West Glasgow Against Poverty is a community group set up by those who have lived through, or have experienced poverty first hand. Our aim was to stand up and fight back. We are a recognised Scottish Charity.

We were set up in 1997. We have over 100 members. We are based at our Community Advice and Resource Centre in Partick, Glasgow which is staffed by unpaid and paid workers with a broad range of skills.

WestGap was set up by a core group of committed people who refused to be silent any longer about the poverty that exists in our community. We Know The Truth! Large numbers of us struggle to survive in a supposedly affluent area, bring up our children in poverty, exist on our disablity benefit or state pension, or live in damp bedsits without basic facilities. Our aim is to encourage people to work together to improve lives by empowering each other and bring practical change e.g. by providing advice and information. We also actively support other community groups by sharing our knowledge and skills. In terms of our local community, the work we do has an enormous impact on many lives, some of those our our own as people who live in poverty.

We are involved in a broad range of work:

-We run a Community Advice and Resource Centre, open to visitors Monday to Thursday, with Friday being dedicated to training, funding and meetings.

-Operate an Advice and Information service which provides welfare rights and money advice.

-Train and support all our workers through in-house and external training, mentoring and personal development.

-Participate in a number of local, citywide and national networks, to raise awareness of poverty and inform policy decisions

-Plan and organise conferences and events to involve the local community and others in our work and allow people living in poverty to have their voices heard.

-Educate and initiate research on the causes and effects of poverty on peoples lives.

OUR ETHOS: We see no difference between the end we want to achieve and the means by which we achieve it, i.e. we operate on a collective basis with an active commitment to equality and an intolerance of sexism, racism, homophobia, and of discrimination based on disability, age, or, class. We believe we cannot expect change from others unless we are willing to start with ourselves, and we endeavour to do so.