Blog: Communications officer’s log

Star Trek is one of the most hopeful sci-fi shows there is.

It depicts a human society beyond poverty, and beyond money. As Picard says in the film First Contact: "The acquisition of wealth is no longer the driving force in our lives. We work to better ourselves and the rest of humanity."

That's the kind of vision that I often have in my head when I'm doing my work at the Poverty Alliance, especially when I'm feeling down. I hope that the work we do and the words we use are laying a bit of road towards that better future.

So, I'm going to start thinking of these open working week-notes as the Communications Officer Log.

On Tuesday my colleagues in the Policy & Campaigns Team had a reading day at the Mitchell Library, and I missed out due to illness. The reading days are a great idea instituted by our manager Ruth, and give you a chance to catch up on the interesting things that you've meant to read but not got around to. We then feed back to the rest of the team. Last time round, I read the inspiring book No Shortcuts by the late trade union organiser Jane McAlevey. I was sorry to miss out this time around, but I'm looking forward to hearing what my colleagues have learned.

Our chief executive Peter has been working with our Board on a refresh of our strategy document. He asked me to look at ways of making our website reflect our strategy more closely. So this week, I've been working on a new structure, and created a front page in Canva to get my ideas across better. I've sent it to Ruth for consideration, and I hope the next step will be a staff-wide consultation. This work has come at a good time, because I've got a meeting this week with our Research Manager Laura to discuss how her teams work is displayed on the site.

I've also got a meeting with our Senior Communities & Networks Officer Isla. We want to talk about how we're working together, with a focus on how we create links between journalists and people with lived experience of life on low incomes. We'll also talk over some training I'm delivering for a group of people who have been working with Isla on a fantastic photovoice exhibition about the unjust costs of credit placed on people on low incomes. They are heading down to Westminster next week to an event organised by our partners Fair by Design, with the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Fair Banking.

We rely on our Admin & Finance team a lot in the Poverty Alliance. Without them, the centre couldn't hold. This week our Admin Officer Sinéad started using a new Events process, which means that I'll be automatically updated on all the events that colleagues are organising or are involved in. It's already been a great help.

Our social media channels this week have highlighted the first ever joint meeting of the Scottish Parliament Cross-Party Groups on Poverty and Disability, as well as two up-coming events by our Rights in Action and Serving the Future projects.

Our Taking Action on Rural Poverty Aberdeenshire Development Officer Annie attended a roundtable at HMP Grampian, organised by Families Outside as part of their #NoEasyJourney campaign. We highlighted the campaign on our channels, and I'm working with Annie on a blog about the roundtable for next week.

I also published posts on new blog I've written, based on a great response from my our Policy & Parliamentary Officer Chloe to the Scottish Labour Party Policy Forum. I was really pleased that Chloe highlighted issues around the way the consultation frames social security. Investment in social security is investment in people. The more that people are free to build a better live for themselves and their households, the stronger our society will be. As our response says, rhetoric around 'affordability' and divisions between tax-payers and others risks increasing the burden of stigma that already lies heavy on people on low incomes.

We are very interested in the affordability and accessibility of public transport, because too many people on low incomes are barred from getting where they need to go to. Ruth highlighted the recent report by Audit Scotland about sustainable transport, and we've offered a reactive op-ed to The Scotsman with our views.

And lastly - after a reminder from our Communities & Networks Manager David - I've been in touch with a new Poverty Alliance member Greener Kirkcaldy to arrange training on how we can put values first in effective messaging about poverty.

As always, if you're interested in my work and want to get in touch, please drop me a line at david.eyre@povertyalliance.org.