Bishop of Birmingham, David Urquhart, is leading a 6 month project to find out how to address social exclusion and poverty in the city.  Commissioned by the Board of the city’s strategic partnership, BeBirmingham, the Bishop aims to involve public and professionals in understanding more about the impact of social and economic exclusion; to explore what works in tackling disadvantage; and to make recommendations on what can be done in practice.

In particular, the Bishop wants to generate practical ideas to combat social exclusion:  “We’ve got great ambitions, great talent. A number of people are not joining in.”

The process will follow five ‘key lines of enquiry’ focusing on:

*  diversity of place

*  diversity of people

*  inclusive of economic growth

*  aspiration and wellbeing

*  young people

These lines of inquiry are “intended to come up with proposals to those in power, who have the ability to make changes, so that they dovetail with the real needs of people.”

More information about Birmingham’s Social Inclusion project from BeBirmingham and at Fairbrum.