Minutes:
The Chair introduced Siân Wade, Transform Lincoln - formerly the Active Faith Network. Siân Wade briefly explained the situation of community integration, partnership and lack of community cohesion in more urban areas. She explained that:
· The global pandemic had highlighted a lack of community cohesion, which had existed previously, including issues in terms of community integration. The drivers for inequality have been strengthened due to Covid-19.
· Villages tended to succeed more with their community response to Covid-19 than city areas.
· Local partnerships had succeeded in offering vouchers within four days. They had also implemented governmental schemes such as Free School Meals vouchers and Pensioner Voucher Scheme in partnership with Lincolnshire Co-operative. People who had been furloughed had volunteered.
· Three weeks before the first lockdown, night light crisis cafés had been launched. The faith sector partnered with the NHS and had to go from a physical café every night to a telephone service, and then returned to an in?person service. This now had circa 100+ volunteers, which was a significant achievement. People realised that there would be mental health issues and there was a real crisis.
· A clothing bank continued to operate to help those in need.
· Following intelligence from other cities, a need for bereavement counselling had been identified and was offered through twelve ministers. Referrals for the service were received from the NHS and other partners.
· Access to goods in short supply, such as pasta and toilet rolls, had been provided for vulnerable people.
· There was a real need for linking the new work that would be commencing, with the new funding that was expected.
· Two new roles in the form of community connectors were created in the North and the South of the city provided by the NHS. This provided a real opportunity to look at how we want the community to look.
· Every community had a church, a school and a Lincolnshire Co-operative and those partners could come together and think about what the community could look like and how they could make that happen.
As a result of questions to Siân Wade, the following points were confirmed:
· Transform Lincoln - formerly the Active Faith Network was Christian-based but worked with other faithsas partners.
· Various types of support could be provided by the City Council, such as a shared vision of what the community could look like. The City of Lincoln Council was good at communicating its ambitions and this resource could be utilised. People did not want to be overwhelmed, but a sense of partnership and support was important, and that everyone was in it together. When a momentum was created, people get excited.
· A lot of money was donated to schools through municipal charities, for example the Dawber Charity, and therefore, there was an established link with the Council through these charities.
· The City of Lincoln had the lowest life expectancy in the East Midlands and all the opportunities for people to better themselves needed to be promoted.
· The City Council excelled at involving partners, and the Council demonstrated that it cared about the City and wanted the City to thrive. If all partners could decide a way forward, there was something in the local strategy. When councillors spoke to constituents on their doorsteps, they were passionate about their areas and they wanted to help.
· The Council could operate as a leader and provide a hub for all the charities, which had been a conclusion of the Committee's previous scrutiny review.
· Between 40 and 45 churches out of over 70 churches were well engaged, and some areas were communicating well together, but the Network had only been established for four years. Re-establishing neighbourhood boards would be helpful also.
· A challenge for any website directory was its provision of up-to-date information at a granular level, so for example people could find out what was going on in Sincil Bank.
· GPs would be expected to be well-connected with their communities, but vulnerability was not solely a health issue and some vulnerable people might not attend GPs. The provision of information by GP practices was variable.
It was asked if Active Faith Network could now be known as Transform Lincoln - formerly the Active Faith Network.
The Chair thanked Siân Wade for her presentation.