The Branch - Summer 2015

Summer 2015

The Branch is back for the second edition this year! The Good Neighbours Team at Manchester Student Homes has been busy working on lots of exciting projects. We hope you’re enjoying the summer and look forward to working with you over the next academic year!

Brunch at Birley

The big CARBON issue

Interns from Manchester Metropolitan University worked with City South Manchester Housing Trust to host ‘Brunch at Birley’, an event for local Hulme residents held on campus. The afternoon started with an introduction to campus facilities followed by live music from MMU’s Music Society, ‘The Vocalists’. This event followed on from the success of the Christmas Lunch, which aimed to promote better understanding of MMU’s role within the local community and how the Birley Campus can be used by residents.

Working with MMU’s Environment Team our summer sustainability workshop facilitated discussions around the effect of carbon in our lives. ‘The big CARBON issue’ saw a line-up of fantastic speakers who led discussions about workplace, community and personal aspects of carbon. This included the importance of recycling and money-saving tips. The afternoon concluded with a talk from Rachel Summerscales, at the Hulme Community Garden Centre, who introduced attendees to crowd funding; showcasing what can be achieved for community-based sustainable projects.

For more information about the event and to see photos of the day, please visit www. manchesterstudenthomes.com or follow us on twitter @Man_student_hme.

W.O.L.F. (Wary of Light Fingers) MSH have been working alongside Greater Manchester Police to promote student safety in off campus areas. The Good Neighbours Team have designed eye catching Wolf Masks, featuring key safety messages to remind students to be ‘A-ware of the wolf’ when using cash machines. In the near future, the team will be participating in police patrols to hand out these masks and talk to students about safety in the City Centre, Fallowfield and Withington.

Pictured: Jess Cheung MMU Community Cohesion Intern enjoying ‘Brunch at Birley’ with Hulme residents

Pop into MSH for your free mask!

Manchester Student Homes is a free, university-run housing service for students. Based in Fallowfield, MSH runs a landlord accreditation scheme and can offer support to students in relation to property searches, providing housing advice and contract checking. MSH also works with students, the community and partner agencies to identify issues in off campus areas.

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Pictured: Jess Cheung, Colum McGuire, Vice President (Welfare) at NUS, and Sarah Beth Cooper Community Officer The Union, Manchester Metropolitan University

Alcohol Impact Manchester Metropolitan University Achieves Top marks for ‘Alcohol Impact’.

Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU), in partnership with MMU: Union has achieved full accreditation from the NUS ‘Alcohol Impact’ scheme.

MMU was one of 7 UK Higher Education institutions which saw partnerships between Universities and Students’ Unions to pilot ‘Alcohol Impact’. The main aims of the project are to promote a responsible approach to alcohol both on and off campus, improve the health and wellbeing of students, and create a more inclusive environment for students.

The project, funded by the Home Office, has received a huge amount of recognition locally and nationally with the former Minister for Crime Prevention visiting Manchester to talk with those involved, meet students and learn more about the plans for the project.

As part of ‘Alcohol Impact’, the partnership has been working with key stakeholders such as Manchester City Council, Greater Manchester Police and the NHS on a number of concurrent events, campaigns and initiatives designed to promote responsible drinking.

Over the year, there have been a number of non-alcohol related events held both on and off campus including the Community Fun Fest and the Community Chill Fest; these

attracted over 600 attendees between them! You may also have seen the 60 second video created warning of the dangers of large scale house parties, which featured local residents and student actors. So far it’s had nearly 10,000 hits on You Tube. Visit MSH’s website to view the video!

The project outcomes were audited by student volunteers in April who took the decision to award a full accreditation.

The auditors fed back how impressed they were with the partnership commitment to Alcohol Impact, the scope of initiatives and the impact of the work to date.

The accreditation has been a great achievement and demonstrates the strength of partnership across the University, Students’ Union and with key stakeholders, including community members, whose support has been vital in this achievement. We look forward to developing the ideas that have originated from this project to ensure its further impact Poppy Humphrey Off Campus Student Affairs Officer

If you’re interested in finding out more about any of the stories featured, or would like to join our mailing list list, e-mail: poppy.humphrey@manchester.ac.uk

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Hidden Gems Early on this year MSH began working with students and long term resident volunteers on Hidden Gems.

The project highlights the local artistic, cultural, environmental and historic ‘gems’ that are an integral part of the Fallowfield and Withington community. We believe this project will help students learn more about the area in which they live and study.

Volunteers were tasked with finding out what local residents consider to be ‘gems’ in the area. This involved extensive research including interviews with community leaders and residents. The findings will feed into the creation of a community map for everyone to use. We’ll keep you posted on the progress of this project!

Pictured: Julie Hoops & Jess Cheung.

This project is part of the MSH ‘Halls 2 Home’ campaign, which promotes student integration into the local community and has been made possible due to donations from The University of Manchester’s Learning Enrichment Fund.

Chill Fest In May, MSH hosted ‘Chill Fest’, a community event themed around relaxation, held in Old Moat Park, Withington.

Chill Fest was a great opportunity for all community members to come together in a relaxed and family-friendly environment. Students and long term residents took part in sport, yoga and mindfulness sessions, and indulged in delicious, healthy food and drink.

Chill Fest was organised as a partnership between The University of Manchester Students’ Union, The Union MMU, RNCM Students’ Union and Manchester Student Homes, demonstrating how partner organisations with a commitment to the local community are working together to achieve community cohesion.

Farewell to Andrew We recently waved goodbye to Community Cohesion Intern Andrew Cross, who left for pastures new.

Andrew has been a valued member of the MSH Team, and his input on all aspects of work at MSH. Andrew has been responsible for leading on a number of really exciting and innovative projects such as the creation of Manchester Student Gnomes, and the recent Community Fun Fest and Chill Fest.

The event was a great way to highlight the positive things students do for the community and to open up dialogue between students that live in south Manchester with local residents and community groups reflecting vibrancy and diversity in south Manchester Ellen McLaughlin, 2014/15 Community Officer, The University of Manchester Students’ Union

Visit www.manchesterstudenthomes.com/Pages/ Community_NewsAndProjects for more information.

If you’re interested in finding out more about any of the stories featured, or would like to join our mailing list, e-mail: poppy.humphrey@manchester.ac.uk

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Good Neighbour Community Awards 2015 This award is given in recognition of contribution to the local community and we are proud to be recognising how both long-term and student-residents give back to their local area. The winners are:

Robin Easby (Chair of Brailsford, Moseley, Braemar & Balmoral Residents Group) Robin promotes student integration into the local area as well as supporting long-term residents.

He has been a hugely positive force in the local area, and by organising an annual ‘Welcome to the Community’ event demonstrates how long-term and student-residents can live better together. MSH really enjoy working with Robin and wish him the best in continuing his work!

Siddharth Shekhar Yadav, Shi Xiaoshi, Yu Kun Sid, Kun and Xiaoshi have been working with Manchester Student Homes on our Hidden Gems Project. Despite being busy with studies and revising for exams, these three students have spent a great deal of time researching this project. A big thank you to them for their hard work on this exciting project.

Robin is always a smiling face and wants the best for the community

The students were a pleasure to meet and really represented the University well

Taken from Robin’s nominations

Resident volunteer involved in Hidden Gems

The neighbourhood helpline is a 24 hour answering machine service for issues relating to students in the community. Please call 0161 275 1863 or e-mail neighbourhood.helpline@ manchester.ac.uk We will respond to your contact within one working day and will liaise with GMP and Manchester City Council to respond in partnership to your concerns. Remember this service is for students to use too.

For more information, to report any issues, make suggestions or if you would like to add a community event to our newsletter please contact: Email: poppy.humphrey@manchester.ac.uk Stop by and see us: Unit 1-3 Ladybarn House, Moseley Road, Fallowfield M14 6ND Give us a call: 0161 275 7680 Follow us on Twitter: @Man_Student_Hme Like us on Facebook: facebook.com/ManchesterStudentHomes Visit: www.manchesterstudenthomes.com

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