Our Community Partnership Managers have been working hard to deliver for our neighbourhoods, focusing on our key principles of creating sustainable neighbourhoods, reducing poverty an employment and skills.
The projects commissioned are varied and tailored to the needs of the area. Below are some examples of the projects carried out:
Following consultation with the Neighbourhoods Team in GM North, one of the issues identified in the area was around cohesion in the community, particularly in mixed tenure schemes. In response to this training was targeted to up-skill colleagues and raise awareness. Colleagues from Plumlife and neighbourhoods attended alongside Community Investment to work in partnership and work out solutions with our colleagues, the community and the wider business.
After it was identified that some customers were digitally excluded in Longridge, Knutsford the Community Partnership Manger worked with The Welcome Centre to address this by creating a digital kiosk. The kiosk provides internet access to those customers in the local community who don’t have access in their homes, meaning they can check rent balance and report a repair online.
Social value money was used to support local partners in a two part programme of healthy holiday hampers and “˜Cheery Christmas parcels’ for young people and adults in need (either financial or loneliness) in the Wybourn area of Sheffield. The Cheery Christmas parcels included Christmas food, small gift items are being delivered by S2 food bank, with 25 going to Great Places customers identified by their NSM. The healthy holiday hampers included food, a child’s gift, family activities and recipe booklets. These are distributed by Manor and Castle Development Trust and are expected to reach 450 people in the S2 area.
The Lancashire team were successful in securing some funding from the Tackling Inequalities Fund, offering online health and fitness training targeting women from a BAME background. Following on from this the women will be offered support through the More Positive Together programme.
Our fundraising specialist raised a total £500,916 from 36 grants, including £99,876 from the More Positive Together Lancashire. This exceeded the stretch target of £275,000.
In addition this this, 44 different external partner organisations were supported as well as 48 separate staff and customer enquires were responded to.
