AUTUMN 2020
ISSUE 27
The poverty
Welcome to Issue 27 of the Greater Manchester Housing Providers anti-poverty newsletter, shining a light on the work we do to help reduce poverty. In this issue we are focussing on the communities and organisations that we work with and the important role they have played in supporting people to deal with the challenges brought about by the Covid pandemic. Inside are contributions from
Bolton at Home ForHousing Great Places Irwell Valley Homes Jigsaw Homes One Manchester
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Onward Homes Regenda Salix Homes Sixtown Housing Southway Housing Trust
WWW.GMHOUSING.CO.UK
AUTUMN 2020
ISSUE 27
Since our last issue… Our newsletter was paused over the summer as people were focussing their energies on the response to Covid but we’re back with a slightly different focus in this issue. In addition to supporting their local humanitarian response hubs, many housing providers were part of an informal network set up to share what each of us were doing, and it became very clear just how many local residents, community groups and third sector partners we were working with and relying on to support the local humanitarian responses. This was echoed in a letter from the Greater Manchester Centre for Voluntary Organisation (GMCVO) asking the government to recognise the specific difficulties they faced in accessing government support packages. “The response of our local voluntary organisations, charities, community groups and social enterprises has been genuinely inspirational….. but their future has never been less certain, with every income stream disappearing at once” GMCVO Leaders
Some housing providers are already responding to this, setting up community investment or resilience funds so that groups have access to grants to allow them to continue doing the work that is so vital in their communities. In this issue we shine the light on some of those local heroes and highlight the part they’ve played in keeping their communities fed and connected. Thank you to our contributors for sharing your stories. As usual you are very welcome to send your feedback or suggestions for the next issue to Julie.Ralph@boltonathome.org.uk
You can find out more about the work of Greater Manchester Housing Providers by following them on Twitter @GMHousing Or visit the website for the latest news www.gmhousing.co.uk
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BOLTON AT HOME Part of the Bolton Family
Bolton at Home have a long standing partnership with local charity Urban Outreach who operate the boroughs largest food bank, and partner with us for delivery of the Storehouse Pantry network in Bolton.
Since March they have been running the Bolton Food Hub, the town’s main centrally located emergency food distribution outlet providing food parcels to struggling households across the borough. All their clients who would otherwise be receiving help from Storehouse Foodbank, Storehouse Pantry or Local Welfare Provision are now being supported through the Food Hub. The Hub was featured briefly in local legend Peter Kay’s Amarillo tribute video for Comic Relief. The Bolton Food Hub has been made possible through their partnership with FareShare, Bolton Council, Bolton at Home, Seddon Construction, Greggs, Greenhalghs, Carrs, Warburtons, Bolton CVS and many others within the Bolton Family.
Bolton at Home’s contribution to the food hub was co-ordinated by our Community Investment Team who were supported by many staff volunteers and an army of community volunteers co-ordinated by our brilliant Bolton CVS. The response from local residents and community groups has been fantastic and our Community Investment Team shared some of their stories in a newsletter they delivered along with the food hampers. These are just some of the stories featured. The Sabden Growers delivered flowers to people on their estate to cheer them up. Local residents, Sue and Gordon, have led the local effort to clean up a disused plot 33
BOLTON AT HOME on the estate and turn it into this growing site which is now well used by the local community. As well as providing access to fresh fruit and veg, sites like this will be an important focal point for the local community while indoor gatherings are not allowed. Local resident Fran Platt, was one of the first responders when news of how serious the virus was started trickling down. Within days she’d posted ‘Ask for Help’ cards through people’s doors all over Breightmet with her phone number on.
Fran has been referring people for emergency food parcels, collecting medicine and other essentials for those isolating or shielding. Fran is one half of The VideoboxTV along with Tracy, and together they run a number of projects around Bolton including a social eating group and film club which have both been paused. Instead they’ve been sending out packs, so people can enjoy some of their activities in their own homes, including ingredients for scones which were appreciated by the social eating group who had struggled to get hold of flour. Now they are hoping to get access to a community kitchen so that they can prepare and deliver meals to the people who would normally attend the social eating club. They also run one of our community growing sites which has been hard work to clear and get the raised beds set up but it’s now starting to provide access to fresh veg for local people. Our growing site at Willow Hey is our biggest and most established site with a wellattended Men In Sheds group based on the site along with a number of other groups all making use of the fantastic location and open spaces to grow food, share a meal, to socialise and to host community events. Lockdown meant these had to be paused. Preparations had already been made for the growing season so local resident Dave took the seedlings home and transformed his garden and greenhouse into a mini growing sanctuary so that the food produced would not go to waste. The food goes to feed volunteers and the local community. Dave also received funding from 44
BOLTON AT HOME Onward Homes which he used to make hanging baskets for people in his local community. These projects and more feature in a documentary film starring the people and communities in Bolton who grow their own plants, flowers and vegetables. The film, entitled Grow, follows the stories of people growing their own produce at community projects and allotments across the borough.
Grow has been made by creative producer and digital storyteller Edwin Pink, on behalf of Bolton at Home. Ed, who filmed participants during last year’s growing season, said: “People develop and grow every day, and this is a snapshot of how being involved with growing projects can have a positive impact on people’s lives and wellbeing; as well as providing some tasty things for tea. I hope people who watch the film will be inspired to grow themselves; just like I have.” Jon Lord, Group Chief Executive Officer of Bolton at Home, added: “We’re proud of this film. It’s an enjoyable watch and shows what a transformational impact local growing can have in our neighbourhoods, both in terms of physical and mental wellbeing. We support food growing. It provides low-cost, locally-sourced nutritious food. It’s also something that families can enjoy together, teaches life skills whatever your age and strengthens communities.” Dan Crossley, Executive Director, Food Ethics Council, said: “If you’ve ever wondered what people mean when they talk about the power of food, then Grow is a must-watch. This is what happens when people are empowered as food citizens and connected through their local community: magic!” You can watch the film Grow on our Vimeo channel here using the password GROWNEW https://vimeo.com/413936956 55
FORHOUSING
ForHousing has been working with partners from across Salford in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. With a purpose to improve lives, the progressive landlord has been providing additional homes and support services for those facing a life on the street, helping to reduce loneliness and isolation, and ensuring that vital local charities can continue to operate across communities. During lockdown ForHousing strengthened an already successful partnership with Mustard Tree – a homelessness charity that delivers a wide variety of services from their two hubs in Eccles and Little Hulton in Salford, as well as their head office in Ancoats, Manchester. Like many other charities, Mustard Tree were experiencing a risk to their funding revenue which could have resulted in a reduction in support services available to the residents of Salford. After hearing the news ForHousing stepped in providing funding to Mustard Tree to cover staffing costs totalling £70,000 per year. The move meant that the charity could remain open and continue to deliver all its services. Colette McKune, Group Chief Executive at ForHousing, said: “Mustard Tree are a much-needed local charity that assists those facing poverty. I’m delighted that this partnership not only provides financial sustainability for them, but it will also mean more support for ForHousing tenants and the wider community.” During the months of lockdown ForHousing made more than 32,000 calls to tenants to check on their wellbeing. Working with Salford City Council, and other partners, through the Spirit of Salford COVID-19 response, teams at ForHousing picked up the phone every day to tenants to help combat loneliness, provide reassurance and make sure people had access to everything they needed to keep safe and healthy. ForHousing made a commitment to proactively contact certain groups who may have needed extra support, including those over 70 years old, single parents, those identified as vulnerable, and those who have previously struggled to manage their tenancy. The team talked with tenants about their needs and wishes and agreed plans for the duration of the lockdown. This included everything from making sure people can access food to regular calls for a chat over a brew for those feeling lonely.
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FORHOUSING The landlord also made calls to ForHousing tenants as part of the NHS Salford Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) run Stay in Touch project, and worked with the Salford Community and Voluntary Service (CVS) to deliver prescriptions to those who could not get to a pharmacy. ForHousing also worked with Salford City Council and other local authorities across the North West as part of the Government’s “Everyone In” programme. The landlord has provided 139 homes that have been made available as temporary accommodation for people who were living on the streets. As well as providing the homes, which were decorated, carpeted and furnished, support was offered to people to help them start a life away from the streets.
This programme has already made a significant impact, with 43 people who were previously homeless securing starter tenancies with ForHousing and now having a home to call their own. Colette added: “By working together the partnerships we’ve created or strengthened through this crisis will go on benefitting tenants and communities long into the future.”
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GREAT PLACES Back in March 2020, along with all other Registered Providers, we found ourselves having to quickly adapt to not only how we delivered our services but also what we were delivering. The Community Investment Team took on the challenge of ensuring our customers felt safe and supported throughout. Our initial response was to identify customers we believed would require some additional support whether that be assistance accessing food, financial difficulties due to changes in circumstances or wellbeing support such as befriending and start making weekly calls to individuals. Around 200 customers received this telephone support. Following on from this we focused on how we could continue to support our customers going forward and developed some of the following support and opportunities: Support to Community Response Hubs Recognising that this was a situation that was going to be long term and impactful we then look to make plans which would have a sustainable impact on the support available to our customers. Utilising some Social Value funds we had secured via a number of contracts with Great Places we were able to make financial contributions totalling ÂŁ35,000 to a number of Local Authority Community Response Hubs to enable them to be able to deliver the much needed services across all of our regions. Creating these partnerships meant that we had confidence in our customers being able to access and utilise the support on offer. Many of our customers were able to utilise the emergency food provision and also receive advice on debt management and finances. Hardship Fund Recognising that many of our customers would be struggling financially due to loss of income and access to other support, we created an internal Hardship Fund. The fund can be applied to by colleagues across the organisation who believe a customer to be in financial hardship and needing short term support. Payments are generally one off and to date we have allocated just over ÂŁ11,000 to Great Places customers.
Utilising the Hardship Fund budget we were also able to develop a partnership with National Energy Action (NEA) which enables colleagues to make a referral on behalf of a customer who is experiencing fuel poverty. Customers are then contacted by NEA, provided with emergency top ups where relevant and also referred though to their WASH ( Warm and Safe Homes) scheme for a whole host of support and advice relating to fuel usage in the home. Over 40 customers have benefited from this service so far. Community Resilience Fund We launched our Community Resilience Fund in July. We invited community groups, 88
GREAT PLACES charities and social enterprises, who are operating in our neighbourhoods, to make an application for financial support for their recovery plans and organisational resilience. The key themes of the fund are:
Poverty reduction Employment, training and volunteer opportunities Financial and digital inclusion Organisational resilience
Applications have yet to be scored and awarded yet but we have received 25 applications and hope to see some real impact following our support.
Colleague and partner offer As a Community Investment Team we have a number of roles aimed at encouraging, supporting and empowering our customers to be able to access the services they may need. We have Employability Coaches who have been able to guide customers through a number of new challenges with the current situation and support them back into employment where they can. During the pandemic we have helped over 60 individuals, within our neighbourhoods, into employment. Our Welfare Benefits Advisor has been able to keep on top of an ever changing situation and keep colleagues and customers up to date on how best to maximise income in a time when this is so important.
Our Community and Partnerships Managers have been able to join with other partners to make sure that service delivery is still going ahead, often in a different format, and is accessible to our customers when so many services became very quickly inaccessible. The Fundraising Specialist within the team has been busy not only implementing our own funding streams (the Hardship Fund and Community Resilience Fund) but has seen an increase in groups within our neighbourhoods needed advice and guidance around funding opportunities available to them currently and support in completing a range of applications, drawing down over £180,000 of external funds for groups. Great Places recognised the importance of being able to support our customers individually but also of enabling our partners and community groups to continue to deliver vital services throughout these very challenging times. 99
IRWELL VALLEY HOMES
This year has been tough for many families. Seemingly endless days spent entertaining children, juggling home schooling and working from home – impossible you say? Try to imagine this without knowing how you are going to feed your child. At the end of May 2020, nearly five million adults in the UK were experiencing food insecurity. Over a million adults received food parcels and 4.4 million relied on neighbours, family, friends and volunteers to help them get food.
Like many housing providers, Irwell Valley Homes has played a part in supporting the communities they serve, and food provision has been a core part of this. Through the Irwell Valley Foundation, the association has donated more than £12,000 to foodbanks across Greater Manchester since the pandemic hit, helping to build their capacity so they can continue to support people as the crisis continues and furlough ends. They have also been serving free meals for families in need at their community café in Sale. Earlier this year Marcus Rashford challenged the government’s decision to stop food vouchers for families during the school holidays and thanks to his successful campaign over 3 million meals were provided to those in need.
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IRWELL VALLEY HOMES Irwell Valley Homes’ community café became one of the delivery partners providing this vital lifeline for families. In partnership with the local support hub, run by community group Our Sale West, and supported by Trafford Council - the café served up hot, healthy, home cooked meals to over 50 families each week. Ceris Esplen, Head of Communications and Community Investment for Irwell Valley Homes explains: ‘’The cafe offered more than just a free meal for the families, it provided peace of mind at a difficult time. We know people are concerned about many things at the moment, feeding their children should not be one of them. Having access to healthy, home cooked meals over the summer holidays has had a significant impact on the mental wellbeing of the people we have supported.”
Beverley Jones who lives on the estate and runs the Sunshine Café has also been volunteering at the local support hub. She was recently honoured by the High Sherriff of Greater Manchester, Eamonn O’Neal for her outstanding contribution to the community during the pandemic. Sasha Deepwell, Chief Exec of Irwell Valley said “It’s fantastic to see Beverley recognised by the High Sherriff. Her selfless work and dedication to serving her local community is truly inspiring. Sale West is a tight-knit neighbourhood and this award recognises the positive and significant impact on the whole community when local people support one another.”
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JIGSAW HOMES The Covid 19 pandemic has been undoubtedly the largest challenge Jigsaw Homes has faced as an organisation. Our response has focused on the welfare of our tenants and keeping vital services running. At the start of the pandemic the Neighbourhood Engagement team called all our vulnerable tenants, (over 7,000 calls) to offer support through partnership working with external agencies. Fortunately at this time we saw great community support for residents from friends and family, but for those requiring help the overwhelming need was for assistance in food supplies. Within a month of the lockdown commencing we had made over 200 referrals to local agencies for both emergency and longer term food parcel deliveries. Smallshaw holiday hunger project With the demand on local foodbanks increasing and the official school holidays approaching Jigsaw Homes delivered a holiday hunger project in the Smallshaw neighbourhood of Tameside, to prevent families going hungry. The project lasted throughout the 6 weeks school holiday. Each week up to 50 local families attended the local community centre to collect a food parcel, containing a loaf of bread, ham or cheese, fresh fruit, crisps and a carton of juice, to help provide a substantial meal. On the final week of delivery families received a larger food parcel which included breakfast cereal and a variety of fresh fruit. This weekly package continued throughout September, supported by FareShare.
As part of the Smallshaw food provision, the Neighbourhood Engagement team encouraged families to sign up to Cook & Eat sessions at Home, providing fresh ingredients, recipes and instructions to cook a healthy meal on a budget. Fifteen families took part in these sessions during the summer holidays, all learning new skills and enjoying creating a meal from scratch. They will continue throughout the autumn. Holiday fun and food – Miles Platting The Neighbourhood Engagement team at Jigsaw Homes also ran holiday fun and food every Friday in Miles Platting throughout the school summer holidays. The holiday fun and food project has been running in Miles Platting for some time and is usually held in a community setting with volunteers to coordinate activities and food for families during school holidays when they face hardship due to having to provide breakfast and lunch when their children would usually receive free school meals. Due to COVID-19, the project couldn’t be run in its usual way but we adapted and worked with partners Church of the Apostles and 4CT. The Engagement team 12 12
JIGSAW HOMES provided funding to Church of the Apostles during the COVID-19 outbreak to support their food parcel provision. The church volunteers and the Jigsaw Engagement team worked together to choose and pack items for families and 4CT donated activities for the children which were given alongside the food bags. Every family was grateful, especially as lots of other services in the area have had to stop due to COVID-19 and the activities kept the children occupied during the school holidays. 12 families including 24 children engaged with the project.
Holiday activity packs One of the most challenging things for families during lockdown, in addition to the need for food, was activities for children. The Neighbourhood Engagement team at Jigsaw Homes helped to relieve this through the provision of activity packs, containing quizzes, colouring, puzzles, competitions and games, delivering these to a range of neighbourhoods across Tameside and Greater Manchester. This provision will continue throughout the forthcoming half term and on referral during selfisolation. 13 13
ONE MANCHESTER COVID-19 has affected all of us, and our communities, for the past seven months, in many different ways, and it’s highlighted just how important community provisions are in supporting local people. The Place at Platt Lane has been a life line to the people of Fallowfield and the surrounding areas, offering the support, emergency provisions and companionship that so many of us have desperately needed.
Volunteers, such a Lil Luckham, have worked tirelessly since the lockdown was imposed in March, collaborating with other organisations to support local people. They’ve been delivering emergency food parcels, toys and crafts for children, and helping provide essentials when other provisions couldn’t get to people in time. Local people see the library as a community hub in which many services and activities are provided, so the volunteers have been able to encourage local people to stay in touch and support one another, going as far as personally checking on some of the elderly residents. The team have also been running creative schemes such as 'The Rainbow Project', in which the windows of the library have been decorated with colourful drawings sent in from local children and they’ve set up a community Facebook page to provide a focal point for community efforts with the aim of providing information and sign posting services. Ali-Raza Ilyas, Councillor for Fallowfield, celebrated the initiative's collective efforts. He said: “Lil Luckham, Stuart Lynd, Akhter Ali and other local volunteers, councillors and organisations have been doing absolutely vital and important work. “All in all, The Place and its volunteers are an absolute gem doing this for the community.” 14 14
ONWARD HOMES From the onset of the COVID-19 outbreak and the ensuing lockdown, the crisis has posed a bit of a challenge for housing providers across the nation. At Onward Homes, as with all housing providers, a lot of what we do involves working within the community, maintaining our homes and neighbourhoods, building engagement, facilitating employment and training opportunities and trying to decrease social isolation. None of this lends itself to an easy transfer into remote working and social distancing measures. We have helped support our customers primarily by listening to what they have needed throughout the crisis and then helped ensure they get any support required. We have provided emergency food parcels, medication deliveries and, most importantly, linked customers into community organisations local to them, who are often best placed to provide the right and timely support required. The community organisations that we work with and support have really stepped up to the plate across our neighbourhoods. For example, The Queen of Hearts pub in Runcorn had to close temporarily but identified the need for food provision across the Murdishaw, Castlefields, Windmill Hill and Hallwood Park neighbourhoods. With some funding they set up a food bank for local residents and provided in excess of 900 food parcels for those who were having difficulty accessing food. Hubabaloo, based out of The Hub in Oldham, is an Onward-funded project that would normally deliver holiday hunger clubs in the area. This was not possible during lockdown, so the group redirected the funds and supported 493 people with food provision, which equated to 3,085 individual food portions. This was also supplemented with emergency hampers, basic ingredient bags, surplus airplane meals, magic breakfasts and fresh vegetable packs. The past six months have not just been about food provision though - we have also been looking out for the young people in our neighbourhoods. The Foxton Centre, based at the heart of our Queen Street estate in Preston, has supported three young people into college and one into permanent employment. It’s also kept the young people on the estate busy over the summer with a graffiti project at Smiths Recreation ground, proving that a pandemic does not have to stop play! Overall this crisis is new and unchartered territory and continues to challenge all of us, but it has been fantastic to see how much we can achieve not only as a team but by collaborating with community organisations across our neighbourhoods.
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REGENDA Supporting Community Recovery Fund in Oldham Regenda is one of seven housing providers with social rented and affordable properties in Oldham, who have made a joint contribution of ÂŁ70,000 to a central grant fund for local communities. The fund is managed by Action Together.
Action Together, the body that brings together all voluntary groups from across Oldham, has been working hard to help get support and grants to local communities. Building on their experience this year, they are now changing their Community Response Fund to a Community Recovery Fund that also combines with other local grant funding to produce a single fund for community benefit and recovery. The aims of the central fund include helping to build resilience in local areas, helping people and communities to thrive, and encouraging people to develop their skills and to stay fit and healthy. Essentially, it’s about getting money out to the grassroots people and groups of Oldham to support their recovery from the pandemic which has come on top of problems that already existed. Regenda working in partnership with Oldham Council Due to the increase in infections of Covid19 within Oldham, and the possibility of another full lock down, Regenda staff volunteered to assist Oldham Council in reversing the trend. The task was to door knock and speak with residents about their understanding of the local restrictions that were put in place. It was more of a two-way conversation than telling people what they must do! We also had trained staff who carried out 16 16
REGENDA Covid 19 testing on residents, and any of their household members. Overall, the residents of Oldham where happy that we visited. It was great to work with colleagues from other agencies, showing how collaborative working can help our communities. A Regenda staff member said “I have now completed 3 door knocking sessions. I was apprehensive about the exercise at the beginning, knowing that we were concentrating on the areas of Oldham where there had been increasing numbers of cases. The sessions have been well organised and the reception from the public has been generally positive”
Thriving Hollinwood Thriving Hollinwood is a people and place-based project, led by Regenda Homes. It brings together agencies from the Council, Health, Police, Education, Housing and Voluntary sectors, creating a new way of working to solve challenges at a local level. This gives partner organisations a better understanding of what drives demand for services. By working collaboratively with local agencies, we see a more rounded view to improve behaviours and make real change, managing demand for services effectively. By working in this way, it has enabled us to produce some great outcomes through the pandemic.
Working with OMBC hub to provide household cleaning essentials through a local firm, Ultimate Products. These have been provided free of charge and have been distributed as part of the food parcel across Oldham.
Worked with the local secondary school to provide additional food parcels to take some pressure off OMBC. 17 17
REGENDA
Worked with the Police, Community Safety Unit and OMBC to manage the surge in domestic violence/ASB being perpetrated while in lockdown. This has resulted in us securing a closure order, an Injunction and two possession cases with the Hollinwood Ward.
We have a dedicated worker supporting all vulnerable families within the area who works in partnership with various support agencies, Schools and the Police to ensure they get the relevant support.
I would like to share the feedback from a gentleman that came to Manchester recently to begin studying at Manchester University. He arrived with no accommodation and no friends or family to turn to. Therefore, found himself sleeping rough under a bridge. Things got too much for him over the next few days and in desperation he climbed on to the canal bridge to end his life. Luckily, this gentleman was talked down, and accepted the help and support he needed. He was given permanent accommodation in Hollinwood where he registered with the local GP surgery, who then made the referral to Thriving Hollinwood.
“I must say you have all played a great role in my life this past few very tough months. I must admit, you are the family I never had. You have played a motherly role throughout this trying period. It’s been fantastic having deliveries from the foodbank to my house and the hot meals I have received from the local school … thank you for putting this in place. Ian who prayed and prevented me from jumping over the bridge into the canal. Thank you to Oldham Police, who came to my rescue when I had suicidal thoughts at the canal and the nurses at Oldham Hospital You have all giving me a reason to live and to impact on other lives positively. Thank you very much Thriving Hollinwood for keeping in touch and engaged with Action Together who enabled me to volunteer at the foodbank. This has helped me to think less about my challenges and kept me busy. I just can’t thank you all enough. I promise to pass this kind gesture on to others in need of help when I am out of this completely. I will inspire others with my story.”
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SALIX HOMES Shining a saviours…
light
on
Salford’s
Salford based housing association, Salix Homes shines a light on just two of the groups who have gone above and beyond during the pandemic to help those who need it most during these difficult times. Friends of Green Grosvenor Park and Broughton Flood Group are Broughton-based community groups which aim to increase opportunities for children and families in the neighbourhood. Run by community campaigners, Keri Muldoon and Lee Shannon, the Friends of Green Grosvenor Park organise events and activities to raise funds for the park and local projects. Keri said, “The pandemic stopped all events and classes we had planned for the year. While it was disappointing for everyone involved, we decided that we would use our time in lockdown to help our community, however we could. Throughout the pandemic, we have collected food parcels and care packs for vulnerable neighbours and helped sign people up for the Spirit of Salford network. Along with other volunteers, we also helped to deliver thousands of Easter eggs across Salford for local charity, The Bread and Butter Thing.” Keri, who is also a member of the Salix Homes Customer Committee, has found the time to volunteer while looking after her two children during lockdown, along with her other community commitments. Audacious Foundation is a charity that was created to tackle some of the biggest issues faced by the communities of Greater Manchester, including poverty, homelessness, and family challenges. Like many charities, they have been inundated with requests for help from people who are struggling as a direct result of the COVID -19 pandemic. Thankfully for the people who rely on their support, they have been able to adapt their services. This includes serving the homeless with freshly prepared hot meals and distributing over 350 takeaway packs monthly to those who are still on the streets. They have continued to support families affected by cancer with crucial transport to hospital appointments and over-the-phone befriending.
Laura Howard, programmes director of Audacious Foundation, said “This year’s The Big Give has been helping to meet the extra demand created by the pandemic across Salford and beyond. In partnership with local services and businesses, we have been able to distribute over 150 essential item hampers a week. We’re grateful to all of our volunteers and partners for continuing to make this all possible.” 19 19
SIXTOWN HOUSING Bury Tenants and Residents Association provides support throughout Covid-19 lockdown and restrictions. Chesham Fold community centre first opened in 1987 for residents on the estate. Today the Tenants and Residents Association (TRA) provide different services to support those who are struggling in the area as well as running social events for families.
The Chesham Fold TRA have been running a foodbank for over three years. During lockdown, its volunteers helped deliver around 20 food parcels a week to those across the estate who were self-isolating and shielding. In September 2019, the TRA set up a baby bank designed to help struggling mothers by providing anything from nappies and baby shampoo to prams and clothes. They work closely with social workers, midwives and the police who get in touch when they know there’s someone needing help. The baby bank supports teenagers, asylum seekers, mothers fleeing domestic abuse and more and has done through the lockdown. The TRA opened a community café in October 2019 which works closely with the FareShare scheme, which provides surplus foods to charities and community projects. The volunteers run a weekly lunchtime session every Friday to provide a free meal to anyone who wants to attend. The TRA pride themselves on not judging anyone, they believe that no one should go hungry, whatever their situation. Cath Rowley, who volunteers for the TRA, said, “Since the start of the lockdown, we’ve been running our food bank and baby bank for those struggling and delivering food parcels to those who are shielding or self-isolating. We’ve had lot of help from local people who’ve been helping transport food parcels to those living far away from the community centre.”
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SOUTHWAY HOUSING TRUST Supporting tenants in a Covid World The Covid pandemic has presented challenges for all organisations and we have had to rethink how we work and how we continue to deliver the support that used to be offered from within the community.
Most of us have been working from home and have had to adapt to a virtual world, joining meetings via Zoom, WebEx etc. and have had to rely on alternative ways to engage with our clients replacing face to face meetings with phone and email. Despite some radical changes there have been positives with staff learning new skills and becoming a lot more tech savvy. Early on we redeployed some staff to call tenants and identify those needing support, particularly those who were shielding and notable was the increased demand for food support. During lockdown many benefitted from Manchester City Council’s food response scheme but we found there was still need to make referrals to the local food banks, one of whom was able to move to a delivery service helped by British Gas drivers. We continued to offer our ‘Quids In’ food club, substantially increasing the membership, suspending the £2 payment and moving to a delivery service until September. During lockdown there has been widespread reports of how communities have stepped up to help each other and this has certainly been the case in South Manchester. The food clubs have relied heavily on groups of committed volunteers who have spent hours every week packing up food parcels and getting deliveries out to around 300 members. During lockdown our Westcroft Community Centre pictured above was closed to the public but became a food hub responsible for coordinating all our food support activities. 21 21
SOUTHWAY HOUSING TRUST Community groups and volunteers were also invaluable in allowing us to deliver a breakfast club for 6 weeks over the summer. In previous years children had been offered breakfast and a morning of activities, but obviously this wasn’t possible so this year we supplied bespoke breakfast parcels for adults and children supplied by Open Kitchen with additional cereals and bread supplied by FareShare. Families collected parcels twice a week from one of 3 community centres based in different neighbourhoods so all could access them easily. Our Customer Involvement Team also distributed picnic parcels for families to have a special day with their children in the garden. Virtual Employment Support Southway had to cancel the jobs fairs we hold every spring and autumn but we held our first virtual Careers Fair event for 6th October called ‘Creating My Future’. Various employers, training providers and support services delivered presentations in different breakout rooms throughout the day with visitors pre booking ones that interest them. In these uncertain times we are all having to look for new ways to deliver our services and running events virtually seems to be something we all will have to get used to for the foreseeable future so will be a learning curve for both staff and customers.
Westcroft Staff gave a big Thank You to all volunteers whose help had been invaluable. They included a pertinent quote: ‘The greatness of a community is most accurately measured by the compassionate actions of its members’. Coretta Scott King
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