Citizens of Bedford hold Mayoral Assembly
Citizens of Bedford hold Mayoral Assembly
Thames Valley Citizens have been invited to work with leaders in Bedford as they build an alliance for the town 'Citizens of Bedford'. Over the past two years they have held training days and listening events around issus of housing and cost of living. Now they are ready to take their findings - and solutions to the candidates for Bedford Mayor. Everyone is welcome to attend but please register before the event.
Mayoral Assembly,
7:30 pm 25 April 2023
St Paul’s Church, Bedford
Housing, homelessness and the Real Living Wage for care workers
Do you care about housing and homelessness and paying a Real Living Wage to care workers?
Come together as a community to show the candidates for Mayor that Bedford cares about these issues.
We will be asking each candidate if they will work with us to shape a homelessness policy which protects the most vulnerable, and to campaign for a Real Living Wage for careworkers and other under-valued workers in our area -for more on this, see the Real Living Wage foundation? https://www.livingwage.org.uk
Attending will be local organisations and member communities deeply rooted Bedford including schools, universities, churches, mosques, synagogues, parent groups, health trusts, charities and unions, are important civic institutions which connect every day to the lives of hundreds of thousands of people.
Asks:
"If elected as Mayor of Bedford will you...
- Work with us to create a co-produced Homelessness policy, similar to the safeguarding ‘duty to refer’, where professionals in local organisations commit to refer clients at high risk of homelessness?
- Meet with the Living Wage Foundation to explore Bedford Borough Council becoming a Living Wage Employer
- Meet with a team from Citizens of Bedford within a month of being elected and every six months to update us on progress on these Asks?
We are pleased to announce that four out of five candidates have made their contact details available and agreed to take part. They are:
A letter of invitation has now been sent to the fifth candidate
DEMOCRACY IN ACTION: Get involved!
Through community organising, we enable communities and local leaders to develop their voice and come together with the power and strategy to make real change. The work leads to hundreds of neighbourhood improvements - from zebra crossings outside primary schools to reopening renovated public toilets in cemeteries. Our work has led to some of the biggest campaign impacts in the UK, such as the Living Wage with its £1.8 billion of wages won for low-paid workers, or successful campaigns to persuade the Government to stop exploitative lending by capping the cost of credit; or introducing a law to prevent the detention of children for immigration purposes.
Register to vote (Deadline 17 April)