Tips To Alleviate Financial Burdens Available At Free Cumbernauld Challenge Poverty Event

Cumbernauld Community Board’s Food and Financial Insecurity Priority Sub-Group and Cornerstone House Centre are extending an open invitation for citizens of Carbrain and Cumbernauld to attend a unique Challenge Poverty Community Engagement Event on the back of Challenge Poverty Week which took place across Scotland earlier this month.

The event, which will take place on Thursday 19 October 2023 from 11.00am-1.00pm at Cornerstone House (1 Esk Walk, Cumbernauld, G67 1BZ) will incorporate a special market place at which several information stalls from different service providers will be on hand to offer free and confidential advice and support in relation to tackling the stigma of poverty whilst passing on tips and knowledge which will help alleviate financial burdens for local individual and families.

Key organisations expected to be available to talk to on the day will include North Lanarkshire Council (Tackling Poverty Team, Housing Team, Active NL Team and Community Partnership Team), NHS Lanarkshire Health Improvement Team (including Tobacco Control support), Lanarkshire Carers Together, Cornerstone House Centre (including Cumbernauld Family Hub and Greater Cumbernauld Community Solutions Consortium), Tony’s Safe Place and SP Energy Team.  

Citizens can drop in for tea, coffee, biscuits and the opportunity to chat informally with skilled and experienced professionals from the public, voluntary and private sectors. For further information, please email communitymatters@northlan.gov.uk.

Cornerstone House Centre is just one of a number of voluntary sector organisations which play a vital role in addressing poverty in the Cumbernauld area. Others include Bethlehem House of Bread Food Bank, Christians Against Poverty (CAP), Cumbernauld and Kilsyth Care, Cumbernauld Poverty Action, Cumbernauld Resilience, Cumbernauld YMCA-YWCA and One Parent Families Scotland.

Cumbernauld statistics in relation to the key deprivation indicators of income, employment, health, education, housing, access and crime compare less favourably than the Scottish average, and in some areas considerably less favourably. Indeed, The Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) 2020 places the Cumbernauld data zone average deprivation rank amongst the worst third in Scotland.

Approximately 15% of the Cumbernauld population is classified as income deprived, with the average annual earnings of a local resident being 3% lower than the Scottish average. Notably, 61% of those experiencing income deprivation locally do not live in the 15% most deprived neighbourhoods.

Furthermore, it is believed that more than one third of households in Cumbernauld are living in fuel poverty, including 35% of households in the social rented sector. Food poverty is another area which has risen markedly over the last decade in Cumbernauld.

In Scotland, almost one in four children are currently growing up in poverty, with the numbers predicted to continue to rise in the years ahead.

Poverty can leave a lasting and devastating impact on the health and wellbeing of children and young people, including significant adverse effects on the educational attainment and life chances of those that experience it.

For further information on the services which Cornerstone House Centre provide for people experiencing relative poverty, please contact 01236 739220 or email health@cornerstone-house.org.uk.