Agency supports drive to alleviate early years child poverty

Creative communications agency MacMartin has been playing a key role in a campaign to alleviate early years child poverty, which was recently launched at Marketing Derby’s Annual Business Event.

The firm agreed to build the site for the Tale of Two Cities initiative on a pro bono basis to help spread the message about its goal to fund free meals and essentials for nursery school children, to give them a better start before they start life.

The campaign was launched by Gillian Sewell, chief executive of YMCA Derbyshire when she delivered her ‘Dare to Dream’ address at the ABE earlier this month.

She called on local businesses to help raise around £438,000 each year to help nine community nurseries provide essentials such as healthy meals, clothing, early literacy support, enrichment activities, and speech and language development.

Not only would it meet the children’s immediate needs, but it would also help to alleviate the year-on-year developmental issues children growing up in poverty face, caused by hunger or lack of access to books.

With Derby having a higher child poverty incidence than the national average – according to a local assessment, around 38% of children in the city live in poverty – Gillian said there is a dire need for organisations across the city to help out.

And among the first to do so was MacMartin’s joint founder, Claire MacDonald, who offered to create the campaign’s website for free as part of the agency’s 5% Pledge scheme – its annual commitment to carrying out voluntary work in the community.

The website – http://www.taleof2cities.co.uk – is now live and details the need for extra funding for Derby’s most deprived areas, the evidence behind the campaign and plenty of prompts inviting visitors to donate money.

Claire said: “The YMCA approached us and asked us to create the website for them, and as soon as Gillian explained to us what the campaign was trying to achieve, we all agreed that we’d show our support by contributing our time and resources for free.

“As a parent, I understand the need to ensure children get the best start in life, so the fact that too many children in our city are already arriving at school behind, simply because they didn’t have what they needed in the early years, is a huge concern.

“This is something the whole of Derby needs to get behind, and we’re determined to play our part. This is about children in Derby, and people in the city working together to step in early and not waiting for disadvantage to take hold.”

Gillian said: “The launch of the Tale of Two Cities Early Years Fund was a powerful moment for our city, but moments like that only translate into meaningful change when people step forward and take action.

“Claire and the team at MacMartin have done exactly that by helping us create a vital platform to tell the real stories behind this work, stories grounded in research, lived experience and the voices of Derby families themselves.

“This website is more than a communications tool. It is a gateway for collaboration, investment and shared responsibility.

“Claire’s commitment, professionalism and belief in this vision have been second to none, and I am deeply grateful for her support in helping us bring this to life. We truly couldn’t have done this without her.”

For more information about the campaign, click here.