New Partnership Makes a Big Impact

We are proud to share that, as of November 2025, our Poverty Proofing® work is officially recognised as a trademarked methodology. This is a landmark achievement in our journey, acknowledging the profound impact of our commitment to removing barriers created by poverty across the communities and settings we work with. 

Since 2011, we have developed and refined our Poverty Proofing the School Day model, which has since expanded to encompass healthcare, early years, and arts and culture. At its core, Poverty Proofing ensures that spaces and their users are shielded from the effects of poverty, that hidden barriers are identified, and that everyone involved gains a deeper understanding of what poverty is and how it can be addressed. While we recognise that poverty is a systemic issue that cannot be solved by any single space or individual, our work focuses on reducing its impact on babies, children, young people, and their families. 

Trademark recognition means that every individual, organisation, or setting we have partnered with carries a stamp of legitimacy and impact. It signifies not only collaboration with us and the application of our expertise, but also that the work created together is recognised more widely as meaningful and effective. 

The trademarking of Poverty Proofing is more than a legal milestone – it is a powerful affirmation of the value, integrity, and legitimacy of our methodology. It ensures that the framework we have built over more than a decade is protected, respected, and continues to grow as a trusted approach to tackling the effects of poverty. 

This achievement strengthens our commitment to working alongside schools, healthcare providers, cultural organisations, and communities to uncover hidden barriers and create environments where everyone can thrive. Poverty Proofing is now more than a practice; it is a recognised standard of excellence, a symbol of collaboration, and powerful ethos and a promise that together we can reduce the impact of poverty on children, families, and communities. 

Last year was very special year for the long-standing relationship between Children North East and Rotary Ponteland, which saw the latter turn their vision of helping children and families across our region into a Charity of the Year partnership that changed lives within local communities.

With a wonderful 60-year history of supporting charities, members of Rotary Ponteland set about planning an exciting calendar of activities that would raise funds and awareness for Children North East and its services.

Fundraising Events

Rotary Ponteland organised events that rallied support within the local community. Each event was a chance to bring people together for a fun time whilst generating funds. These events included naming us as their charity partner for the iconic Ponteland Duck Race, delivering a range of Christmas events, including Santa Sleigh runs, Disco and a Christmas Market, and collections at different locations over the year, such as supermarkets and events

The Fundraising Team joined with Rotary for some of these events, sharing stories from our services and bringing branded materials. We were on hand to provide support, such as creating marketing materials, promote their events and cheerlead them on the way.

Raising Awareness

Rotary Ponteland didn’t just stop at fundraising. They gave the charity the chance to join them at a range of events to help grow awareness of the charity within new communities, joining them at promotional stalls in community venues, including an Over 50’s Jobs Fair organized by the then MP Guy Oppermann in Ponteland. They also shouted about their partnership in their newsletters and on their web site and Facebook pages. On the charities side, celebrating their hard work fundraising with cheque presentations were shared on our social media, helping spread the word about how to support us.

The Partnerships Impact

In 2023, Rotary Ponteland raised an incredible £6,100, enough to support 60 families to access a year of support through our Community Hub. We also spoke to hundreds of new people about our cause, with their comms reaching many, many more.

We can’t thank the members of Rotary Ponteland enough for their incredible support during 2023 and our long history together. Thanks to their hard work and motivation, many young lives will benefit.

“The commitment of Rotary Ponteland to supporting our charity has helped us provide crucial support during a difficult times for many families. The team were inspired by the way they creatively found ways to help our work, both fundraising and connecting us to their communities. We loved working with them!” Billie Jenkins, Communications and Fundraising Manager.

“It was a real pleasure working with the Team at Children North East throughout the year over a number of events and it gave us a real insight into the amazing work that they do in our region to support children and young families.” John Cooper, President at Rotary Ponteland.

We hope this partnership inspires other groups to get involved, whether through fundraising, volunteering or simply spreading the word. Together, we won’t stop until every baby, child and young person has a happy, healthy start in life.

Unheard Voices is a podcast recorded by our Young Ambassadors at Northumberland College, where young people share their thoughts and views on how those experiencing poverty are affected by everyday life.

We believe that in order for us to properly advocate for change for babies, children and young people we must listen to their voices and understand what life is like for them and they barriers they face to growing up happy and healthy. Through our Poverty Proofing work, we strive to do this with our Young Ambassadors who provide valuable insights in to being a young person today. Partnering with Northumberland College, our team have worked closely with 20 young people, each with their own experiences and stories to tell, to understand how they can be supported. These young people have been truly incredible, showing a real dedication for advocating for their generation and a willingness to open up about their struggles and what they’ve seen on a first-hand basis. Over the months, we’ve discussed how poverty can affect a person’s learning opportunities, life experiences, their feeling of belonging and mental health. Our Young Ambassadors have taken this on and explored what schools and colleges can do to support children experiencing poverty.

From our work, it was clear that the voices of these young people would be invaluable to those wanting to make changes to their settings, and that they wanted to share their views to help others. They proposed we record and release a podcast session, meaning they could openly and informally discuss their thoughts. Three speakers were nominated, and with our Poverty Proofing Support Worker, Unheard Voices was released!

If you’re interested in working with our Poverty Proofing team in your setting, contact us on [email protected] or visit our page to find out more.

Celebrate World Children’s Day with the Centre for Population Health and Children North East at Population Health: Strongest Start.

Join us for a dynamic day dedicated to empowering conversations, fostering meaningful connections, sharing cutting-edge knowledge, and inspiring actionable change to improve the lives of babies, children, and young people.

Get your tickets today!

Why Prioritise Children’s Health?

Today’s child health directly shapes tomorrow’s population wellbeing. Every child deserves healthcare that supports their development and future potential. Neglecting investment in children’s health now risks long-term repercussions, including increased strain on healthcare services, community infrastructure, and economic sustainability.

Currently, 31% of children in the UK live in poverty, significantly impacting their immediate and long-term health outcomes and costing the economy approximately £39 billion annually. Addressing this challenge is both a moral and economic imperative, and the time for collective action is now.

Innovation and collaboration hold immense potential, yet must be harnessed carefully to prevent widening existing inequalities.

Attendees will benefit from:

• Insightful talks from diverse expert speakers, unified by the common goal of population health improvement.

• Practical, action-oriented discussions designed to create tangible change.

• Networking opportunities for collaboration with leaders across health, social care, education, and community sectors.

Whatever your sector, organisation or role – you have an important part to play in driving change for better. Everyone is welcome.

About the organisers

Centre for Population Health is a practical action-focussed think tank that has been working to support systems around England to build leadership for population health and equity and approaches for working across sectors to improve practices.

Children North East is a children’s charity working across the North East and nationally to give every baby, child and young person a happy, healthy start in life. It delivers services and provides consultation with tens of thousands of individuals each year.

Additional support for this event is kindly being provided by Newcastle United Foundation.

Interested in reaching influential health, social, and community leaders? Centre for Population Health and Children North East are offering various sponsorship opportunities tailored to enhance your visibility and impact. For more information, contact [email protected].

Join the conversation and be part of shaping a stronger start for future generations.

#CPHCNE25

Children North East are excited to be a part of this project, organised by Newcastle City Council and Taylor Woodrow.

Marking the transformation of Northumberland Street, local schools, the Lord Mayor and Newcastle City College have contributed items which have been sealed in a time capsule and buried on Northumberland Street, outside Haymarket, to be opened in 2075. Children connected to Children North East have left their mark with artwork, handprints and letters from their parents.

This time capsule marks the renovation of Northumberland Street, an iconic spot in the North East as well as the restoration project of the Tyne Bridge completed this year. It’s also a way for the children to look forward to the next 50 years and imagine what their future will hold and encourages them to look at how they want to shape their community and generation.

Nicole from Taylor Woodrow attended our Cowgate centre and engaged some of the children visiting in STEM sessions, helping them to create their pieces and talking about the importance of making memories with the theme Spirit of Newcastle in 2025.

Children North East have a long history , established in 1891 as Poor Children’s Holiday Association (PCHA) we have been working since then to provide the tools children, young people and families need to help them grow up happy and healthy. Looking back at our own history, we’re proud to be a part of some iconic moments – we started by providing boat trips and day visits for children living in poverty, and by the early 1900s we opened night shelters for homeless youths and TB sanatoriums for Newcastle’s children and young people. Today, we work across dozens of projects across the North East to support thousands of individuals from pregnancy and early years to adolescence and early adulthood.

The current financial climate means that an estimated 31% of children in the North East are living in poverty, exasperated by the cost-of-living crisis, two-child benefit limit, and a lack of support for families. Through our campaigning work we are working to change this and ensure the voices of people with lived experiences are heard and listened to.

Our hope for the next generation is that this will change, and we will work tirelessly with communities to make that happen. We are excited to see what Newcastle will be like in 50 years when the time capsule is opened, and what the future holds for our next generation.