As you are supporting friends, neighbours and communities throughout the community response to Covid-19 we know that many of you will come across people and families in need of financial support.
There are many support services and organisations across Kirklees who can respond to this need, such as the Local Welfare Provision team, local hardship funds or Third Sector Leaders Kirklees.
If you are supporting someone (or know someone) who is in financial difficulty as a result of Covid-19, we recommend that you inform your local Anchor Organisation about this and ask for help.
Your Anchor Organisation should be aware of local hardship funds and how to access them. If a specific circumstance is particularly difficult, they will also be well placed to ask for help or find support where necessary.
You could also consider making a referral through the Covid-19 Community Response helpline. This should help to identify any additional support needs.
There is also financial support available through Third Sector Leaders Kirklees. You can find out more about this by emailing bridget.hughes@tslkirklees.org.uk or speak to your Anchor Organisation.
The Wellness Service at Kirklees Council helps people to live healthier, happier lives and supports people to feel more able to look after themselves. They have a range of support services, all free of charge.
Get support with:
Improving mental wellbeing
Improving physical wellbeing
Steps for life and active for life
Stop smoking
Support for carers
Healthy weight
Connect to local groups
If you or someone you know might benefit from one of these services, now is the time to act.
As with many services the Wellness Service is currently restricted from providing the usual support sessions, but they are still open and ready to support adults 18 years+.
They are holding one to one consultations by phone appointment and these can be arranged by telephone or by completing the referral form.
Being able to provide help, guidance and information for mums-to-be is at the very heart of what volunteers at Auntie Pam’s do. They believe that the health and happiness of pregnant women is just as important as the baby’s, which is why they are here to help every step of the way.
Of course, during lockdown appropriate safety measures need to be in place, which means that the usual Auntie Pam’s venues in Dewsbury and Huddersfield can’t open at this time.
Help and support is still available though and local women can contact the amazing Auntie Pam’s volunteers via telephone, email and social media.
If you know anyone who might need support, a kindly ear or guidance, Auntie Pam’s is a good place to start.
Could you make time for a 30 minute conversation that can make a huge difference to someone’s life?
The Befriending Partnership are continuing to help tackle isolation through their telephone befriending service. Set up part of the amazing response from community organisations in Kirklees during the coronavirus lockdown, this vital service is supporting older people and vulnerable adults.
The partnership is led by the Yorkshire Children’s Centre and Age UK Calderdale and Kirklees. They are still receiving daily referrals for people who are at home and feeling lonely. This is a key time when we’re once again more isolated from each other and when we’re heading towards the colder winter months. They really need more volunteers.
Could you give up a small amount of your time to have a conversation with someone in need?
Full training (via Zoom) and support will be provided to help more people take up this important role. Not sure how to use Zoom? Support will be provided to help you.
Online event – Thursday 22nd October, 6pm to 7.30pm
Have you been involved in a mutual aid group or community organisation in your neighbourhood during covid-19? By being an active citizen in your local place you are part of your local democracy. You are making decisions about what happens in your neighbourhood and working with others to make it happen. This October we’re talking with active citizens about whether you feel part of local democracy now, and listening to your ideas about what would help you and others to stay involved in civic life.
You are every welcome to join in our online discussion workshop to share your experiences and ideas with other mutual aid participants and members of Kirklees Council’s Democracy Service.
This is part of a series of online events and covid-safe activities to celebrate Local Democracy Week 2020 in our local places. See our full programme to find out what else is on…
Community buildings in our local places are vitally important hubs for our communities. They are places which support people’s physical and mental wellbeing, as well as being welcoming spaces that connect people and organisations. The re-opening of these buildings in a safe and practical way is a key part of our recovery from the coronavirus outbreak.
On Tuesday 8th September at 6.30pm, Kirklees Council are hosting a second webinar to provide guidance on how to safely re-open your community building. We will also be sharing and discussing some more of the lessons we’ve learnt from community buildings that have already opened in local places across Kirklees.
If you have questions that you would like answering at this webinar then please send them through before Tuesday 8th September. Even if you can’t make the session, please still send your questions through as it will be possible to watch the recorded session on YouTube after the event. Please email your questions to: tamsin.macdonald@kirklees.gov.uk
The webinar panel will include:
Joanne Bartholomew, Chief Operating Officer, Kirklees Neighbourhood Housing – Chair of the meeting.
Donna Roberts, Lead Infection & Prevention Control Nurse, Kirklees Council
Emily Parry-Harries, Head of Public Health, Kirklees Council
Jaime Nalson, Venue Management, Kirklees Council
Jane O’Donnell, Head of Health Protection, Kirklees Council
Jill Greenfield, Director of Customers and Communities, Kirklees Council
Jonathan Quarmby, Facilities Manager, Kirklees Council
Lisa Newbold, Community Services Manager, Local Service 2 You, Chestnut Centre (To be confirmed)
There will also be an opportunity for you to ask questions to the panel via the YouTube chat system during the session, but it would be great if you can share your questions in advance so that we can do our best to help.
Message from Joanne Bartholomew, 9th September 2020
Shortly after this session, the government made an announcement which we were not aware of in advance. It’s likely that this will change some of the points discussed in our webinar. It will take a few days for us to digest the information in the guidance when it is released. When it does and we have got our heads around it we will update the information on this page.
Our blog post from 14th July 2020 includes the YouTube footage of what happened at the first webinar and links to Kirklees Council and Government guidance on community buildings at that time:
Many people have contributed to the amazing community response to Covid-19 in our local places. Mutual aid groups, voluntary and community organisations, ward councillors, Kirklees Council officers, volunteers and partners have been working alongside each other to keep people safe. We are all part of the co-ordinated Community Response in Kirklees – and we all have a stake in our local places.
Our response has been supported through place-based Community Response Hubs, with people working together in new ways. We really value the relationships that have been so vital for this work. We want to grow and strengthen those relationships as part of our recovery and for the future. We are still in the very early stages of beginning to work with and alongside citizens in a meaningful way in our local places. Your insights can help us go much further.
On behalf of our Place Based Working Board (which includes council, voluntary sector and health colleagues), I’d like to ask for your support in helping us to think about what has gone well and not so well with the hubs.
How to take part
If you’ve been part of the co-ordinated Community Response in our local places, please take part in the Community Response Hubs Evaluation by 21st August 2020 to share your personal experiences:
Thank you for helping us learn how we can work together well in our local places in the future – and thank you for everything you’re doing to help keep people safe.
Community buildings in our local places across Kirklees are vitally important hubs for communities, offering social, mental and physical support to citizens. Kirklees Council wants support the re-opening of these buildings in a safe and practical way as part of our recovery.
Community Buildings Webinar
On Tuesday 14th July 2020 from 6.30pm to 8pm Kirklees Council hosted a webinar to provide guidance on how to safely re-open community buildings, sharing advice about the things to consider, including how to decide when is the right time to re-open. We also discussed the lessons learnt from community buildings that have stayed open during lockdown. This learning can help everyone with the re-opening of community buildings in our local places.
In spring 2020, Kirklees Council more than doubled the funding that ward councillors have available to support local projects in their area. Through this extra £30,000 of funding per ward, councillors are able to support the groups, projects and volunteers who are such a vital part of the community response to Covid-19. We’re sharing some stories from different wards, so you can see how councillors are using these funds in our local places.
In Dewsbury East, councillors have supported Chickenley Community Centre to provide food and other help for people in local places across the ward, including Chicklenley, Shaw Cross, Earlsheaton, Hanging Heaton and Dewsbury town centre.
Councillors knew that like a lot of other places in Kirklees, local communities would be affected by the coronavirus lockdown. They were asked by Chickenley Community Centre to support setting up a food bank, and have provided £5,000 of funding to the scheme. Among other things, the project is distributing food vouchers and food parcels across the ward.
In this short video we asked Paul Moore, Community Centre Development Worker, to tell us about their work. A small group of volunteers have made the project possible. Together with support from Kirklees Council, the One Community foundation and the Charities Aid Foundation, they are providing far more than food for local communities.
The community response in Kirklees to the Coronavirus has been incredible, with so many mutual aid and volunteer groups providing support to thousands of people across neighbourhoods and communities.
Through our Growing Great Places crowdfunding programme, Kirklees Council are offering support to local groups groups who have ideas for projects that can make our local places even better. If you and others in your neighbourhood have developed ideas over the past few months which you want to turn into a new project, this programme could well be the opportunity you’re looking for.
Pledges of up to £5,000 are available for successful crowdfunding campaigns.
Growing Great Places is run by Kirklees Council’s Democracy Service and our partners Spacehive. Spacehive are a crowdfunding platform working with local organisations on projects seeking to make neighbourhoods more sustainable, inclusive or accessible.
Take part in a free online workshop
If your volunteer group have an idea for a project in your local place, such as a community garden, pop-up market or cycle hub, Spacehive are hosting two free online project creator workshops where you can learn more.
For more details on how Growing Great Place works and how we can help you bring your projects to life, please register for your free place:
