This week is the Social Value Leadership Group's social value week, a chance to put a spotlight on all things social value.
A key way in which we help shape our communities and make a difference in the places that we work is through our Unlocking Social Value programme. This matches the social value commitments of our contractors and suppliers with organisations across the region.
To mark social value week, we wanted to share a selection of our most recent social value projects to highlight the ways in which our contractors and suppliers are supporting us to build healthy and sustainable communities which offer more opportunities for the people who live there.
St John’s Church heating system upgrade – City Electrical Factors
City Electrical Factors (CEF) the UK’s largest electrical wholesaler/suppliers awarded £10,000 in social value funding to St John’s Church in North Tyneside to upgrade their heating system.
As well as being used by many local groups and for various events, St John’s Church run a much needed local Baby Bank that supports and helps over 600 struggling parents with fine quality baby essentials. A warm church is pivotal to the mission and outreach of the church in the parish. However, their current heating system is outdated, inadequate, constantly failing and is a constant financial drain on funds.
Thanks to the social value support of CEF, the church will have a new heating system that will preserve baby items and prevent damage and dampness to baby clothing, as well as continuing to help them offer a warm and welcoming environment for the community.
Chester le Street Community Centre lift refurbishment
Chester-le-Street Community Centre lies in the heart of the town and is used by many people in the community, including our residents.
Last April, we were made aware that the internal lift at the community centre was in desperate need of repair/refurbishment. This lift is vital to making the whole premises accessible, particularly for some of the elderly users who had been trapped in the lift when it failed on several occasions.
After getting quotes for the work, we discovered that we could get the lift refurbished for £19,416. The community centre was able to provide £10,916 towards the costs, and we were able to use our Unlocking Social Value fund for the remaining £8,500.
The lift has now been repaired and provides safe secure and reliable access to those to all areas of the community centre.
Merton Lodge community development – NE14.TV
Merton Lodge is a great facility which sits at the heart of a large estate of 170 properties in South Benwell. The estate has experienced a great deal of vandalism, graffiti and fly-tipping over the last few years.
In order to help support the community, we used our Unlocking Social Value fund to provide £25,000s worth of funding for community development work on the estate.
This funding has been granted to NE14.TV, an entertainment agency based in Ouseburn. Led by their director, Bessie Williams, they have taken on the lease for Merton Lodge and are running activities out of the venue including weekly litter picking, community warm hubs, children’s activities, family trips and food provision from The Bread and Butter Thing.
So far, the project has been very successful and there are lots of plans for further activities to support this community through the cost of living crisis.
Stobhill Community Centre youth activities - Calmer Therapy
Calmer Therapy provides family and community support.
When they took on the lease for the Stobhill Community Centre one of their priorities was to provide youth activities to deliver informal educational support for the significant number of children and young people engaging with the centre.
They applied for £6,000 worth of funding from our Community Fund to employ a qualified youth worker to run these activities. While this application was successful, due to the number of young people engaging with the centre quickly became apparent that they needed support to help deliver quality youth work. Therefore, we also supported them with £3,952 from the Unlocking Social Value fund to provide an assistant for the youth worker.
They now engage over 70 young people weekly. In addition, they have delivered summer and winter camps, family trips and provide hot food and drinks.
We’re proud to partner with those that share our passion for social value. You can find out more about this work in our Unlocking Social Value Annual Report which celebrates these partnerships and the wonderful outcomes they have provided for our customers and communities.
#SVLGSocialValueWeek2023!
This week is the Social Value Leadership Group's social value week, a chance to put a spotlight on all things social value.
A key way in which we help shape our communities and make a difference in the places that we work is through our Unlocking Social Value programme. This matches the social value commitments of our contractors and suppliers with organisations across the region.
To mark social value week, we wanted to share a selection of our most recent social value projects to highlight the ways in which our contractors and suppliers are supporting us to build healthy and sustainable communities which offer more opportunities for the people who live there.
St John’s Church heating system upgrade – City Electrical Factors
City Electrical Factors (CEF) the UK’s largest electrical wholesaler/suppliers awarded £10,000 in social value funding to St John’s Church in North Tyneside to upgrade their heating system.
As well as being used by many local groups and for various events, St John’s Church run a much needed local Baby Bank that supports and helps over 600 struggling parents with fine quality baby essentials. A warm church is pivotal to the mission and outreach of the church in the parish. However, their current heating system is outdated, inadequate, constantly failing and is a constant financial drain on funds.
Thanks to the social value support of CEF, the church will have a new heating system that will preserve baby items and prevent damage and dampness to baby clothing, as well as continuing to help them offer a warm and welcoming environment for the community.
Chester le Street Community Centre lift refurbishment
Chester-le-Street Community Centre lies in the heart of the town and is used by many people in the community, including our residents.
Last April, we were made aware that the internal lift at the community centre was in desperate need of repair/refurbishment. This lift is vital to making the whole premises accessible, particularly for some of the elderly users who had been trapped in the lift when it failed on several occasions.
After getting quotes for the work, we discovered that we could get the lift refurbished for £19,416. The community centre was able to provide £10,916 towards the costs, and we were able to use our Unlocking Social Value fund for the remaining £8,500.
The lift has now been repaired and provides safe secure and reliable access to those to all areas of the community centre.
Merton Lodge community development – NE14.TV
Merton Lodge is a great facility which sits at the heart of a large estate of 170 properties in South Benwell. The estate has experienced a great deal of vandalism, graffiti and fly-tipping over the last few years.
In order to help support the community, we used our Unlocking Social Value fund to provide £25,000s worth of funding for community development work on the estate.
This funding has been granted to NE14.TV, an entertainment agency based in Ouseburn. Led by their director, Bessie Williams, they have taken on the lease for Merton Lodge and are running activities out of the venue including weekly litter picking, community warm hubs, children’s activities, family trips and food provision from The Bread and Butter Thing.
So far, the project has been very successful and there are lots of plans for further activities to support this community through the cost of living crisis.
Stobhill Community Centre youth activities - Calmer Therapy
Calmer Therapy provides family and community support.
When they took on the lease for the Stobhill Community Centre one of their priorities was to provide youth activities to deliver informal educational support for the significant number of children and young people engaging with the centre.
They applied for £6,000 worth of funding from our Community Fund to employ a qualified youth worker to run these activities. While this application was successful, due to the number of young people engaging with the centre quickly became apparent that they needed support to help deliver quality youth work. Therefore, we also supported them with £3,952 from the Unlocking Social Value fund to provide an assistant for the youth worker.
They now engage over 70 young people weekly. In addition, they have delivered summer and winter camps, family trips and provide hot food and drinks.
We’re proud to partner with those that share our passion for social value. You can find out more about this work in our Unlocking Social Value Annual Report which celebrates these partnerships and the wonderful outcomes they have provided for our customers and communities.
#SVLGSocialValueWeek2023!
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