Jo Newton - raising awareness of how rising bills, energy costs and food prices are affecting daily life and well-being

How does your role help people in South Tees? 

Footprints in the Community deliver a range of projects including Redcar Area Foodbank, First Steps, The Shed, Artspace, Advice and Information, Footprints Café and Reflections Dementia Café.

My role is in a new project called Shout Out Against Poverty which started because we want to raise awareness of how rising bills, energy costs and food prices are affecting daily life and well-being.

Shout Out Against Poverty hopes to become a voice for the community and spread the word about the day to day struggles that people are experiencing . As a Healthwatch Community Champion this will help us to highlight the realities of the Cost of Living.

We will be planning some creative groups where people can share their experiences with us using spoken word, art, photography and film and we hope this will be a powerful way to  raise awareness and also challenge local and national decisions around poverty.