|TOP|Challenging Poverty is the new campaign launched by the Church of England over the weekend to tackle poverty in Britain.

The new campaign launched Sunday is an initiative of the Church Urban Fund (CUF) and aims to raise awareness of the plight of the 11.4 million people living below the poverty line in the UK.

Challenging Poverty encourages local communities to take action against poverty and consolidates the work already being undertaken by the CUF in the top 10 per cent of England’s poorest communities.

This is the CUF’s first high profile campaign, a milestone in the history of the fund which normally works ‘behind the scenes’ to support local projects that work to eradicate the negative effects of poverty but which struggle to find the necessary support to start up or continue running.

|QUOTE|The launch of Challenging Poverty follows an extension of the CUF remit by the Church of England and also a recent Ipsos MORI report commissioned by the CUF which found a wide acknowledgement of poverty in Britain (87%) but also a broad recognition that people in poverty tend to go unnoticed (63%).

Fran Beckett, Chief Executive Officer of the Church Urban Fund, said: “We live in the fifth richest country in the world and yet 20 percent of people live below the poverty line with 3.4 million of them being children. It is staggering that this level of poverty still exists in the 21st century and it is a scandal so many people believe impoverishment is invisible, when it is happening right on our doorstep.

“In this country everyone is aware of poverty overseas because of the stark contrast between lives in the west and the developing world, yet poverty is deep rooted in our communities.

“We know that children raised in poverty are at least twice as likely to be poor adults and those living in deprived areas are generally more at risk of developing long-term illness and disability, and more likely to be the subject of crime.”

|AD|It is hoped Challenging Poverty will transform local communities with its focus solely on helping poor people in this country through the establishment of sustainable projects in the poorest local areas that will make a lasting impact on the community.

“CUF grants are allocated through the Church of England diocesan areas allowing us to deliver essential support to the places of greatest local need. This does not exclude other faiths from applying for grants but it does mean our decisions are informed by local knowledge, so we know that the projects are helping people that need it the most and are tackling the direst problems,” said Beckett.

The launch is the first of two stages in the campaign and will focus on raising public awareness about poverty and the role of the Church Urban Fund.

The first phase of the campaign will also concentrate on gathering support from the community and establishing a network of donors and volunteers.

To raise public awareness, the CUF is advertising for the first time ever in national newspapers with a letter from the Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu.

“Our campaign will also focus heavily on highlighting the role of existing projects we have helped to fund, as it is important for people to see the human face of poverty behind the statistics,” explains Beckett.

Stage two will swing into action in October with the launch of fundraising initiatives targeted at individuals and businesses.

Beckett concludes: “To date we’ve providing funding to over 4,000 projects across the country but Challenging Poverty will enable us to step up the level of support we are providing and make a real difference to people who live in poverty everyday.”