Hearing yesterday about people dying on the streets of Teesside, brought home the issue of homelessness to me, once again. At a round table with Thangam Debbonaire MP, Labour’s Shadow Housing minister, participants from across the Tees Valley housing sector shared some of the big concerns alongside solutions and ideas that could begin to fix Teesside’s housing problem. Hearing that people on Teesside have died … Continue reading Living and dying behind a supermarket – not on my watch!

Teesside should have a ‘night time economy advisor’ to help a vital sector bounce back after the lockdown says the Labour candidate in the looming mayoral election. Jessie Joe Jacobs believes pubs, clubs, theatres and venues are key drivers for the local economy and they need a dedicated champion to help them rebuild after a traumatic year. “I support the campaign by ‘Seat at The … Continue reading The Tees Needs A NIGHT TIME ECONOMY Champion

The Tees mayor has announced he’s demolishing the Redcar Blast furnace, even though he was presented a proposal to keep the heart of the furnace, that experts from the Save Our Steel heritage task group say would be cost virtually no more than to demolish, would need only 1/1000th of the site of Tees Works and wouldn’t affect jobs or development. He is simply doing … Continue reading Saying no to demolition of redcar blast furnace

I am calling for the government to bring 750 treasury jobs to Teesside. Investment decisions have too often favoured the south east and this needs to change. This should be seen as a small step towards rebalancing years of Conservative neglect. It shouldn’t even be a question. But I am also calling the mayor to ensure our town centres are offered as the main location. … Continue reading My Campaign to bring 750 new treasury jobs to our town centres

The Government needs to unveil a package of family support alongside its £4.9 billion fund for businesses to help them through the new lockdown, says Labour’s candidate for Tees Valley Mayor Jessie Joe Jacobs. With the Prime Minister announcing a new national lockdown on Monday 4 January, including the closure of schools, Jessie is calling on the Tees Valley Mayor to do more to champion … Continue reading Jessie calls on Government AND Tees Mayor to do more to support our children

Early into the Covid-19 crisis I formed a community project called Teesside Community Action group. I understood very early on, our communities would find themselves in significant need and the best way to tackle that need would be to support people to support each other. We created Teesside Community Action group which produced support and advice to many new groups and people wanting to take … Continue reading Take action and get support

I was working at a senior leadership level in the charity sector and recongised the desperate need to have female regional leaders. Our area has been fairing badly for women. Women in Tees Valley earn significantly less than men, with women earning 22% less; we have some of the highest child poverty rates in the country; our economy is declining; mental health rates are rising … Continue reading A better Deal For Women

As Labour’s Metro Mayoral Candidate in the Tees Valley, fighting child poverty is personal to me. A few weeks back I was at a local food project with Keir Starmer, he had visited the Tees Valley to speak to voters, and show support for my campaign for Tees Valley Mayor. I can’t forget the words of one young boy we met at the project who … Continue reading Fighting Child Poverty is personal to me – I’ve been doing it half my life

(As first printed in Northern Echo) THE Labour candidate for Tees Valley Mayor, Jessie Joe Jacobs, has hit out at Mayor Ben Houchen’s comments on social media regarding jobs for ‘local lads’. In a Tweet Mr Houchen posted to his account yesterday, he said: “Our Teesworks site will create years of work for local lads from Teesside, Darlington and Hartlepool.” Ms Jacobs said: “When it … Continue reading Labour candidate hits out at Tees Valley mayor after tweet about jobs for ‘local lads’