REGISTERED COMPANY NUMBER: N1037612 (Northern Ireland) REGISTERED CHARITY NUMBER: NIC100274 Report of the Trustees and Flnanclal Statements for the Year Ended 31 March 2023 foi. CLIFTONVILLI COMMUNITY REGENERATION FORUM (FORMERLY CLIFTONVILLE COMMUNITY REGENERATION FORUM LIMITED) M.B.McGrady & Co chartei.ed Accountants Statutory Auditors Suite 2B Cadogan House 322 Lisbui"n Road Belfast Co. Antrim BT9 6GH CLIFTONVILLE COMMUNITY REGENERATION FORUM Contents of the Financial Stateinents FOR THF. YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023 Page Report of the Trustees I to 11 Report uf the Independent Auditors 12 to 15 Statement of Finaiicial Activities 16 Balance Sheet 17 Cash Flow Statement 18 Notes to the Cash Flow Statement 19 Notes to the Financial Statements 20 to 27 CLIFTONVILLE COMMUNITY REGENERATION FORUM (REGISTERED NUMBER: N1037612) Report of the Trustees FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023 The trustees who are also directors of the chaiity for the pui-poses of the Companies Act 2006, present their report with the fLnancial statenients of the charity for the year ended 31 March 2023. The ti'usteeg have adopted the provisions of Accounting and Repoi'ting by Charities.. Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the Ull and Republic OF Ireland (FRS 102) (effective l January 2019). OBJF.CTIVES AND ACTIVITIES PubllL Benefit Objectives The Purpose of Cliftonville Community Regeneration Forurn is to: "Work For tILe social. economic and physical regeneration of the Cliftonville community and to create the conditions for the removal of the physical and mental barrie￿ that divide us" We have tliree key strateEiC Outcomes which are: Regeneration,. Peace Building and Good Relations: Children and Young People: oui. people have decent job5 and wages and a good standard of living our community is peaceful, 5hai.ed and diverse our children and young people have the best start in life Signiflcant Activitles and Achlevements The. C.liftonville ai'ea is located in the Wateiworks ward. Accordiiig to the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) the Waterworks is the No. I most deprived w31'd in Northei'n Ireland. But what is Ilfe Illie in the niost deprived community. Living in povei'ty is stressful, you can never make ends meet. People often make sacrifices for their children. People move into a house or a flat knowing that tliey can't pay all the rent and they go Into arreaT'S. The alternative is to remain homeless. They will then use loan sharks to pay off theii. ari'ears and fall deeper and deepei. Into debt, For many Ilfe is ti'uly shocking. People try to cope. Coping mechanisms can be good and bad, Under the constant pi'essure of tiying to survive in poverty people develop n)ental health problems. Under pressure people are drawn into drink or drugs just to get away from the stress and their problems for a while. Everyone suffers from stress at some point in their life but in deprived neighbourhoods this can drive mol-e people into addiction. People who live outside deprived neighbourhoods have little or no idea oflife in these areas and how poor people Ilve or exist just to get by on a daily basfis. The Waterworks ward has also been affected by 30 years of conflict and physical barriers continue to blight the area and divide neighboiirhoods. The Waterworks ward is one of the wards in the top 10 most affected by the conflict in terms of the number of local residents killed. CLIFTONVILLE COMMUNITY REGENERATION FORUM (REGISTERED NUMBER: N1037612) Report of the Trustees FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH ZOZ3 OBIECTIVES AND ACTIVITIES Signiflcant activities The Cliftonville community is one of the most deprived in Belfast and across the North of Ireland. The quality of life for local residents has declined sliarply in the past year. While local people wei'e still on the i￿peS from Covid-19 they wei'e then punclied in the lace by the Cost of Living Ci'isis. This crisis is not helped by the lack ofgovernment at Stormont or by a government in London which is totally deaf to the needs ofpeople living in poverty. The absence of a Nl Executive led ￿ niore government cuts in 2022-23 for key sei-vices that al'e needed by the most vulnerable and impoverished people in our community. Cuts to publlc sector and community services make it niore difficult for community groups on tlie gi-ound to respond to local need and to supportpeople in our communities. The Cliftonville conimunity is located in the Waterwoi'ks ward which, according to the Northern Ireland Statistics and ResearLh Agency [NISRA), is the No. I most deprived ward in Northern Ireland. The Waterwoi'ks ward has the highest percentage of Job Seekers Allowance (ISA) claimants in Belfast (10.8 % ) and the 2nd hiEliest rate of ISA claimants in Nl. The Nl average is 3.8%. Homelessness is a major problem in this area. There is also a lack of good quality housing. Homelessness affects families but also individiials and young people have little chance of securing accommodation. We have 3 and even 4 generations of one family living in the san)e house. It is a world apart from the leafy semis with a large gai'den, This situation has a niajor inipact on low education attainment and stress. The area is also home to an Increasing number of flats, apai'tnients and low quality accommodatlon. The area has a high number of old 3 story properties. These are easily turned into flats aiid HMOS (Housing in Multlple Occupation]. Thei'e is a high numbei. of low quality pi'ivate landlord accommodation, Thei'e are notable exceptions. Some private landloI'ds are proactive in impi'oving their properties. However, not all low quality accommodation is In the private sector. An increasing number of low quality liousSng Is owned by social landlords, Local residents who complain about poor quality social housing are increasingly being told: "What do you expect, its social housing" Millions of pounds is spent every yeai. in hoiising benefit in the Cliftonville area. Very little ol that finds its way back to support eitheI' the redevelopment of the properties or regeneration of the local area. Economically, there are no large employers in the area and there has been no investment in any form of economic development in the area for decades. The current economic model does not work for comniunities such as the Cliftonville. An alternative econornic model which has emerged is called Community Wealth Building. Community Wealth Buildirig aims to make the economy work for the people. not make people work for the economy. Community Wealth Building stops wealth leaving deprived areas. supports the local economy and places control and benefits in the hands of local people. The developn]ent of the Cliftonville Community Enterprise (below) will contribute to the building of community wealth. Regeneradon activities on Cliftonville Community Regeneration Forum plans to build a Cliftonville Community Enterprise on Cliftonpark Avenue. The project IS aimed at supporting long fern) unemployed rnales, women living in poverty and young people fvom disadvantaged families into training, eTnployment and enterprise. The cents'e will also provide child care places as demand for these facilities are high in this area. CLIFTONVILLE COMMUNITY REGENERATION FORUM (REGISTERED NUMBER: N1037612) Report of the Trustees FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023 OBIECTIVIS AND ACTIVITIES The enterprise centre will work with local people to suppoi't them to learn, make and sell. This means providing trainin& space and equipment to enable people to move into the labour market and increase economic aclivity within the local conimunity. Critically it also means supporting them to increase their confidence and help them overcome the bai'riers to employment and enterprise. Cliftonville Commiinity Enterprise will be located in the Waterworlcs ward which has had no capital investmenl foi. more than 20 years. Cliftonville Conimunity Foi'urn is currently involved in training and employability pi-ojects. We have suppoited people from the Cliftonville and surrounding ai'eas through training, with job applications, intei-view preparatioii and seen them secure employmenL The developnient of Cliftonville Community Enterprise will see this work move to a new level. This centre will be a very modest size. However, it should allow us to begin to turn the curve on poverty and disadvantage in this area, Development stage ofthe project l. We own the site having purchased it from the Hoiising Executive. 2. We have produced a fully costed business plan which shows liow tlie centre will operate. 3. We l)ave secured planning approval for the centre 4. A full Outline Business Case has been completed which justifies the inve.stnieiit 5. Funding applications have been siibmitied to Belfast City Council and the Depai'tment for Commiinities for the capital costs of the project ni The Community Oi'ganising project works with residents to addre55 the issues they identify and organise tliem into community groups to ensure that issues get addressed. A wide range ofissues are tackled including.. hoiising, anti-social behavlour, illegal dumping, rat infestation, landlord issues, the #BusFreeBrool(vale campaign and tlie Save Our Post O￿lCe campalgn. The project pi'oduces and distributes a commiinlty newsletter. Since October 2020 we have produced 10 editions and disti'ibuted 1,500 free copies of each editlon to local homes. The Communlty Organising project works with 4 different established community groups in the area: l. Waterworks Residents Association 2. Manor Street Residents Action Group 3. Brucevale Residents 4, Kinnaii"d Residents MultL-agency woi'k Is a crucial part of the role and attending fortnightly meeting5 Wlth external agencies is a great way to i'aise issues in the area and work collaboratively with these agencies to try and tackle the issues. Since April 2022 to March 2023 there has been: 1. 22 multi agency meetings with agencies such as ComTnunity Restorative lustice. PSNI, Belfast City Council, Housing Executive, Housing Associations and politicians. 2. 7 meeting have taken place with the Save Oui. Post Office Campaign 3. 43 meetings have taken place with local councilloi's Tomas O'Neill, Ryan Murphy, Paul Mccusker and Mal O'Hara as well as meeting with local residents groups to tackle day to day issues in the area including lack of Services and investment CLIFTONVILLE COMMUNITY REGENERATION FORUM (REGISTERED NUMBER: N1037612) Report of the Trustees FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023 OBJECTIVES AND ACTIVITIES The project facilitated 'How to i'un a successful canipaign, training. The course was delivered over 6 weeks with 7 local residents who are all active in the conimunity completing IL Aftei. the completion of the training, the I'e5idents campaign started to lobby then Department for Infrastructure Minister Nichola Mallon to help cliange the route the buses were taking. Residents collected more than 500 signatlli'es going door to door in the ai'ea organising the coinmunity behind the campaign. Due to the cost of living crisis and various other social Factors, the Lhallenges the area is facing grows daily. Since the beginning of 2023 we have a significant rise in anti-social behaviour and housing issues. Now more than ever, statutoiy agencies need to trake responsibility for tlieir role in improving the area, tackling the issues such as a lack of investment, poor infi7structure. poor social and private houskng and the challenges people who live in the most deprived ward in the Noi'th are facing. li ne Renewal Partn More than 15,000 people live in the Crumlin/Ardoyne area. The area is made up of the Ardoyne and Waterworks wards. The Waterwoi'ks ward is the No.1 most deprived out of 462 wards, which means the area is in the top 10 mosi deprived across Northei'n Ireland, Our Neighbourhood Renewal Partnership is made up of 12 membei's: Cliftonville Communlty Regeneration Foi'um, Cliftoiiville Comniunity Centre, North Belfast Senior Citizens Forum, Action Mental Health, Thc Vine Centre, Wishing Well Family Centi-e. Grace Women's Developnient Limited. LoweT' Oldpark Community Association, Cancer Lifellne, Ardoyne Association, Ardoyne Youth Enterprise and Marrowbone Community Association. Togethei. we agreed on five key outcome5. These al'e: Outcome l. Residents play an active part in economic life OutCOTne 2. We live longei-, healthier, active lives Outcome 3. We are a shared community that respects diversity Outcome 4. We give oui. children and yoiing people the best stai't in life Outcome S. We live in a safe community Oiitcomes are the key to our action plan. Outcomes tell us what difFerences we want for our communities. All our woi'k Is then targeted at achieving our outcomes. The Crumlin Ardoyne area has some OF the highest levels of anti-social behaviour and crime in Nl. In a door-to-door survey on community safety 56% of people feel "Very Unsafe" or"Un5afe" in the ai'ea they live in. It Is believed that official figures for crime 2nd anti-social behaviour are significantly underestimated as more than 620A said they do not report anti-social behaviour to the PSNI. The survey was completed across the Ci'umlln/AI'doyne area in March 2023 and 325 surveys were completed. We are involved in the Department of Communities Review of the Neighbourhood Renewal Strategy also known as People and Place. As part of this we work with 4 Neighbourhood Partnerships across North Bellast Crunilin/Ardoyne, Inner North, Ballysillian/Upper Ardoyne and Ligoniel. The aim is to develop a collective voice for North Belfast'5 communities in the absence of an area partnership board. Across the North the 36 Neighbourhood Renewal Partnerships have come together as a Forum. This Forum has met 7 times in the past year, Peace Building and Good Relation Activities ac CLIFTONVILLE COMMUNITY REGENERATION FORUM (REGISTERED NUMBER., N1037612} Report of theTrustees FOR THF. YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023 OBJECTIVES AND ACTIVITIES The 2022/23 year saw us fully return to all pre-covid face-to fa￿ delivery levels and we operated in the knowledge that thi5 would increase demand for our servlces as the needs oflocal young people and their faniilies increased. Against this backdrop we weiy aware that the lack of a functioning government at Stormont would bring about fLinding cuts decreasing our organisation's ability to meet this ever-increasing need, Despite many challenges 2022/23 was a fun-packed. jam-packed year of cross-community activities and projects with many new friendships developed across the Manor Street interface and a new batch of local youth leadei's emerging. 2022/23 saw us deliver a l'ange of youth activities, projects. cross-community trips/residentials and team building events to ensure that the Girdwood Youth Space is a safe, shared space for all local young people. More than 3,500 local people have participated in good relations activities oi-ganised during the year through youth and community events, Figure l (above) is a Scorecard from the Girdwood Youth Space project which outlines How much did we do? How well did we do it and Is anyone better ofp Our Girdwood Youth Space project woi'ks aci'oss the Cliftonville, Lowei. Sliankill and Lower Oldpark areas and delivers yoiith prograinmes in tlie Girdwood Conimunity Hub and the Ciirdwood Yoiitli Space. We have niade contact with 803 young people in detached (sti'eet) outreach work. 3,693 young people Iiave pai'ticipated in shared youth drop-lns. When we began working with these yoiing people 400h said they felt 'comfoi'table' soclalising in a shared space (Girdwood Commlillity Hub} oi. space they would not traditionally visit. At the end of the programme this had gone up to 84 % of young people feeling'comfortable, socialising in a shared space. rri The Iniagine Peace Barrler Project has been a success having begun in 2014 work5ng on 17 sites and now woi'king on the last 6 of these sites. Tliis is a joint project with Lower Oldp3rl< Comniunity Associatlon. We are now woi'king on the Imagine Shared Space Project whfch could see rhe building of cross community facility that alms to i'emove part of the peace wall on Cliftonpark Avenue. We al'e aware that the Interface bari'iers provide a level of security and comfort to some residents and that the current political uncertainty are a remindei- that we have a longway to go. The Imagine Peace Barriers Pi'oject is., l. A i'esident led project to improve the quality of life for residents and enhance the appeai'ance of the area. 2. Inci'ea5ing rhe confidence and capacity of i'esidents to engage in conversations around peace barriers that lead to impi'oved quality of life for both communities. 3. Ensuring that any changes, however slight, to the structures wlll only take place when community and resident safety is not compromised. Changes will only take place when the J'esidents most impacted have given their consent. 4. Developing of a comprehensive good relations programme of actÈvities between local residents, young people, senior citizens and others. We have developed a feasibility study and a business plan for the Imagine Shared Space Project. This aims to remove a section of the peace wall on Cliftonpark Avenue. We al'e working with architects to pi'ovide desigrls that will be available foi. local community consultation. Over the pastyear we have engaged with over 500 people in cross community work. This has led to an increase in i'elation5hips aci'os5 the peace wall and to improved understanding, These events include good relations training sessions, the Pumpkin Patch evenL cross border initiatives, trips to Newcastle, Jungle Nl, Derry, a visit to Boulder World and much more. flic CLIFfoNVILLE COMMUNITY REGENERATION FORUM (REGISTERED NUMBER: N1037612) Reportof the Ti'u5tee5 FOR THE YEAR ENDF.D 31 MARCH 2023 OBIECTIVES AND ACTIVITIES Interface violence still raises its head and sporadic attacks still do take place. We have been worlcing with a farnily whose home was 2ttacked on Rosapenna Street in April 2022 to ensure they I'eceive compensation to i-epair the damage to their property- We were able to advise the family to submit a'Notice of Intention to claim, to Compensation Services Nl. Howevei.. the agency sought evidence of damage from the PSNI. They had no evidence as they pursued the attackers. We worl