In Portland, just off the coast of Weymouth, local people set up a football club to provide opportunities for children and young people. However, they quickly realised that due to economic pressures that the parents were experiencing due to the closure of the Naval Base and loss of almost 3000 jobs, equipment cost was becoming a barrier to young people being able to take part. Young people wanted the ‘latest boots’ warn by their idols such as Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo but parents simply couldn’t afford them.
In response, the club set up a ‘boot exchange’ to allow young people to swap football boots when they had grown out of them.
Similarly, in Stockport, after hearing stories of how young people and other members of the community couldn’t access a device to do homework, or browse for better insurance deals, the team at Starting Point Community Learning Partnership set up a device ‘lending library to loan out tablets and other devices.
In Rock Ferry, on the Wirral, NEO Community, a social enterprise set up to support local people through a Social Supermarket and other initiatives, realised that people couldn’t do basic repairs or up keep their gardens due to the cost of equipment. The team set up a library of tools and equipment that people may need and lend these out on a regular basis to local people.
All these responses are directly countering the increasing pressures that families, and in particular young people, are being put under to own the latest branded clothing or newest phone or device. This pressure is being fuelled by sophisticated marketing campaigns and is amplified by social media marketing and ‘influencers’ who equate ownership of products and goods to self-worth.
However, these examples of ingenuity are not new. People with low incomes have for 100s of years created alternative models that prioiritise the reuse or repair of items rather than replacement. What’s changed in recent years is that the model of a ‘circular’ economy has gained traction with people realising the social, economic and environmental need to find alternatives to models of constant production and consumption.
So aside from the marketing campaigns, what is truly driving the challenges that low income families and communities are experiencing? And, what can local people and communities do to come together and develop new models that build solidarity and create more economically sustainable ways of living?
