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Soho First Community Development Trust

Trustee’s Annual Report for the period 1st April 2020 - to 31st March 2021

Charity name: Soho First Community Development Trust

Other names charity is known by: Soho First, Soho First CDT

Charity Number: 1173499

Principle address:

Handsworth Baptist Church Centre 38A Victoria Road Handsworth Birmingham B21 0SA

Trustees

Andrew Simons (Chair) Rhona Rouse (Treasurer) Robert John Higginson (Minutes secretary) Rev John Mall Shaheed Pervaiz

We thank the Trustees for their continued commitment and contribution to the work of Soho First.

We would also like to thank Monique McKen JP and Thomas Cantwell, both former Trustees, for their continued support and Chris Milton for taking the lead on Soho First’s environment work. Thanks also to Pat Whyte from Birmingham City Council’s Neighbourhood Development Support Unit for attending meetings as an Observer and keeping us up to date on Council matters and Carlene McKenzie in her role as coordinator for Ladywood Neighbourhood Network Scheme and project worker for Soho and Jewellery Quarter Ward.

Structure, governance, and management

Governing document

Charitable Incorporated Organisation – Association Registered 20 June 2017

Trustee selection

The Trustees are elected at the Annual General Meeting.

The AGM was held in-person at Soho Community Hall, Chapel Street, Birmingham B21 0PA on Thursday 29[th] July 2021.

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The objects of the charity are:

To develop the capacity and skills of the members of the socially and economically disadvantaged community of Soho Ward, Birmingham, in such a way that they are better able to identify, and help meet, their needs and to participate more fully in society.
The promotion for the public benefit of urban regeneration in areas of social and economic deprivation (and Birmingham’s Soho Ward) by all or any of the following means:
a) the relief of poverty in such ways as may be thought fit;
b) the relief of unemployment in such ways as may be thought fit, including assistance to find employment;
c) the advancement of education, training, or retraining, particularly among unemployed people, and providing unemployed people with work experience;
d) the provision of financial assistance, technical assistance, or business advice or consultancy in order to provide training and employment opportunities for unemployed people in cases of financial or other charitable need through help:
- (i) in setting up their own business, or
- (ii) to existing businesses;
(e)the creation of training and employment opportunities by the provision of workspace, buildings and/or land for use on favourable terms;
(f) the provision of housing for those who are in conditions of need and the improvement of housing in the public sector or in charitable ownership provided that such power shall not extend to relieving any local authorities or other bodies of a statutory duty to provide or improve housing;
(g)the maintenance, improvement, or provision of public amenities;
(h)the preservation of buildings or sites of historic or architectural importance;
(i) the provision or assistance in the provision of recreational facilities for the public at large and/ or those who, by reasons of their youth, age, infirmity or disablement, poverty, or social and economic circumstances, have need for such facilities;
(j) the protection or conservation of the environment;
(k)the provision of public health facilities and childcare;
(l) the promotion of public safety and prevention of crime; and
(m) such other means as may from time to time be determined subject to the prior consent of the Charity Commissioners for England and Wales.

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The Trust’s mission statement is:

“Connecting the gifts, aspirations, capacities and skills of people in Birmingham’s Soho and Jewellery Quarter Ward so that we are better able to identify local needs and priorities and act in response to them. Soho First aspires to work alongside residents and partners to make a difference to local priorities - social, economic and environmental - to create a place that is even better for all to live and work in.”

Summary of main activities undertaken

This report covers the financial year from 1[st] April 2020 to 31[st] March 2021. It has been a challenging time for everyone with successive lockdowns due to the Coronavirus and brief periods when the restrictions have been relaxed. It has been difficult for people to meet in person and many meetings have had to go online.

Neighbourhood Network Scheme

Soho First has continued to be a partner in the Neighbourhood Network Scheme (NNS), together with Birmingham Settlement, Karis Neighbour Scheme, and Nechells Pod.

The purpose of NNS is to ensure that as many citizens over 50 as possible can access community-based support to promote well-being and a better quality of life. NNS aims to do this through the coordination of communitybased prevention and early intervention.

Throughout the year we have attended regular partners’ meetings and the wider steering group meetings which includes representatives from statutory and third sector organisations as well as the adult social work team.

Carlene McKenzie is both overall project coordinator for Ladywood NNS and project support worker for Soho and Jewellery Quarter Ward and together with the project support workers for Ladywood, Nechells and Aston has been tireless in providing support to the many community assets that have continued to operate during the pandemic. Many community assets have had to amend the way they deliver activities – moving from face-to-face to online where possible – while others have delivered additional support such as distributing food and other essential items and providing telephone befriending to isolated older residents.

The current contract for Ladywood NNS is due to finish in March 2020 and Birmingham City Council will be releasing the new contracts for tender in August 2021. Soho First will continue to be a full partner till March 2022 but may continue in a different role after that date.

Thriving Soho

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We were in the process of planning another event to take the Community Economic Development Plan for Soho and JQ Ward a stage further when the first Covid-19 lockdown started. We continued to plan in the hope of running an event in summer 2020 at Nishkam Centre but the idea of a public event in person proved impossible. However, meetings of the Thriving Soho working group have continued via Zoom and progress made towards holding an event once conditions allow. We are planning both an in-person event and a Zoom event as back-up just in case restrictions are re-introduced. Many thanks to Barry Toon, Alison Thompson, Debbie Kerslake, Nettes Derbyshire and Carlene McKenzie for their continued involvement in the group.

Environment

Chris Milton has working with us on developing the environment strand of Soho First’s work. Chris has been organising clean-ups in the Winson Green area bringing together various partner organisations and residents. Website

We commissioned Lee Thorpe, Steamroom Media, to create a new website for Soho First using WordPress. It has been designed in such a way as to enable trustees to manage the website ourselves. We continue to add stories and events to the Facebook page and Thomas Cantwell who stepped down as a Trustee in 2019 has continued to add relevant material to the Facebook page to help keep it current. Lee has also linked the Ladywood NNS and Soho First Facebook pages to the Soho First website.

The Trustees declare that they have approved the Trustee’s report.

Signed on behalf of the charity’s Trustees

Signature:

Full name: Andrew Simons Position: Chair Date: 29[th] July 2021

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