Book: Environments for All Chapter: 2.4 Everyone means everyone! Section: People in poverty Metadata: Details Buy this book

Despite recent improvements as more households have moved above the poverty line, it is still a hard fact of life for many urban and rural households. Their experiences of poverty vary widely and link to issues such as access to facilities, employment levels in the area, quality of housing and many more factors. For more information and the main resource bank for information and statistics visit www.poverty.org.uk.

The wide variations in how people experience poverty explain why many agencies talk about social exclusion, although many poorer households will point out that at the end of the day it's not having enough money that really matters.

Every area where there are significant levels of poverty (and there are many ways in which this is measured) has some form of anti-poverty programme, although in rural areas these may be much less obvious. If you are working in a deprived area, check with the local authority for information about local projects.

While the state of the environment may not be a prime concern for the poorest communities, surveys show that it is still an important issue. An unfriendly, unsafe environment is just one more problem, and is one that may put off businesses thinking of investing in an area.

It is often hard for environmental projects to build links with people and organisations in the poorer neighbourhoods. Some of the reasons for this are historical: environmental groups don't have much of a track record in this field, and anti-poverty workers have been known to adopt an attitude that suggests that 'the environment is all very well, but we've got real problems to deal with first'. The challenge for any environmental project is to show that it can offer genuinely useful and lasting improvements to these poorer communities.

If you are working in a poorer area, be aware that Neighbourhood Renewal programmes and Community Empowerment Networks may be able to fund and support practical improvement work.

Try to keep in mind a few priorities that will bring real benefits to the area:

• Wherever you can, make sure that what you are bringing economic benefits - shop locally, employ local staff, provide basic skills training, and create jobs where you can etc.;
• Build working relationships with anti-poverty programmes in the area - show them that what you're doing will help deliver their goals too; and
• Make sure your work helps deliver those improvements which are the most needed. That will help local people feel more positive about where they live.

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