Plymouth chosen as a City of Service

Plymouth is one of seven cities that have unveiled plans to organise up to 2,000 volunteers to tackle local problems, as Cities of Service launches in the UK – a volunteer programme based on the US model founded by the former Mayor of New York City Michael Bloomberg.

Over the next 18 months, Plymouth, along with Barnsley, Bristol, Portsmouth, Swindon and Telford and Wrekin will use their new status as a City of Service to encourage local volunteers to go out into communities and address neighbourhood issues.

Cities of Service UK is backed by innovation foundation Nesta and the Cabinet Office. Nesta will work with each of the seven cities to help measure the impact of volunteers. The programme was first established in the US in 2009 by former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and has now expanded to more than 180 cities across the country.

To celebrate the Cities of Service launch in the UK, US Ambassador Matthew Barzun hosted an evening event at the US Embassy in London on Wednesday 10th September, attended by the Minister for Civil Society, Brooks Newmark MP. Representing Plymouth City Council at the event were Councillor Chris Penberthy, Tracey Lee, Chief Executive of Plymouth City Council, and Cities of Service Chief Officer Darin Halifax.

Plymouth has been awarded funding up until March 2016 to deliver the project. In addition to the grant funding, councils taking part get mentoring and advice from Cities of Service coalition members in the United States.

In Plymouth, the focus of our Cities of Service programme – which will be known locally as ‘Our Plymouth’ and will be launched on 21 October – will be ‘heating and eating’.

Heating – Volunteer Energy Champions will be recruited in key neighbourhoods to assist those households in fuel poverty. It is estimated that there are nearly 14,000 in the city. They will do this by

Helping people save money by identifying the best supplier for them and assisting them with switching
Helping people to save money by implementing energy saving measures.

Eating -. Our Grow, Share, Cook project will address the increase in food poverty in our city. Plymouth Foodbank has seen over 8,000 users in 2013/14 and our soup runs provided over 23,000 meals in the same period with more young people and women now using them than ever before.

The project will:

Increase the number of volunteers engaged in growing fresh fruit and vegetables,
Increase the quantity of food grown and distributed locally
Improve the distribution of food to people who most need it
Develop and deliver food awareness and cooking sessions.

Councillor Chris Penberthy, Cabinet Member for Cooperatives, Housing and Community Safety at Plymouth City Council, said: “We are absolutely thrilled that Plymouth has been awarded Cities of Service Status and look forward to delivering this exciting project with the help of local volunteers.

“Access to affordable, healthy food is becoming a growing challenge for many people in Plymouth and there has been a sharp increase in the number of people using Plymouth’s foodbank. By getting more volunteers to grow, cook and share fresh fruit and vegetables we hope Cities of Service will help to address this health inequality.

“Heating is also a priority and as part of the project we will work to tackle fuel poverty in the city and improve insulation and help people make their fuel go further.”

Darin Halifax, Plymouth’s Cities of Service Chief Officer, said: “The Cities of Service programme is a chance to redefine and invigorate the culture around volunteering in our city

“Having Cities of Service status puts Plymouth at the forefront of this exciting social movement and we want to ensure that this opportunity to make a real difference to people’s lives via volunteering is not missed.

“By focusing on the two themes of ‘heating and eating’ we are helping to address two of the major priorities highlighted in the Fairness Commission’s 2013 report.”

For more information about the scheme go to http://www.nesta.org.uk/project/cities-service-uk

Anyone who wants to get involved with Cities of Service in Plymouth can contact Darin Halifax on 01752 205446 or email darin.halifax@plymouth.org.uk