In the context of the 2010 European Year for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion, the European Commission invites EFC members and interest groups to share their views and experience regarding the links between poverty and exclusion and a number of thematic issues. These are: 

• people with disabilities
• homeless people
• poverty across generations (children, youth and elderly)
• inclusive labour markets
• social protection systems and access to services, including health protection
• access to education and culture
• attitudes towards poverty and social exclusion
• and building a fairer society.

The communication activities of each period of the 2010 European Year will be devoted to one of the abovementioned thematic issues with the aim of giving it higher relevance and raising awareness of EU and civil society action in the field. For each of them an information release will be drafted and interesting resources and material (videos, publications, press releases…) will be gathered in cooperation with interested parties. This information will be used for a number of media activities at EU and national level (dissemination of background materials, articles, audio-visual materials…) and for giving higher visibility to the thematic issue on the official campaign website www.2010againstpoverty.eu.

The European Year 'thematic milestones' can offer an excellent opportunity for EFC members and interest groups to share their views on the specific issues covered and promote their action in these fields. They can contribute by providing:  

• Ideas for the information release to be drafted on each of the topics (if there is any particular idea you want to see reflected in the paper in relation to the topic, information, etc.).  
• Resources and materials (position papers, publications, videos, press releases, examples of projects…) or possible contacts for journalists…

EFC members and interest groups interested in obtaining further information or in contributing are invited to read the EFC Briefing below or to contact the EFC secretariat at mhernandez@efc.be.

> To know more about the European Year thematic issue as well as other activities in which you can get involved, read EFC Briefing