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Minister calls on partners to work together to improve the lives of young people and families

Minister for Communities and Tackling Poverty, Lesley Griffiths, recently spoke about the importance of partners working together to improve the lives of families and young people in North Wales.

The event at Bangor University was one of a series of regional tackling poverty events which will be held across Wales during November and December.

Approximately 100 professionals, including representatives from housing associations, Communities First clusters, Families First, Flying Start, public health officials and Local Authority Anti-Poverty Champions, met to discuss the importance of joint working at a time of limited budgets.

Speaking at the event, which also focused on the central role housing and regeneration play in tackling poverty across Wales, the Minister said:

"Since becoming Minister with responsibility for housing and regeneration, I have been hugely impressed with the good work taking place between partners to maximise the strong links to tackling poverty. We will to continue to build on this.

“Too many people’s lives are still blighted by poverty in Wales. This is why I have reaffirmed our ambition to eradicate child poverty by 2020. Maintaining this ambition sends a strong message - child poverty is neither acceptable nor inevitable and we remain fully committed to doing all we can to eradicate it.”


The event was also an opportunity for attendees to review and respond to the ongoing consultation on the Welsh Government’s revised Child Poverty Strategy.

The Minister added:

"Tackling poverty and breaking the links between deprivation and poorer outcomes is not easy. I accept we have a massive challenge ahead of us, but what I do not accept is the inevitability of a life in poverty.

“It is far easier to say we'll never make a difference at the scale needed, or claim there are too many barriers to tackle poverty than try to address the problem. You are already making a real difference to the lives of those in poverty in North Wales, and I’d like to thank you for your continued support, hard work and commitment.

“The challenge I pose to you as we move forward is to think about new opportunities for working together and consider how existing budgets could be better used to help us achieve our common goals.”

 

Channel website: http://gov.wales

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