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The Fairer Moray Forum is hosting several events during February to raise awareness of the impact of poverty and what can be done to tackle it in Moray.
Mairi McCallum, project manager for Moray Foodbank said “During recent consultation we undertook looking into food poverty in Moray we were repeatedly being told that people felt that there was a real stigma around poverty, and a lack of understanding from professionals into how this can affect individuals and families. The Fairer Moray Forum have developed this series of events to raise awareness of how poverty manifests itself and what differences we as individuals and professionals can make”.
There will be a series of three lunch and learn events, all running from 12.30 to 1.30pm, which will be held in Forres, Portessie and Keith, followed by a conference in Elgin on 26 February.
The first lunch and learn event will be in Forres Town Hall this Friday, 1 February. It will be led by Nancy Clunie, who will be discussing raising attainment and encouraging family engagement through food, drawing on her work as head teacher at Dalmarnock Primary School in Glasgow.
Next Tuesday, 5 February, at the Loft Youth Project in Keith, Mary Glasgow, CEO of Children 1st, will be leading discussions on how poverty and adversity in childhood are linked. She will draw on the recent understanding of ACEs research, the context in Scotland and the impact and links with poverty. ACE stands for Adverse Childhood Experiences which, it is now recognised, can have a profound and long-lasting effect on people’s lives.
The final lunch and learn event will be held on Wednesday 13 February, at Portessie Public Hall. Dr Flora Douglas of Robert Gordon University will be discussing what we know and don’t know about childhood food insecurity in Scotland. Attendees will have the opportunity to share their experiences of working with food insecure families and children and highlight their understanding of the impact of their work in addressing the issue.
A final event, a conference focused on the cost of the school day, will be held on 26 February and is being facilitated by Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) in Scotland and Poverty Alliance Scotland.
The conference is for anyone who wants to mitigate the effects of poverty on children and families with a particular focus on schools. It will support participants to understand the current child poverty context, understand poverty stigma, increase understanding of the impact of school costs on children and families, and allow participants to consider the issues they want to tackle in their own settings and plan actions to reduce the cost of the school day in Moray.
Places at all events are limited and must be booked via Eventbrite, using the links below. All lunch and learn events are free to attend but participants should bring their own lunch.
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/food-family-fun-a-lunch-and-learn-event-with-nancy-clunie-tickets-55015333343
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/cost-of-the-school-day-conference-tickets-54641354763