Many thanks to those of you that attended our Cost of Living hustings for the GM Mayoral election last Tuesday, or were able to follow along online. While the eventual winning candidate (Labour's Bev Craig) did not attend, we got clear support from the two candidates that attended (Green Geraldine Coggins and Lib Dem Richard Kilpatrick) for the campaigns of all three organisations that ran the hustings.

Each of our three organisations already have established relationships with Bev Craig from her time as leader of Manchester City Council and we sincerely hope to see continued engagement with our campaigns as we push for GM-wide changes. We know that politics affects every aspect of our lives, from the price of food and rent, who can access our train stations, and even where we're allowed to live. Elections are just one small part of this politics, and to have a truly democratic society we must continue to work to push for change, for all of us, all year round.

You can be at the heart of this push for change by taking some of the actions below.

Greater Manchester Living Income
A campaign to reform our social security system: giving people enough money to live on, remove the sanctions used in Universal Credit, and making it available to people with No Recourse to Public Funds.
Stay in touch for training opportunities & to join our organising teams across GM by clicking here. Or, if you're part of an organisation that would back the campaign, you can register your organisation as a supporter here.

ACORN Manchester
The GM branch of a national community union defending renters, campaigning to end the use of bailiffs and taking the fight to the organisations driving a rising cost of living.
If you have any housing issues, you can contact ACORN for support here
ACORN Manchester meets on the second Wednesday of every month, from 6:45-8:30pm at Methodist Central Hall (M1 1JQ). At their August meeting (12th Aug), we will be planning an action to combat the cost of living - if you'd like more info, you can contact James on 07923020480.

Greater Manchester Coalition of Disabled People
An organisation campaigning for the rights and inclusion of disabled people, 100% run and controlled by disabled people.
You can sign up to be a member of GMCDP for free by clicking here - non-disabled allies are welcome to join to. GMCDP also runs an online drop in session weekly from 12:45 - 15:00, which you can sign up for here.

Many thanks once again to those you that made it, and if you weren't there on the day, we hope you'll be in touch soon!

Solidarity,

James (Living Income team)

On Wednesday last week, I had the honour of being invited along to visit East Marsh United East Marsh United (EMU), a community group in a ward of Grimsby that shares the same name. Visiting EMU was a truly inspiring experience, seeing how they have crafted a beautiful strip of community out of what was once dubbed 'Murder Mile'.

The driving force behind EMU's work has been their CEO, Billy Dasein. To give you a glimpse into how EMU is run, one of Billy's colleagues told me CEO in this case stands for anything from Chief Enthusiasm Officer to Chief Empathy Officer. Billy was born and raised on Rutland Street, the centre of East Marsh. Having left Grimsby for university, and then worked away, Billy returned to Rutland Street to look after his dad after his mum passed away. The local council had called a meeting in response to problems of crime and anti-social behaviour. Billy was originally reluctant to attend, but when a neighbour prompted that his mum would have gone, he went down to the meeting. This meeting was filled with the patronising, paternalistic approach typical of local councils, until Billy "got on [his] soapbox" with a clear message: if there was to be any change in the East Marsh, it had to come from the residents themselves.

What started with 30 people giving their details at that meeting has, about a decade later, transformed Rutland Street and the surrounding area. East Marsh United own 18 homes on the street, which are rented out at a price that would be completely covered by the minimum possible Housing Benefit, meaning no resident would need to go into debt to afford their home. EMU also run several community sessions in a local church, including dedicated sessions for young people and families. Thanks to a partnership with Create Streets, the corner plot by the church is being transformed into a community garden, giving residents opportunities to get involved in growing and taking care of nature. A few staff are employed by EMU (including a Chief Storyteller, another insight into the EMU approach), but the majority of their work comes from the residents themselves, covering projects on people and places, knowledge transfer partnerships, creativity, community roots, and much more. East Marsh United's self-deterministic methods are a great inspiration to us at Middleton Cooperating, and we hope to harness the same community energy right here in Midd.

I was lucky enough to attend EMU, representing Middleton Cooperating, alongside a bubble of community savers from Miles Platting, Wythenshawe and Hulme. This was made possible thanks to the fantastic work of Community Led Action and Savers Support (CLASS - Community Savers), who brought these phenomenal people together. CLASS is a charity committed to supporting, developing, and facilitating majority women-led community and co-production processes focused on reducing poverty and inequality. What that looks like in practice is connecting everyday people in their communities to save small amounts of money and help build financial independence. CLASS' work is completely in step with what we're doing at Midd Coop, so much so that you might even see a Community Savers group popping up in Middleton in the near future!

If you're lucky enough to live in M24, and for some reason you're not a member of Middleton Cooperating yet, you can sign up Join us | Middleton Co-operating.

Regardless of where you live, you can keep up to date with everything we're doing by following our socials; GMLivingIncome Official: Instagram, Facebook | Linktree). Just like East Marsh United, we're making the changes we want to see for our communities, not waiting for anyone to come and save us.

Thank you to all those who joined us at the Greater Manchester Living Income Power Party on Tuesday 30 June and for those unable to make it, hope you enjoy this update and we hope to see you at a future event soon! 

What made the day so special wasn't simply the programme or the venue – it was the people in the room. Seeing 300 community members, partners, supporters and organisations come together with a shared commitment to building a fairer Greater Manchester was truly inspiring. Your energy, ideas and enthusiasm reminded us that meaningful change happens when people come together with a common purpose. 

We would like to extend our heartfelt thanks to everyone who helped make the day possible. To our hosts, speakers, performers, volunteers and everyone working behind the scenes, thank you for your generosity, time and commitment. This event marks another important step in our campaign, and we're excited about what comes next. 

Let's continue the party Inspired by our Power Party and want to keep supporting the Living Income campaign? 

See some next steps below. 

1. Sign up to our joint hustings event with ACORN and GM Coalition for Disabled People on Thursday 23rd July 6.30-8.30pm at Friends Meeting House.

Cost of Living GM Mayoral Hustings

2. Interested in a getting more involved in a local organising team, or a follow-up conversation? Fill in the form below:

Get involved