Black Country Near Neighbours

Published 29th May 2019

Updated 4th September 2021

COVID-19 surge work with MHCLG

During these strange Covid-19 period, all of our work is focusing on Covid-19 support to Black Country communities.

Between January and March 2021 we rapidly expanded our work to support those most at risk from Covid-19, inpartnership with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and Near Neighbours.

This support included:

• Promoting the latest information about public health, personal safety and the vaccine, through key targeting of different faith and ethnic communities, encompassing different languages and cultural nuances. We have been doing this via our social media, via our #VaccineVoices project, through our Vaccine Voices Covid Champions, through webinars with the NHS
• Supporting grassroots organisations and groups to apply for Near Neighbours new small grants programme (now closed). Click here for a case study.
• Community listening and feedback workshops.
• New programmes for local groups to:
  • boost digital inclusion
  • enhance youth and community leadership
  • strengthen financial resilience.

Thanks

We are so grateful to everyone who has worked with us and these partnership have had a great impact. Read our short report here and our full (including case studies) here to find out more.

“It has been an absolute pleasure to work with Near Neighbours to spread the word, answer questions and connect with communities throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Near Neighbours are at the heart of our communities, working together to reach the fantastically diverse people and communities whom we serve. With the support of organisations like Near Neighbours I am confident that we have helped to reduce hesitancy and activate the hope that the COVID-19 vaccinations give our communities so that they can be protected from this deadly virus and continue to thrive.”

Thanks for all your help with the webinars over the past months, they were certainly beneficial in helping to eliminate some of the myths, false information circulating on social media etc.

Because of how great our partnership worked in bringing communities from all backgrounds together, I am keen to continue to do some work on a local level (Black Country wide)."

Other COVID-19 work

Early in the pandemic it became clear that people from our UK Minority Ethnic communities were more disproportionately affected by the virus. We partnered with Dudley Council Public Health and Cornerstone Community Church to host a series of five information and empowerment webinars.

One of TCT’s major pieces of work is our delivery of the Near Neighbours programme in the Black Country.

Through our partnership with the national Near Neighbours charity, we help to bring funding from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to the Black Country.

We work with grassroots groups, communities, faith groups and councils.

Near Neighbours brings people together in communities that are religiously and ethnically diverse, so that they can get to know each other better, build relationships of trust, and collaborate together on initiatives that improve the local community they live in.

Our work includes:

• Small Grants (open)
• Real People, Honest Talk (RPHT), which brings people together to talk about the tough issues around how we live together well.
• Events to bring people together around current topics chosen by listening to the lived experience of our community partners eg Faith and Finance. See our events page for all the latest details.
• Networks - eg Women Together Wolverhampton - See our events page for more details.

#WorkingTogether

We caught up with our friends at Stratton Street Community Centre in Wolverhampton to see what impact a Near Neighbours grant has on their community building.

Near Neighbours Network

Near Neighbours (NN) brings people together in communities that are religiously and ethnically diverse, so that they can get to know each other better, build relationships of trust, and collaborate together on initiatives that improve the local community they live in. We do this in 11 areas (including the Black Country) through supporting and mentoring groups and organisations, offering training, resources and events, and giving small grants, through our Near Neighbours coordinators.

The new Near Neighbours Network will enable groups to connect with each other beyond our NN hub areas, and also enable our hubs and partners to offer knowledge and resources, online events, and downloadable resources, to a wider network. We will aim to offer monthly online seminars to those who join the network, sharing knowledge about finding funding, good practice on community engagement, and experience and expertise on faiths working together.

It is free to join.

Impact

A number of case studies of our work in the Black Country are featured in the latest Near Neighbours impact report.