the longer term and to raise themselves out of poverty, I think that's really great in terms of and wider efforts.
"Poverty is an economic issue because it impacts on outcomes. However, we've got first-hand experience at the multi-bank, for example, supporting young people who weren't in employment into employment through the provision of basic goods to get them through to their first period.
"Because sometimes that can be a barrier to starting work. And so I think it fits in really well with the efforts to tackle child poverty on a local basis."
But despite the huge numbers of people the multibank has helped so far, Ms Major admits its efforts are only part of what is needed to make a dent in child poverty on Teesside.
“I think it needs the collective efforts of all levels of decision making and delivery services to focus or at least poverty-proof decision making.
“So I am really hopeful for the future of Tees Valley because I do think that part of the picture is around creating those high paid sustainable jobs because part of what contributes to poverty in Tees Valley is low paid and insecure work. And we do have an issue around in-work poverty within Tees Valley.
“I think, however, given the impact of child poverty on outcomes into those high paid jobs, we need the scaffolding to be able to do that to make sure that the children's whole life outcomes aren't affected by that childhood experience.
“And I think young people and families need to be supported and to make sure poverty does not turn into low educational attainment and a lack of soft skills, which employers are constantly saying is their priority, the ability to communicate, turn up and time work as part of a team.
“Because actually lacking social opportunities reduces a child's ability to do that. So do I think it's part of the picture? Yes, I do. Do I think it's the whole picture? No, I don't.”
The Labour mayor of the North East, Kim McGuinness, whose patch takes in County Durham, Tyne and Wear and Northumberland, made tackling child poverty a central feature of her election campaign last year.
Her new regional Child Poverty Reduction Unit, the first of its type in the country, is putting in place policies large and small in a bid to ensure young people have what they need to thrive.
These range from handing out 1,500 baby boxes full of essentials for parents to help with the first month of a child’s life, to a £1 cap on bus fares for under-22s to make sure getting to school, college, training and work is more affordable.
There’s a fascinating contrast to be made between Kim McGuinness in the North East and her neighbouring metro mayor, Conservative Ben Houchen, in the Tees Valley, the patch taking in the likes of Middlesbrough, Redcar, Hartlepool and Darlington.
In a recent interview with the Local Democracy Reporter Service, Lord Houchen, whose put the regeneration of areas like Redcar’s former steelworks at the heart of vision for the area, set out his belief that creating jobs is the best way to restore the fortunes of a patch he says has been neglected since the 1960s.
Rather than going after what he calls the ‘symptoms’ of poverty, he said: “So if you’re creating thousands and thousands of jobs, good well paid jobs, that are significantly above the national average wage, and you’re giving jobs and opportunities to people that haven’t had jobs and opportunities for decades, that’s how you solve poverty.”
In support of his approach, he cites official statistics showing the employment rate in Tees Valley rose 5.4% between 2017 and 2023, a much higher rate than the rest of the country.
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