Over the last few months, we’ve collated insights and examples from East Coseley Big Local workers and Core Group members of ways in which Big Local funded projects and partners have responded to COVID-19. We have recorded these in the following review.
We’ve started to look at emerging challenges as a result of the pandemic, potential activities which would respond to Big Local Plan priorities, and how East Coseley Big Local could continue to support the community’s recovery post-lockdown.
We’ve asked the following questions to guide recovery plans:
- How can East Coseley Big Local continue to nurture and harness the energy, kindness and creativity that has grown within the Coseley community?
- How might East Coseley Big Local work with streets and neighbourhoods in order to strengthen support networks?
- How might East Coseley Big Local help to rebuild confidence in the people who live in Coseley to feel safe to leave their homes?
- With the rising demand for community groups to support local people who have been directly affected by the pandemic, how might East Coseley Big Local get behind this by helping people to discover and access existing local resources (of all kinds) and streams of funding designed for this, as well as Big Local funding?
- What support might groups and clubs in East Coseley seek over the coming months? What useful existing resources could they be helped to access, unlock or share?
Maintaining our connections and partnerships and building on community empowerment
The response to the pandemic sparked a new sense of empowerment within communities. Residents are more confident and believe they have the ability to make positive change happen where they live. People of all ages became actively involved in their communities during the pandemic.
Through partnerships formed via the Covid-19 Support Networks, community groups, partners and residents, Big Local workers have been able to identify more vulnerable people in Coseley. The pandemic has enabled response teams to reach out, support and connect with many more people who are isolated. It’s important to maintain those connections in order to continue to find people that may like to engage in Big Local activities.
East Coseley Big Local may work towards harnessing the energy of volunteers who generously gave their time to support vulnerable people as part of the Support Network and explore how they might engage further in Big Local activities to support the local community and make positive change.
Creating, maintaining and improving community hubs and green spaces
In 2019 East Coseley worked with APEC Architects to plan and deliver community engagement activities and surveys, and undertook assessments of community buildings and green spaces, to support the development of the new plan. As part of this work, a set of resources were created containing assessments of local community buildings and spaces which East Coseley Big Local could use to aid decision making. These resources could be used to support community venues and groups to recover in light of closures due to Covid-19.
Keeping our community venues safe
When lockdown restrictions begin to ease, many community venues will be thinking about reopening to continue their activities, but many need support to ensure they do this safely. East Coseley Big Local has started to support Coseley’s community groups and venues to understand what rules may apply and what procedures they need to think about before they reopen or restart activities.
Before anything reopens, businesses, not-for-profits and community groups will need to show they are ‘Covid-19 safe’, which means thinking about safety measures and procedures.
Visual guidance to help public places to re-open safely can be found here: www.covid19saferspaces.org/
Rebuilding confidence
The Covid-19 pandemic will likely change the way we work, socialise and go about our daily lives. Many people who were shielding feel anxious about coming out of their homes and fear what life is going to look like for them in the future. Many will need to feel confident that the risk of infection is low and that local community venues and meeting places have taken the necessary precautions to ensure their safety yet remain welcoming and friendly spaces to go to. Part of our work with isolated people may be to educate and inform people of Government guidelines, and support people in the community to rebuild their confidence and feel safe to leave their homes.
East Coseley Big Local projects could continue to initiate, develop and grow online activities to keep people connected when they are unable to leave their homes due to Covid-19 or other reasons. Supporting people to build confidence with technology has become an important part of tackling loneliness and isolation in Coseley.
You can read the full review here.