Community
We don’t just invest in the properties we own, but in the people who live in them and the communities we serve.
We provide training and volunteering opportunities for residents, and in turn they help us to understand how our services can improve.
Impact
Our resident volunteer hub IMPACT which launched just before the first lockdown, March 2020, had 321 registrations by March 2021, showing the growing reliance on digital interactions due to the pandemic.
Scrutiny review
Scrutiny reviews were put on hold for the first six months of 2020/21, from September to December due to the pandemic. Our first review into ‘the information and communication to residents about services, between March and June 2020’ was completed in January 21 with 4 recommendations made, which were all implemented.
In February 2021, Resident Forum approved the next project which was reviewing outcomes and impact of the 2014 Tenant Scrutiny Panel inquiry into ‘Loss of revenue of garages’ and how the action plan was being maintained. This review completed in July 21.
Summer Fun programme
Unfortunately due to the pandemic we were unable to offer the Summer Fun programme but we’re looking forward to developing this offering over the coming years to provide more opportunities for residents and their families to experience fun activities and meet new people, when we can safely do so.
£232,806
was awarded from our Thriving Communities grant fund to provide financial support for our residents and voluntary or community organisations within the Vale.
This has been the highest amount of grants awarded in the fund’s history, an increase of 48% especially for those local organisations that did not qualify for Government support.
These grants supported groups and organisations in not just staying afloat financially but also supporting extraordinary ventures undertaken by local groups such as pop up food banks and welfare package delivery to people who were particularly vulnerable during the height of the pandemic.
Grant funding was made up of:
£29,804
(£6,350) springboard grants for residents
£11,620
(£11,000) microgrants
£123,483
(£139,199) project grants
In response to the pandemic, the fund evolved to provide grants of up to £4,000 for community groups and voluntary organisations operating within the Vale to alleviate the impact that restrictions had on the financial hardship. During the second lockdown in late 2020/early 2021 we saw an enormous surge in springboard grant applications as parents sought assistance in purchasing devices to enable home learning for school age children, receiving 112 Springboard Grant applications compared to only 24 in the previous year.