Food poverty in one of the world’s wealthiest countries

Image by epSos.de

By Yousif Farah

According to the UN World Food Programme, hunger is a major killer, with more fatalities than AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined. One might assume that food shortages and hunger are confined to developing countries in Africa or Asia. However, the reality is much closer to home. Increasingly, scores of people across the UK go to bed without having a decent meal.

October 16 is World Food Day. Set up by the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations in 1945, World Food Day sets out to raise awareness of the problem of hunger across the world, and bring about solutions to tackle it on a global, national and local scale.

In the UK, most of us take food for granted. However, following an unsteady period in our nation’s economy, the use of food banks has increased exponentially in recent years.

According to the Trussel Trust, the body responsible for running most food banks in the country, in 2013-14 food banks fed 913,138 people nationwide. These figures are just a snapshot of hunger in the UK as it does not include people who are too ashamed to use food banks and others who are cutting the size of meals.

Some 83% of food banks reported that benefits sanctions - when payments are temporarily stopped - had resulted in more people being referred for emergency food.  More than 30% of visits were put down to a delay in welfare payments. The second biggest reason, given by 20% of food bank users, was low income.

"We're often surprised by the length of sanctions people get," said Liza Cucco, the manager of the Hackney Foodbank.

Andy, a 47 year-old local unemployed electrician, visited the Hackney Food Bank when his benefits were stopped he says:

"If I didn't come here, there wouldn't be any food for me tonight. It's the system. But I don't understand why there's a gap," Andy was sent away with two shopping bags of pasta, rice, vegetables, biscuits and juice.

But food banks are not the only organisations tackling hunger in London. The London Food Board has interviewed hundreds of parents and children across London to assess the impact of hunger on their lives. Mayor of London Boris Johnson has set out to make London a Zero Hunger city by 2020. There is also a web tool – The London Food Map – to help those experiencing food poverty to find out where and how to access free or low-cost food.

Poached Creative is a London-based social enterprise that provides journalism training to homeless and marginalised people.

Social Saturday: celebrating social enterprises

By Yousif Farah 
Saturday 13^th September is Social Saturday, the first ever nationwide day dedicated to promoting social enterprises that trade with the public. It’s being launched by Social Enterprise UK, to encourage people to buy products and services from social enterprises.

For those new to the concept, a social enterprise is a business model that prioritises its social mission over financial gain. Investing in people, most of its profits are usually reinvested in the business and the local community. When a new social enterprise emerges, entire communities reap the benefits. Varying in size, purpose and industry, the range from small social enterprises like us to nation-wide enterprises like the Big Issue.

Today there are more than 70,000 social enterprises nationwide, contributing £18.5 million to the UK economy, and employing almost a million people.

When you buy from a social enterprise, you buy social. Buying social means you provide an unemployed person with a career opportunity, or provide a homeless person with a bed for the night, or help the environment, as well as saving money and challenging only profit-driven businesses through competition.

Over the years we have had many partnerships with Social Enterprises across the country, including the Big Issue and Social Enterprise UK – who we proudly created the Social Saturday marketing materials for. We buy social whenever we can. Here are some of our favourite social enterprises:

Dalston Eastern Curve Garden

By Craig Temperly

This beautiful community garden and events space was built on derelict land in Dalston, East London, by architectural collective EXYZT in 2010. Since then it has become a vibrant community hub for holding workshops and events, as well as place for locals to relax and take in the peaceful garden greenery. It's good for the community and the environment, with local residents growing their own food and herbs in parts of the garden. We liked it so much we had our 5th birthday there.

Clarity and The Soap Co
Surely one of the oldest social enterprises in the UK, Clarity has been employing blind and disabled people since 1854 to create and sell beautifully scented hand-soaps and other toiletries. Clarity is also responsible for The Soap Co, which has a local shop in Keswick and a national online brand launching this year. With a 30% employment gap for disabled people in the UK, they create important employment opportunities for blind and disabled people, which make up over 70% of their workforce. 

Access Print

Access Print sells print, copy and design services. They are part of the Working Well Trust, a charity that helps support and train people who have experienced mental health problems get back into employment. All of the income from Access Print is reinvested into the charity which allows the trust to provide training and opportunities.

Access Print provides employment for two people in the shop who are ex-trainees and training opportunities for up to 24 others. Trainees are also given opportunities to move into employment or further education through another part of the charity called Rework, with high success rates. We buy from them and we always find their staff so helpful, polite and willing to accommodate our needs, as well as providing a great service. 

Main article by Yousif Farah, profiles by Grant Kingsnorth and Catriona Kinney.

Poached trainee launches own bike hire business

Anil, founder of Buzz Bikes

By Yousif Farah

2010 saw the launch of the Barclays bike hire scheme in London, developed by previous Mayor of London Ken Livingstone. Now colloquially known as ‘Boris Bikes’ after Livingstone’s successor, the bikes have gained popularity among cyclists old and new in the capital.

Anil, one of our former trainees at Poached Creative and The Big Issue Online Journalism Course, contemplated the idea of bike hire long before Boris Johnson was even elected as Mayor.

However, not equipped with pockets as deep as those of the City of London, and lacking the necessary resources, while also struggling to find his own way in life, it took Anil some time to put the pieces together.

In November 2013, Anil applied for a grant, and less than a year later, the application for a loan was approved by Start Up Loans, a charity operating in partnership with the Government.

Despite the current climate of adversity, and despite the Financing Start-Up Enterprise reducing the grant initially applied for, Anil has hit the ground running. The idea progressed steadily from a plan to becoming another new aspiring small business – which is no mean feat in today’s economic climate.

Anil said “It’s been daunting going into business because it’s something that I've never done before and you don’t know how it’s going to be received. It’s also difficult to set up a business with as little money as possible but I appreciate all the help that I have been given.”

It has taken him less than one year from applying for a grant to launching his new service. Today, Anil proudly runs Buzz Bike Hire.

The business comprises of high quality bicycles run by Lithium Ion Polymer or LifePo4 Phosphate Batteries. The bicycles are environmentally friendly, lowering the carbon footprint of the rider. The bikes are power assisted: you can peddle or let the bike do the pedalling for you.

He launched the business at the recent RideLondon FreeCycle event in the city, London.

The future looks promising for Anil, if his business runs parallel to his personal success and triumph, we could hear more about Anil’s Buzz Bikes. Looks like Boris Johnson has some competition on his hands! 

Big Issue online journalist training to re-start!

Anil launches his bike hire business

Our Big Issue online journalist training course, which trains marginalised people in writing or photography, has successfully secured funding for two more courses, thanks to the Evening Standard Dispossessed Fund. 

Our volunteer Press Officer, Yousif Farah, reflects on how the training made a positive difference to his life and the lives of his fellow trainees:

"Since completing the course Anil has seen his dreams materialise into reality by launching a bike hire business; Danielle has regained her confidence to be a successful journalist once again, Chris is working as a successful freelance filmmaker and Sam has joined the NUJ and interviewed household names such as Russell Brand and Caroline Lucas MP. To name just a few of the great stories."

Check out the full article at the Big Issue online journalists blog.