Impact report September 2016 -17

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Community involvement is at the heart of what we do

We want to improve the quality of life, and life chances, for our residents

We want people to influence and help shape Bron Afon’s priorities

We will make it easy for people to have their say

Impact report September 2016 to September 2017 We will involve the right people at the right time

Together we can make a difference


Impact report September 2016 to September 2017

The feeling is mutual As a mutual organisation we have community involvement at the heart of everything we do and we are now celebrating the first year of our dedicated involvement strategy.

We’re proud that our mutuality makes us stronger and helps to bring our REAL values to life through the amazing hard work of our staff and members together.

Respect Engage Ambition Listen The Bron Afon Board

Mutual respect, Mutual support, Mutual learning, Mutual goals Page 2


Impact report September 2016 to September 2017

What difference does it make?

Broader involvement from across our tenants and residents

The Community involvement strategy sets out 7 key outcomes that we want to achieve:

Participants feeling valued and listened to

A more tailored and relevant approach based on people’s interests

Tenants, residents, members and communities empowered and up skilled to participate eectively and conďŹ dently

Communities feeling supported and empowered to make change

Involvement being the norm within service areas

Services developed and improved as a result of involvement

With the help from some amazing volunteers we have seen some very encouraging progress throughout 2017. Page 3


Impact report September 2016 to September 2017

Broader involvement from across our tenants and residents We have seen great commitment from a lot of local people who have contributed to a range of decisions, improvements and projects!

We reached a total of

2148

Bron Afon Members, an increase of

325

468

3059

were actively involved

volunteer hours given to projects, meetings, workshops and events

in the year.

Participants feeling valued and listened to We always ask participants questions about how being involved in activities and sessions has made them feel. The responses over the last 12 months have been very positive;

98%

said they feel that they were able to make a contribution

98%

said they felt they were listened to

99%

said they felt part of the discussion

97%

said they felt that their views were valued

97%

said that they had gained new or useful information

Good! Feel valued as a tenant, to get feedback is good.

Participants have told us that taking part has made them feel:

That we have real input and ideas that we come up with are listened to.

Part of the bigger picture.

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Part of a working team.


Impact report September 2016 to September 2017

A more tailored and relevant approach based on people’s interests We use what we know about our members to invite them to meetings, workshops and events that we think will interest them. Some examples include:

1

We invited pet owners, those who have made complaints about pets, and a local animal charity to help us review our Pet Policy.

2

For the review of the Community Safety Policy we invited those who had experienced antisocial behaviour in the last 12 months.

3

We digitally engaged those using our ‘My Account’ tenant portal to ask for their feedback. Their suggestions are helping us make My Account more user friendly.

4

We invited a group of current learners within Bron Afon to work with us to influence the development of the Agored Accredited Centre Learners Policies.

5

We have tailored a range of involvement and engagement opportunities to engage our communities in the development of local Community Action Plans.

By targeting our approach to involvement in this way more members have been involved and they’ve focused on the things that matter to them.

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Impact report September 2016 to September 2017

Tenants, residents, members and communities empowered and up skilled to participate effectively and confidently We offer support and training to individuals and groups to help them take part in a range of activities. We have tried out different training opportunities this year and we’ll be doing more of this during 2018.

98%

of members that have received support, training or development opportunities have reported an increase in confidence and ability to contribute effectively. One member told us: I'm 45 years old and have suffered with mental

and filled in an online form through the Tenants

health issues all my life. Over the course of my life I

Portal, shortly after I had an interview and joined

have distanced myself from people and shut

the Tenants Services Forum. I now have a social

myself away from the world. Late in 2016 after

outlet taking part in this forum and have found

another long hospital stay I found myself homeless

myself in a room full of people many times which I

and was eventually re-homed in a Bron Afon prop-

never thought I would be able to ever do again. I

erty in March this year. I was informed when I got

now feel that I'm part of helping Bron Afon to

the keys for the property that there are many ways

shape their future and help all fellow tenants now

I could be involved with Bron Afon. I reached out

and in the future.

Here’s some of the training we’ve delivered this year: First aid and food hygiene for groups delivering community projects.

Environmental Health for our key members.

Effective communication for local projects.

Event management and risk assessing for local committees and groups.

Introduction to Housing for our formal groups.

98%

100%

of learners have told us that they have gained new skills or knowledge as a result of development opportunities provided.

of learners were satisfied with the learning experience.

In 2018 our Members’ Academy will include a wide range of learning opportunities for all members to access free of charge. All the courses have been developed and selected by our members themselves. Page 6


Impact report September 2016 to September 2017

Communities feeling supported and empowered to make change We have seen great commitment from a lot of local people who have contributed to a range of decisions, improvements and projects!

53

community groups and schools have been supported to deliver local change in their communities.

We have supported local groups to access a total of worth of grants.

ÂŁ32,739

Satisfaction surveys completed by those involved in community groups we have supported show very positive results:

99%

are satisfied with the support they receive from Bron Afon.

100%

said that the group’s ability to make changes that are important in their communities has improved.

100%

said that their personal sense of wellbeing and achievement has improved.

100%

said they felt the quality of life in their community had improved.

96%

said that their perception of Bron Afon had improved.

One participant from St Dials Action group stated:

Our Involvement OďŹƒcer is amazing at helping out the group. Helping us with applications, funding courses and what we can do to help our community be a safer place.

We have now recruited 74 Community Environmental Champions who help us with improving their local environment by reporting issues and taking part in activities and projects. Page 7


Impact report September 2016 to September 2017

Bron Afon Community Grant Scheme Bron Afon Community Grant Scheme was launched in September 2017 and the panel is made up of local residents. In the first round grants totalling

£6,000

have been awarded across

16 local clubs

and groups to

support projects for the benefit of their communities. We continue to work with our contractors to gain community benefits that will support local groups to deliver their priorities.

Themed groups:

Social inclusion activities

Improving community assets

Sports and recreation

Environmental project

Health and wellbeing

Intergenerational projects

£2,900

£1,250

£600

£600

£400

£300

£400 £400 £400 £400

£400

£400

£400

£500

£500

£400 £400 £400

£350

Thank you to Bron Afon for the funding towards the Christmas Day event that helped so many families and people that are lonely.

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Trevethin Matters Community Group

Woodlands Field Charity

Trac 2

Ti a Fi

Thornhill 4 u too

St Johns Cymru

St Dials Action Group

SDW Community Group

Parents of Play information Torfaen

Nant Celyn Primary School

Lauren Green Residents Group

£200

Fairfield United

Cwmbran Kyokushinkai

£200

Castle St Allotments

Blaenavon pact youth panel

Beeches Complex

£300


Impact report September 2016 to September 2017

Involvement being the norm with service areas

All teams across the organisation have received training and awareness sessions around mutuality and involvement and how this relates to their role – Making it everyone’s business.

Staff inductions have been reviewed and now include a specific section regarding mutuality and involvement.

Members play a key role in staff recruitment to help us select people with the right skills and values. 14 members have taken part in recruitment over the last year and were involved in the appointment of our Chief Executive and Director of Property and Development.

We have changed our approach to case management to ensure that we demonstrate that we are actively listening in day to day service delivery.

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Impact report September 2016 to September 2017

Helped develop our new look Repairs Handbook

Reviewed our Pet Policy and set new guiding principles to include animal welfare, property condition and staff and community safety

Helped shape a range of Learner Policies to help us become an accredited learning centre to deliver training and development to our staff and customers

Helped us with our Self Assessment and review our overall performance

Helped define key principles in readiness for our Older Person’s Housing Strategy development

Developed our new Corporate Plan to include People, Homes, Communities and Business priorities

Reviewed My Account customer portal to help us improve its usability

Designed our Community Group Support Process which defines how we can support them to achieve

Voted for Rule Changes regarding our Board composition

Designed our Members Academy to include training and development opportunity on a wide range of topics

Developed our Asset Maintenance Plan process for prioritising works in future plans

Through our Community Grant Scheme allocate funding to local groups and clubs

Influenced local improvements as part of our New Build Developments

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Impact report September 2016 to September 2017

New opportunities As well as continuing to support and develop our existing groups and forums we have also established some new opportunities for people to work with us and to hold us to account.

Retirement Forum:

100%

78

actively involved members

said the forum is informative, and

72%

felt listened to.

In 2017 they: Developed the Together

Worked with us to

Instigated the heat

Active exercise initiative

provide information on

metering pilot which will

which provided

energy savings options

lead the way for a wider

opportunities for older

to members on how to

project to improve

people to participate in

reduce energy

energy efficiency.

a range of activities

consumption and maximise their income.

Ran the Never Too Old Project A project lead by older people for older people to deliver a range of opportunities and activities to help combat loneliness and improve health and wellbeing

Committee of 11 members lead on the project and plan all the activities.

When we asked them to describe what being part of the project meant to them they stated:

140 active members. Project members spoke at the Ageing Well in Wales conference.

‘a feeling of belonging’… ‘being part of the community’… ’getting out of the house’...

The project has been cited as best practice by the Older Persons Commissioner.

with many expressing the importance of companionship and meeting new people.

Participants say the project helps them feel more socially included, more active and less lonely. Over a 1/3 have told us that they would be alone or doing nothing if they weren't attending this project.

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Impact report September 2016 to September 2017

Youth Forum:

10

active members have been working on:

Peer mentoring – working with other young people to increase their confidence Exploring and developing alternative housing solutions for young people Devised and piloted ‘Wake up to the Changes’ awareness campaign which helps young people to make informed choices about their housing options

Equality and Diversity Reference Group : Has had a variety of staff and

7

members involved. They have

worked in partnership to influence:

The implementation of the Equality and Diversity (E&D) Strategy across the organisation

The development of members and staff to become E&D champions.

Bron Afon becoming a dementia friendly organisation

Mutual Futures has been very well represented by members since its launch with:

117

115

77

members and staff attending in February 2017

members and staff attending in June 2017

members and staff attending in November 2017

Developing our corporate plan

This year our Mutual Futures sessions have focused on:

Helping us identify our priorities Shaping our approach to managing our finances to ensure a sustainable business future Page 13


Impact report September 2016 to September 2017

The Complaints Forum:

7

sta and members jointly reviewing our performance on complaints and working together

14 recommendations

to make improvements to services. They have made

that are

being implemented across the business with a focus on improving customer experience.

The Scrutiny Team:

6

The Scrutiny Team is well established and now has

members. This year they have focused on

how we communicate with tenants about repair responsibilities. They have made

20 recommendations

in this area spanning the work of several teams,

which are now being implemented.

The Tenant Services Forum: The Tenant Services Forum is a group of ages who have to date:

9

members of all

Shaped the content of the Members’ Academy Established their own set of measures which they are using to monitor Bron Afon’s performance and challenge where they feel they need to

Been scrutinising our new or revised tenant facing policies, strategies and service changes to ensure that members are involved right from the start. Been monitoring and reviewing our Community Involvement performance since the launch of new strategy

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Impact report September 2016 to September 2017

Next Steps

During

Launch our new Members’ Academy

1 Develop a consistent approach for collating all feedback in each service area and an effective way of demonstrating change and impact that results

4

we aim to

Review our involvement groups to focus on the areas of our new corporate plan, to make sure that members and tenants hold us to account

2

Develop a better way to record and report on trends from customer feedback in every day conversations

3

Develop a plan to further embed Mutuality within the organisation in line with the launch of our new Corporate Plan and Values. This includes looking at the role that our Board and senior management team have to play in this.

5

Review our online options to increase involvement through social media, website and customer portal

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Further strengthen the role of the wider membership in ‘holding Bron Afon to account’

6


Working together really does make a difference, so why not join us! @bronafon

For more information on Community Involvement opportunities please contact the team on: Tel: 01633 620111 Email: community.involvement@bronafon.org.uk


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