CommUNITY Actions

The aim of the project, Community Actions (CA), was to build healthy, resilient lifestyles, as well as self reliance and social cohesion within disadvantaged and less resilient communities of Middlesbrough, using a whole system approach to sustainable living. This was be achieved through a programme of support using the One Planet Living sustainability principles as a tool to help local people deliver community led actions to address poverty and improve communal spaces by realising and building upon their community assets.

There were be two key elements of the project:

1. Empowering people so they are able to use their knowledge, skills and lived experiences to improve their own lives and the lives of others.

This was achieved through a community developed network of support, activities and training and a peer to peer early intervention model to help people experiencing challenging issues, such as isolation, poor physical and mental health or food and fuel poverty, signposting them to additional support. An active support network of volunteers, residents and stakeholders was developed, bringing people together within and across communities to build stronger relationships and building social cohesion, more sustainable and resilient communities.

2. It will provide support and resources to community groups to develop their own initiatives or actions which will have a positive impact on the social, environmental and health needs of the community.

This helped to increase people’s sense of investment and involvement in where they live and supporting their community to live more sustainably. This allowed communities to kick start or invigorate existing initiatives, allowing communities to do what they do best; work within their local area and with their peers to deliver effective activities that make a real difference. The actions came from the community and will be owned and delivered by the community. This allowed people to flourish, with communities utilising the assets they had to deliver change that they wanted to see happen.