On Thursday 25 September the Community Involvement Team attended Stafford Borough Council’s (SBC) Eco and Active Day. The event was targeted at councillors, SBC staff and other organisations based within the Civic Centre building. Various departments across the council, along with SBC partners exhibited their work on health and sustainability related initiatives.
During the day we
exhibited our work on the Meadow Road Community Allotment Project and the SARH Eco House. We also held an interactive competition with
a chance to win a veggie basket containing locally grown produce!
The event gave SARH
the opportunity to engage with local organisations and individuals who are
involved in a wide variety of other ‘Eco and Active’ projects that are taking
place across the Borough.
So
What?
By attending events such as the SBC Eco and Active Day,
SARH were able to meet and share ideas with teams working on other green
projects within the area. The event was
an excellent way to encourage more local people to live as ‘Eco and Active’ as
possible.
More
for your Money:
Customer Inspectors Project Shortlisted for a National
Award!
Stafford and Rural Home’s (SARH) Customer Inspectors
Project was set up in 2008 and we are delighted that it has been shortlisted to
win a national award!
The Customer
Inspectors (CIs) are a group of our customers who have been trained
to look at the way SARH communicate with and deliver services to all our
customers across the Borough. The CIs
are a fantastically committed group of customers whose work impacts on the
services received by all SARH customers.
The CIs are currently involved in on-going inspections of empty
properties to ensure that they are in a suitable condition to be let to new
customers. They are also helping us
review a scheme we run to help elderly or disabled customers maintain their
gardens.
The Linda Levin
Partnership set up the Customer
Scrutiny Inspection Awards this year to celebrate and highlight best
practices in tenant scrutiny and inspection.
There are more than 500 panels and projects that are running in such a
way across the country so it is a great achievement to have been
shortlisted. The category that the
project is shortlisted in is ‘Excellence
in Tenant Inspection and Mystery Shopping’.
One of our Customer Inspectors will be attending the
Awards Ceremony (where the winners will be revealed) on the 30th
October alongside Chris Plant, Head of Housing Management. Whatever the outcome it will be a great
opportunity to learn more about how other groups work and build new links.
 |
| CACH being presented with their National Diversity Award. |
The Customer Inspectors Project is led by customers, for customers and the value of its work can be felt by all without even realising it. It is a privilege to have the customers’ hard work acknowledged by the judges and we wish them the best of luck for the ceremony.
More for your Money:
Cooking for one – Love food: Hate waste
On Thursday 18 September we held a cooking for one course
as part of our Community
Learning Programme at the Silkmore Children’s Centre.
6 customers attended the course ran by Mark Gleave from Healthbox. Customers enjoyed using
fresh ingredients to make a lasagne and bread and butter pudding from scratch.
Customers and staff enjoyed the session and all of the fun and informative information
which was provided in the way of games and quizzes.
These courses are always so popular with our customers and as always we received excellent feedback. Customers feel more confident to buy fresh ingredients and make their own meals instead of buying ready meals from the supermarket.
So What?
By running these sessions we
are giving our customers the confidence to go to their local supermarkets and
buy fresh produce to create their own meals from scratch and enabling them to
cook for others and widen their social circle.
More for your
Money:
SARH are able to run these free courses customers thanks
to venues and tutors providing their services at a discounted price – and some
for free! Chase Against Crimes of Hate - European Award Shortlisting
As many of our more avid readers will know one of our Community Involvement Officers is seconded to coordinate the local hate crime partnership Chase Against Crimes of Hate (CACH).
CACH offer support to victims of hate crime and discrimination across the borough of Stafford and districts of
South Staffordshire and Cannock. They
also carry out proactive work in schools and communities to educate people
about the impacts of hate crime and raise awareness for the support they offer.
Last year CACH saw fantastic success at the
National Diversity Awards winning the Community
Organisation Award and have followed this up by being
shortlisted for a European
Diversity Award! Alongside huge companies such as Channel 4
Television CACH are hoping to win their category of Community Project of the
Year.
We will let
you know how they get on and we wish them luck for the final!
 |
| L-R - Ruth Amarquaye, Baroness Lawrence, Hifsa Haroon-Iqbal and SARH Community Involvement Officer Anna McLauchlan |
Working in Partnership
So What?
Partnership work can be
beneficial for the company and community, building a stronger future
More for your
Money:
Partnership work enhances Best Practice which ensures the efficient use of time and resources.
Community Resource Centre’s success continues
The last quarter has continued to see the figures for the work
at the Job Search session, at the Community Resource Centre, continue to
thrive. These sessions take place on a
Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 10am to 12pm.
We offer support with CV writing, setting up and using Universal Job
Match accounts, creating email address’s, support with job searches and
applications forms as well as hints and tips to give you the edge at an
interview.
Figures for the last 3 months
|
|
CV’s written
|
17
|
Universal Job Match setup
|
9
|
Emails created
|
8
|
Job Searches
|
460
|
Job Applications
|
883
|
Job interviews
|
17
|
Job Offers
|
3
|
So What?
Supporting individuals to
make the transition into work ensures confidence grows, empowering them for the
challenges in their future employment.
Working with customers and the community to empower them to improve their lives and circumstances reduces the need for community and government support.
Apprentice of the year 2014
At the SARH September 2014 AGM
our Community Involvement Worker Christy Maud received the Apprentice of the
Year 2014 Award for her work in the Governance Team. Christy came to the
Community Involvement Team in April 2014 after carrying out a Business and Administration
Apprenticeship in the Governance Team for 9 months.
Laura and Christy are responsible for ensuring all of our Community Learning Programme (CLP) courses are organised and run smoothly. Contacting customers, tutors and venues and ensuring all paperwork is produced are just a few of the tasks involved. They are currently planning the 2015 CLP and are welcoming any suggestions you may have. Please take a look at the course list below for courses coming up in October. 
The Highfields Community Toolbank
As the winter Highfields Community Tool Bank is winding down for winter we have had chance to take in what has been an incredibly successful year! We have seen our membership double and the number of hires increase to 4 times what it was in the first year! Even though the nights are drawing in there are still some Autumn tasks to be done and so we will be open a while longer (weather dependent).
Don't forget, even when we are closed for the winter, just get in touch with SARH's Community Involvement Team on 0800 111 4554 if you need to hire anything from us.
Don't forget, even when we are closed for the winter, just get in touch with SARH's Community Involvement Team on 0800 111 4554 if you need to hire anything from us.
If you want any more information about any of the events that have already happened or that are coming up in the future please do not hesitate to contact the Community Involvement Team
on
0800 111 4554
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