DFFF Update

The last couple of months have been busy.

In February a Dundee Fighting For Fairness (DFFF) member wrote an open letter about the Concessionary bus scheme for those under 22. In the letter he raised issues of how the application process for this is creating barriers for the neediest young people in society – this letter was shared with all 29 local councillors and our 9 local and regional MSPs. We were pleased with the response and actions being taken with the concerns that we raised.

We had our first development day in February. We had the chance to review our constitution and agreed actions for how we plan to move things forward over the next year. This was our first face to face meeting of the year and was great to see everyone.

DFFF has been working with the Council to create the Fairness Leadership Panel (FLP). The FLP has been commissioned by the Dundee Partnership to drive the accelerated implementation of the Dundee Fairness Action Plan. The Panel is very new, just several months old, and we as DFFF are keen for the panel to be led by the needs that the community identifies. In the month of March, FLP members went out in small groups of 2s or 3s to local community projects across the city. The panel knows that there is some amazing community work happening in Dundee, we wanted to see this first-hand and to hear how the community is being with the increased cost of living.

DFFF held its first Annual General Meeting in the middle of March. This was a chance for the group to look back at all the amazing work that we have achieved over the last 2 years even though DFFF had to pause some of our work due to Covid. The group also had the chance to elect their new trustees for the coming 12 months.

A few weeks ago, we had the chance to catch up with Poverty Truth Community Glasgow. This was a chance for us to connect with another group like us in Scotland to see how they are responding to and addressing areas of financial insecurity and inequality.

At the FLP meeting at the end of March we had the chance to share our experiences of visiting local community projects. We discussed the issues the community is raising due to the cost-of-living crisis and discussed what can be done in Dundee to help people at this time.