## Dartmouth Community Chest Trustee Report 2022 Another busy year for Dartmouth Community Chest as we continue to support our community through the ebbs and flows of the seasonality of Dartmouth and also to focus more on using the café space we have to support our community to create its own social and peer support groups as they identify they need/want. Having a dedicated space has meant we were able to put this into action and to try out new groups and give them the time to grow into what the community need them to become. The cafe has also allowed us to build new relationships with some support services and to work with them bringing accessible support directly to our town. ## **Townstal Outreach Support Drop in’s** As well as the day to day support, we started the year with a ‘winter’ drop in at the Baptist Church. Working with all our partners from South West Water, South Dartmoor Energy, Live West Housing, CA, Public Health Devon, TQ6 Partnership, Alison from Circus skills, we had food, activities and an opportunity for our community to have their say about our town . We had three other drop ins through the year including supporting the biannual TQ6 skip days and through these events and the conversations had and relationship built, we are able to listen to our community and pass all the local information to the partners we trust to help us as a community get the right support here. November saw a Community Natters event on a Saturday, co-hosted by us, Public Health, C2 Connecting Communities and TQ6 Partnership. Along with food, fun and activities we held a ‘listening event’ with what people love about their neighbourhood and what could be improved to make life better for all. We will be working together with our key partners in 2023 to try and address some of these local issues. (report available) ## **Self organising peer groups** - One of the issues mentioned regularly was the lack of support for **special educational needs** . An amazing group of parents started a peer support group, which is known as SOS group (Supporting Our SEN) although its informal name is ‘Fight Club’ which is run from the community café every Tuesday evenings, supported by a brilliant mentor peer support parent and Exeter University C2 project. This peer support group offers support, guidance, emotional support, friendship, listening ear and also a strong collective voice for both parents and children to better support each other and their children. Although the group meets weekly there is a 24/7 whatsApp group for fun, laughs and people can reach out in moments of need. - The parents say it is great to feel “ _understood, included and great to have useful and practical help and guidance in such an unconditional and expert way”_ . The children say the group makes them feel happy, have fun and to feel included. - The group feels that the next step is having qualified SEN play workers for the children as well as possible social events for all, so with TQ6 Partnership supporting some of this, watch this space for 2023. - A men’s support group was also something that our community asked for, so a group of local men created _Menkind_ , a peer support group with activities and guest speakers. This group is well attended and keeps growing, bringing friendship and support for men to the heart of our community on their terms, as well as reducing mental distress and isolation. Although this group meets weekly. The group are planning to develop extra days and special activities in the coming year. - Yarn & Darn group run on a Wednesday is another peer support group which provides friendship and skills sharing through crafting. They make lovely items, recycling instead of throwing out good items and often have been busy seizing any opportunity to bring us together, like inviting the Ukrainian families to teach us how to make fabric dolls out of scrap material. We look forward to more crafty adventures in 2023. ## **New service partners/ new relations & shaping & influencing community facing services** Working with a dedicated team from Public Health Devon, we continued to support them to offer covid vaccinations from the community café every other week, working together we have provided the space and also the support with refreshments and also getting the message out to our community. Dartmouth had been a low up take area for the vaccine and it was thought that – like Totnes – it was something to do with anti – vax attitudes, the team spent some team learning about the issues in Dartmouth and the reality of rurally isolated communities trying to access health services. They have also brought an oral health clinic for local people; their focus is accessing those who don’t reach out and may be isolated from services. We have been working closely with the outreach teams and their commissioners, sharing connections the more grassroots community organisations in South Devon, attending their team zooms and sharing lived experience of living in the more rural parts of Devon where statutory health services are rarely commissioned and supporting their more embedded approach to better understanding communities and their barriers to accessing health services. Dartmouth Community Chest are often invited into many regional and national forums to bring a grounded touch of lived experience to decision makers. This year we have supported - the Health Creation Alliance (formerly NHS Alliance – national cross sector organisation for health) to shape the Core20plus connector roles for the NHS and continue to support reinforcing community -led activities for stronger, healthier, and more resilient communities - Sit on the National Institute of Health Research Inequalities Consortium at national level. - Are part of the teaching team for the Master’s in Public Health @ Exeter University - Are part of the C2 national Network of connected communities, sharing learning, supporting and enabling with other communities across the country to embrace community led working and to support services to better support their communities in this. - We have hosted visits to strategic leaders who have come to learn about communities leading their own change. - We hosted a C2 Connecting Communities learning programme/Exeter University visit back in September to showcase community action and service partners who work with mutuality and in support. This was attended by the Surrey Primary Care Networks and Growing Health Together teams, Devon and Cornwall Police and Police teams from Violence Reduction Unit in Scotland, and most importantly residents from these areas – all of whom stay in regular contact with us for encouragement and support in their journey. - Being community partners in research: 1. University of Exeter/Plymouth : **South West Palliative and End of Life Care Research Partnership, hosting and being participants along with community members in a focus group (report available )** 2. University of Exeter/ Bangor/Nuffield Foundation: The role of communities and connections in social welfare law https://www.nufeldfoundation.org/project/social-welfare-law-advicecommunity-connectedness-equality-and-well-being Dartmouth is one of 4 UK areas taking part in this study which seeks to better understand the relationship between communities and access to support (Social welfare law includes welfare benefits, debt, employment, housing, immigration, education, and community care) 3. Ongoing work with C2 Connecting Communities and Exeter University exploring new ways to measure community work through the use of social networks. Ongoing data collection of the social networks within the community we work with and evidencing the links between wellbeing and connectiveness around the work of Community Chest. ## **The Community Café/ Living room** Having a dedicated space has enabled us to do more and support our community better. Our strength as a charity is that we are small and dynamic, meaning we can adapt and respond to need as it arises. We saw this happen overnight during the covid pandemic and the community-led response and again this year we were able to support head as need arose. We are open regularly on Monday/Wednesday and Friday as a ‘drop in’ warm space with hot food, connecting and friendship, all run by volunteers. On Monday we have been hosting support services including South Dartmoor Energy/ Housing help/ Citizens Advice. Wednesday’s we have arts and crafts group / legal support bi weekly as well as drop in, and Fridays we have been developing health drop in with public health teams for those who may find it difficult to access these services, as well an open community space. We also were able to support the following: - During the power cuts in February, we turned the café into a drop in for hot food and deliveries, collected extra duvets and blankets and battery operated lights. - We supported one of our amazing volunteers with fundraising opportunities to raise the money to travel to his volunteering work in Senegal. Spurred on by the community-led covid response he is doing brilliant work with local communities out there. The updates are truly inspiring. - As the news broke of the awful situation in Ukraine, we worked with a local Ukrainian family who has lived in Dartmouth for a while, to help their relatives come here to safety. We shared the ‘how’ we supported the family with South Hams District Council as they developed their Ukrainian strategy. We turned the community café into a collection/distribution point for aid to Poland and Moldova. As a community we collected and delivered van loads of essential items to the charities organising the aid convoys. As the families started to arrive, we supported them with help and essential items and continue to help them in any way we can. We have regular get together’ s and parties supporting as well as providing spaces where inclusion, belonging and an authentic connectiveness with the locals of Dartmouth can thrive. We also host English lessons every Thursday. - We had our own music festival at the community café with free food and ice creams. Local artists entertained us and we had a brilliant day and the part of the community who often feel excluded from Dartmouth events were able to very much be part of it. - Working with the dedicated youth workers at Youth Genesis, we set up burger nights at the community café. They said they wished there was a McDonalds and that they had spaces to just hang out with each other. We felt that teaching cooking skills with nutritional foods and making their own burgers was a way forward. We provided a free space with good food to hang out with their mates. Youth Genesis supported them with pastoral care and the café and food provided the best backdrop to them feeling able to open up and talk about anything they needed to with expert youth workers able to support them. Now We have lost Youth Genesis support, we are finding news ways to keep this ongoing resource for our young people. ## **Family & Community Events** - Back in 2021, together with Youth Genesis and TQ6 Partnership we successfully received the Holiday Activities and Food funding that had come down from Government via Devon County Council to ensure food and activities were available to families who may struggle during holiday time. This Easter/summer the bid went to outside organisations and were free only to those on Free School meals, what we recognise is that by using that as a measurement for Dartmouth, you ignore the real struggles which are families who work but juts miss the criteria for help and support, so we ran events anyway which have since become know as ‘CHAF’ Community Holiday, Activities and Food and we make sure no one is left behind. Together with our amazing partners, we had a pool day at the outdoor community pool, arts and craft days and a fun sports day at the rugby pitch. - Working with Mike Jackson from Dart Valley Bushcraft we have held some amazing family days in the woods for our families, foraging, cooking, making things from items found in the woods, and teaching our kids basic safety when they are out having adventures. Naked Burger provided lovely food for us all. We have continued the community events through the seasonal milestones, what our community tell us is this is what makes them feel better, feel connected and feel part of a community. Halloween and Yule in the woods were both truly magical events and we look forward to working with Dart Valley Bushcraft in the new year. Again the feedback from the community has been amazing, learning new skills and improving mental health through being outside but most importantly being with friends and neighbours, for adults and children alike has reminded us of the strength within our community to do things together and for ourselves is the best way to improve health and wellbeing. - We also hosted a Christmas party with our SEN families, a community market with Santa’s grotto, a community Christmas dinner, and a New Year’s Eve party for our Ukrainian families. All, as ever were well attended and well supported. Thanks to all local businesses who recognise, respect and support what we do together as a community. - Working with the lovely Charlotte from Livewest Housing, we supported the skip days for local people to get rid of rubbish, cutting down on fly tipping. - We also set up and supported a Townstal jumble trail, where locals could put items outside in their gardens to swap with each other, following a map around Townstal. - We had our own music festival at the community café with free food and ice creams. Local artists entertained us and we had a brilliant day. - We held a Jubilee party for local people with homemade cakes donated by our community. After the sad news of the Queen’s death, we held a support day, watching the funeral together and making sure everyone was okay. - During the hot weather, we set up cold drink and sunscreen stations around the town for people to access help during soaring temperatures. We worked with the rough sleeper advisor at South Hams council to make sure homeless people could find the help and shelter they needed. - We were honoured to offer the community café to a local couple for their wedding reception. The café looked amazing; it was a beautiful day. - Once again we set up the uniform swap rail, saving dozens of families the cost of going back to school. In the winter this changed to our ‘bring a coat, take a coat’ rail, with hats, scarves and boots. - Environmental health dropped into the café and we were pleased to get a 5/5 score for cleanliness. We turned the café into a warm space for locals, with a hot meal and support from local agencies to get through the cost-of-living crisis. - Local charities, including the Guides and Outdoor pool used the café to fundraise for projects in our community. Local councillors held clinics, to connect with the community and find out about any issues. We even watched the world cup together, probably the noisiest nights of the year! - We raised money on markets, car boots, fetes, raffles and tombolas. We funded a community bench in the Avenue Gardens for all the people we had lost during covid and never got to say goodbye to. ## **Food, fuel and recycling of furniture & white goods.** The café has a discreet food pantry and hygiene bank. We use food as a ruse to finding out what’s underneath the problems people may be facing, supporting with food opens up the conversations and can help us to find the real support. - Our community donated 60 Christmas hampers, thanks to the brilliant organisation by Sue Payne, in total we delivered 157 hampers and 261 toy parcels to our town and villages. - Thousands of food parcels were delivered or collected from our food pantry in the community café, hundreds of fuel top ups, hygiene products, pet food and clothes. - Dozens of good items of furniture and white goods saved from landfill, checked and repurposed to local families to help stop the use of high interest debt. None of this could happen without the kindness and support of our wonderful community, the great people we are lucky enough to work with and the local supermarkets and businesses who always support us in everything we do. It’s been a tough year for many of us, we have lost good friends and family, others have had to move away or come here to avoid conflict, some have struggled with very difficult situations. Dartmouth Community Chest Trustees and Volunteers will continue to work alongside our community and thank you for all your support. Trustees; Dawn Shepherd Lynn Garton Jean Gotts Guy Martin Jayne Higgins Margaret McKenzie Mary Burden CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLANO AND WALES C>artmouth cwtnvnity chesi 11B160S Recelpts and payments accounts CC16a For the period from P!riod