Our Breaking the poverty cycle service LIFT.

LIFT, Let's Improve our Futures Together, was originally delivered by Home Start Central Cheshire from 2011 to 2013, before being taken over by the original Be-live CIC (where Joanne was a director) from 2013 to 2015. It was a £900,000 Lottery-funded project improving outcomes for families with multiple and complex needs across four local authority areas, with key objectives of capacity building and shared learning between the voluntary sector and local authorities at a strategic level. Joanne served as lead professional co-ordinator and then project manager from 2012 to 2015. We are now working to bring LIFT back, because it remains one of the most effective approaches we know for empowerment, tackling poverty, addressing multiple and complex needs through personalised budgets, and demonstrating real social return on investment. At Believe, we understand that poverty is rarely just about money. It is often tied up with trauma, exclusion, low self worth, limited opportunities and the exhausting weight of constant survival. We empower people with both practical guidance and compassionate emotional support, helping individuals and families take steady, sustainable steps out of crisis and towards stability. From budgeting, benefits, housing and employment advice to rebuilding confidence, self esteem and hope, our trauma informed approach treats the whole person, not just the circumstances. Using the ASP™ (Age, Stage and Phase) model alongside specialist outcomes frameworks focused on wellbeing, empowerment and sustainable behavioural change, we walk alongside people as they break the cycle and build a future where they, and the next generation, can thrive.