Taking sides: The role of universities in supporting community driven approaches to addressing poverty

Abstract

Universities are often placed at the heart of their local communities and yet for some remain at arm’s length from the issues most affecting them. This viewpoint piece will use Staffordshire University as a case study to illustrate how universities can play a full and active role in addressing issues of hardship and the subtle ways in which their relative power can both help, or hinder, the process. It will argue that for universities to be able to make a difference to hardship they need to be aware of the underlying causes of hardship and challenge the power structures that create them, including their own. The viewpoint will use a number of university wide initiatives and projects to highlight what has worked and what hasn’t in Stoke-on-Trent. It will outline how storytelling and creative and digital engagement have been used to raise awareness of hardship, how the university have taken risks and embedded themselves in public and community spaces to reach people most affected by hardship and how strategic relationships have enabled the university to increase its impact. Crucially it will explore how working with communities to address issues of hardship is as much about how we do things as what we do.