Supported Lodgings – Cheshire East

Cheshire East Council have continued their commitment to the Association through the award of a Five Year contract to start in April 2018 delivering a Supported Lodgings Service. The Association has held this contract for a number of years and was recently required to re-bid against some stiff competition for the continuation of this work.

Our Supported Lodgings Service provides a valuable option for young Care Leavers to live with a host member of the community in their own home, similar to the way that fostering works. We have 20 active hosts, all thoroughly vetted, trained and supported to provide a diverse offer across what is a huge patch of rural and urban areas across Cheshire East.

Young Care Leavers are extremely positive about this type of option as a stepping stone to fully independent living and are treated as a member of the family at all times. Forum are naturally delighted at this continued investment in our work and are particularly looking forward to refreshing the way this scheme works with our colleagues in Children’s’ Services.

Links Service – Wirral

Forum Housing are thrilled to have received recent notification from Wirral Council of their intention to award the new contract for accommodation and support for 16 and 17 year olds to the Association.

Following a (very) competitive process, Forum have been busy mobilising the new service which has a number of exciting aspects to it. Our offer includes  a new 24 hour seven bed Super Hub at one of our bases which integrates a Health and Wellbeing facility, Reflection & Counselling Room and a Training Flat to help our young people get ‘move on ready’.

As part of our continued work on resident engagement, Forum have provided the resources to employ a young person with lived experience who will act as the ‘eyes and ears’ of the new service and ensure our young people consistently get high quality service delivery and where they don’t, we know about it quickly!

The service provides an additional 18 units of supported accommodation across three sites and all provision is supported by dedicated, professional staff 24 hours per day.

Check back for a future update when we’ll take you inside the walls of our Super Hub and a chance to hear more through the lens of a day in the life of a Forum Super Hub staff member … watch this space!

Community Entrepreneurship Programme

In December 2017, Forum Creative Enterprise launched a ‘Community Entrepreneurship Programme’ with 5 young people from Forum Housing Association’s projects across Wirral and Cheshire.

Dave Wood, founder of Metanoeo CIC, and Forum’s Amy Butterworth lead the programme, which includes developing a participant’s vision and skills for self-employment, accessing the relevant resources and building their confidence and self-esteem.

There has been positive feedback from attendees following their first day on the programme;

“It met my expectations fully” …
“I enjoyed exploring concepts and ideas in a relaxed setting”.

Participants are partnered up with life coaches, trained by Metanoeo CIC, including students from Edge Hill University and people who have experienced their own period of unemployment.

The participant’s ideas for businesses have varied widely, from a wellbeing life coach consultant for young people, by young people to developing a bespoke furniture business.

The first programme will be running until the summer by which time we hope to have an alumni of graduated young people running their own businesses.

National Housing Federation visit to Forum

On 30 November we were delighted to receive a visit from senior officers of the National Housing Federation.  The National Housing Federation (NHF) is the voice of affordable housing in England, believing that everyone should have the home they need at a price they can afford.  The NHF represent the work of housing associations and campaign nationally for better housing.

Baroness Diana Warwick, Chair of the NHF; Katie Teasdale, National External Affairs Manager; and Jordane Shaw, Policy Officer valued the opportunity to better understand the essential work Forum undertake with young people in the region.

After an initial meeting with Debbie Thompson, Chief Executive, and Sue Elliott, Chair of Forum’s Board, the party visited a number of our accommodation sites where they met both residents and staff teams.

We were delighted that our Patron, The Right Reverend Keith Sinclair, Bishop of Birkenhead and our honorary President, Chris Allen BEM were also able to attend the delightful buffet lunch at the Bridge which concluded the successful visit.

Feedback received following the visit was extremely positive, and we look forward to continuing our work with the National Housing Federation.

I wanted to send a personal note to say how much I appreciated the special effort you made not only to give us such a wide-ranging view of your terrific work but also to give us several opportunities to meet with your very special tenants. It was so moving to hear their stories and to see first-hand how they were turning their lives around because of the support and encouragement Forum is able to give them.

It was also lovely to meet several of your team members and staff and, through them, to see how the special ethos of Forum underpins everything they do. It was truly inspirational.

Baroness Diana Warwick

Diana, Jordane and I were so impressed by Forum- from your inspiring tenants to your dedicated team and innovative services. It was a wonderful day and an amazing insight into one of the most precious parts of our sector. The work you do is such a credit to you all and it is a privilege to understand that better. I know Diana is determined that the Federation does all we can to help you flourish and yesterday’s visit reinforced to us all why that matters so much.

We were overwhelmed by our welcome and grateful for you organising such a thought provoking tour and amazing lunch celebration- please do pass on our thanks to the whole team.

Katie Teasdale

Charity Shop news

Another happy customer!

Customer A started coming to our Just for You charity shop located at 72 Market Street, Birkenhead about 6 months ago after making friends with another young mum locally who told her about the shop.

Her visits to the shop have enabled her to identify a big change to the services on offer.  The Pay as You Feel section has enabled her to give her daughter a weekly treat when she is well behaved at school.  This incentive has not only had a positive impact on her daughter in school but “has also taken the pressure off a little at home” as both Customer A and her partner are trying to manage their mental and physical health issues, and most importantly, maintain a happy family.

Since the shop is now open 5 days a week Customer A has dropped in more frequently and spent more time with the Community Asset Team members, our volunteers.  She enjoys a walk to the shop after a cup of tea with her friend as she finds that everyone is welcoming.

When asked what makes this shop different she replied that there is a difference in being able to walk out with a bag of food knowing it was affordable and having been able to make a choice of the items she wants instead of receiving a hand out.

Customer A now recommends the shop to friends at her daughter’s school.  “It just makes sense to stop food going to landfill…just because a cereal box is bashed up, rich or poor we don’t eat the box but we all still eat cornflakes with milk don’t we?!”

Customer A has recently had difficulties with her benefits being cut and is waiting for a Universal Credit claim to be processed.  She and her partner agreed that they don’t have much money, but when they do spend, they choose to spend it wisely in the shop.

They added that they would like to get involved in the shop one day once their situation is stable.