Nine community organisations receive cash awards

Nine community organisations working to improve the wellbeing of the people of Plymouth are celebrating a welcome financial boost.

The groups have each been awarded a Community Development Grant after a rigorous selection process. Competition for the grants of between £4,000 and £5,000 was hotly contested, with a variety of organisations keen to grab a share of the stash on offer from Plymouth Community Healthcare through their policy of sharing profits with the community.

35 community groups and not-for-profit organisations operating within the City of Plymouth boundary applied. With just eight grants available, the selection process was challenging for the judging panel, all members of Plymouth Community Healthcare’s Board.

Director of Finance Dan O’Toole explained: “The applications were of an exceptional quality. The winners were those that best met our three criteria; benefitting the community of Plymouth, with a clear link to health and wellbeing and alignment to our core objective to ‘support people to be safe, well and at home’.”

Although there was a total of eight grants on offer, one grant of £5,000 was split between two organisations, The Red Cross and the African Women’s Association. With very similar aims, the two are being encouraged to work together to make best use of their windfall.

Awards have also been earmarked for the Devon and Cornwall Food Association, Elder Tree Befriending Support Service, rehabilitation unit Trevi House, Plymouth YMCA, community art project Oasis and community support groups Memory Matters and Tamar View.

“It is fitting that the winners include small and large groups, with some new and other well-established projects,” commented Dan.

“Every one of the successful applicants clearly showed that their focus is on the health and wellbeing of the diverse groups that make up the population of Plymouth, and we are delighted that these grants will assist them with their vital work,” he added.

In total, the funds released by Plymouth Community Healthcare amount to £38,268.40. And there’s more still to come, as further grants of £5,000 will be awarded later in the year to the two groups who can demonstrate that their use of the initial grant has had the most significant impact in achieving a safer, happier and healthier Plymouth.

The Red Cross

The British Red Cross provides valuable short-term support to vulnerable people in the UK and helps vulnerable asylum seekers and refugees access essential services and adjust to life in a new country.

The Red Cross plans to run a series of therapeutic creative writing classes for asylum seekers and refugees in Plymouth. The workshops will help participants to create a body of work called ‘In Transit’. This work will allow asylum seekers and refugees the therapeutic benefits of a creative activity and as a result of work produced, provide a wider audience with an enriched understanding of the lives of the people who come and are driven to these shores as a result of global conflicts and disruptions.

African Women’s Association, Plymouth

The Association aims to encourage African women and their families to integrate into the wider community and promote social networks to combat isolation. Support is offered to help promote good mental health and well-being.

Additionally the Association is keen to teach African children their own and other African cultures, encourage the sharing and development of talents and new skills and provide training for members, and to help people who might become isolated to enjoy creative activity and to encourage people to develop activities that they can sustain collectively and individually.

Devon and Cornwall Food Association

‘Spare Food is Shared Food’: The Devon & Cornwall Food Association (DCFA) is a charitable organisation that diverts good food from being thrown away to organisations in Devon and Cornwall that support disadvantaged individuals and families.

Set up in 2011, DCFA aims to alleviate food poverty, reduce waste and associated greenhouse gases. The group now plans to provide more healthy foods that need to be used quickly before they perish, and to give employment experience to the socially excluded, helping them to find work in the future.

Elder Tree Befriending Support Service

The Plymouth Over-50’s Befriending Service is an innovative partnership between Plymouth City Council and the Elder Tree Support and Befriending Service to promote independent living and social inclusion.

The Befriending Service builds on a successful and extensive support network for vulnerable people over the age of 50 across Plymouth provided by the Elder Tree and sub-contractors the Plymouth Communities Befriending Consortium and the Alzheimer’s Society.

The Befriending Service also offers support to small independent groups which befriend older people and actively encourages them to affiliate and benefit from pooling ideas, resources & opportunities.

Trevi House Ltd

Trevi House is a unique residential rehabilitation unit located in Plymouth. Since 1993 the unit has been offering treatment to women with alcohol and/or drug related problems.

Trevi House offers supported detox and a structured rehabilitation programme that promotes the transition towards an independent life, free from substance misuse.

Residents live at Trevi with their children, so are provided with both a home and a safe place, where mothers and children remain together as a family unit.

Plymouth YMCA

Plymouth YMCA is one of the 115 YMCAs located throughout England.

Plymouth YMCA was founded in 1848. Since then, staff and volunteers have sought to empower young people by providing them with the support, advice, guidance and life skills to "grow, contribute and thrive".

Although young people are the focus of much the work of the YMCA, the organisation also helps to ensure that young people have the best chances in life through supporting parents and families, and working in collaboration with other community organisations, statutory authorities and businesses.

Oasis

The Oasis Project is an internet cafe and resource centre in Stonehouse. The project also provides healthy cooking courses for a range of abilities, which can be tailored to specific needs such as diabetics, as well as a range of life skill courses such as literacy, numeracy, computer skills and English for speakers of other languages (ESOL).

The project encourages people to develop new skills through a community music group and art groups or through becoming a volunteer and helping in the kitchen/café or in the foodbank warehouse.

Memory Matters

Memory Matters is a not for profit company run by nurses, providing a variety of services to the public and professionals in the implementation of the National Dementia Strategy in the South West.

Memory Matters provides one to one therapy for those living with Dementia whether in their own homes or in a care home. This therapy is based on the principles of cognitive stimulation therapy and can be used to provide relief for carers or to cover a shift within a care establishment.

Tamar View

Tamar View Community Complex Ltd. came into being when a small number of local residents grouped together in order to purchase the MoD’s surplus stock of married quarters and to retain the facilities for the local community with a vision of providing quality family services for the local community whilst remaining a viable enterprise. The centre now owns four large building on the estate. The organisation generates sufficient funds to not only meet all its revenue costs but also to invest in the community.