People with experience of overcoming multiple disadvantages met with MPs in parliament this week, to talk about the challenges they have faced and how supportive services should be shaped in the future.
Damien Moore MP spent time talking to people with lived experience of facing multiple and complex needs at a parliamentary event (on Tuesday 4 June) organised by Fulfilling Lives – a £112 million programme set up by The National Lottery Community Fund in 2014.
MPs signed a pledge to ‘see the full picture’ in an effort to help reduce stigma around multiple disadvantage, before talking in-depth with staff and expert citizens from Blackpool Fulfilling Lives, one of the programme’s delivery partnerships.
The event took place on the same day as the launch of #SeeTheFullPicture – a campaign to raise awareness of multiple disadvantage, which is defined by Fulfilling Lives as two or more of the following: homelessness, substance use, mental ill health and offending. The campaign will build up to Multiple Disadvantage Day on the 3 July, an awareness day to improve understanding of the issue among policy makers and the general public.
The Fulfilling Lives initiative is delivered via 12 partnerships across England over an eight year period, with the aim of making services and support for people with multiple disadvantage better connected, easier to access and tailored to the needs of individuals.
Damien Moore, MP for Southport, said: “It’s was good to speak to people who experience multiple disadvantage and have faced real vulnerability in their lives. It’s so vital that MPs and policy makers are meeting people with proper lived experience – who we don’t get enough chances to speak to directly – and making sure our policies are fit for them.”
“Through the National Lottery Community Fund, over £936, 687 has been invested in Southport related projects in the last five-years, further supporting people who are facing multiple disadvantages such as homelessness, addiction and substance misuse, reoffending and mental health.”
Laura Furness, Head of Funding at The National Lottery Community Fund, said:
“People experiencing multiple disadvantage are in the best position to tell us how systems of services need to change. We’re delighted that MPs made it a priority to come and listen to what our experts by experience have to say.
“It’s fantastic that National Lottery funding is being used to make a real impact – and that MPs and policy makers are increasingly engaging with the work the partnerships are doing. When people are in the lead, communities thrive, and this programme supports people with lived experience to make positive changes in their lives and the lives of others.”
To find out more visit www.TNLCommunityFund.org.uk
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