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PCiP – leading in the fight against child poverty

Promoting Children in Plymouth (PCiP), spearheads Plymouth Drake Foundation’s specific mission to eradicate the social injustice, ill-health and misery caused by child poverty in Plymouth. It brings together the public, private and third sectors to ensure that, as a city acting in unison, we remain dedicated to making a difference throughout a young person’s early life.

This is why PCiP is the initiative tackling child poverty which is specifically recognised by Plymouth City Council. The issue of children living in poverty in Plymouth is both significant and worsening. is all about eradicating poverty in the city. The Plymouth Fairness Commission report  written some years ago, described a “Tale of Two Cities”, which highlighted how a child’s life outcomes were wholly predictable depending on the ward they were born into. Today, some wards continue to experience children in poverty levels in excess of 35%. This cannot be right.

PCiP was born out of a want and need for collaboration and encouragement of our private sector to work more closely with the public sector and charitable organisations – sharing responsibility to rid child poverty from our city.

On 23 March, over 50 corporate businesses, public sector agencies and charities came together for the first PCiP awareness event. Going forward, we see PCiP as a club, with no joining fee or annual subscription, a club of like-minded organisations working under the PCiP banner to make a difference to the children in our city living in poverty.

With such a large scale challenge, in order to make a real and measurable impact, we understand that there needs to be high impact, long lasting projects. To help us to collaborate and work as one, the aim of PCiP will be to link to the key areas highlighted by Plymouth City Council’s action plan to tackle Child Poverty. As such, for the period until at least 2022 there will be five targeted work streams being:

1. Widening Horizons – based on the successful Millfields Trust model, we will raise the aspirations of our children.

2. National Citizen Service – we will sponsor children impacted by poverty to undertake this hugely beneficial programme.

3. Dental Health – we will support projects that encourage better dental health in our children. In 2017, over 3,600 teeth were removed from children under 16 under general anaesthetic – we need to stop this happening.

4. Grow, share, cook – helping families help themselves and deliver healthy meals to their children throughout the year, including school holidays.

5. Right to read – helping children develop their reading skills so they do not become left behind, often even before their school education has started.

As well as these targeted work streams, PCiP recognises that there is already a huge amount of work being undertaken in the City in a multitude of ways and we aim to be able to promote this and offer a link between those already doing something to those who want to get involved.

It isn’t about giving a hand out, it is about giving a hand up.

If you would like to contribute to the projects included on our website, believe you could help in another way or are already working on projects in Plymouth relating to child poverty please get in touch.

Together, we really can make a difference – contact us today and become a PCiP partner organisation.

We do so much incredible work to help children in Plymouth that it can be hard to understand how we do it all. Read this page to find out how and more information.

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We do so much work, so it’s difficult to keep up to date with what were doing. Luckily, you can keep up to date with our work from our blog and social media pages.

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There are a number of ways that you can help to contribute your efforts to us, helping thousands of children all across Plymouth and the surrounding area.

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