Our Core Activities
There are four broad areas in which all of REACH C.I.C's focussed work and activities fit into. These are Health & Well-being, Community Development, Training: Improving Skills & Access to Services, and Additional Support to Schools.
Health & Well-being
1.
Within this area of work, REACH C.I.C particularly look to concentrate on mental health issues, food & health, money & budgeting advice, reducing social isolation, and offering a range of exercise and keep fit classes.
We aim to continue our existing work around mental health including looking to increase the support available at The Link as well as working alongside our partners. This will include aiming to deliver more self-esteem, self-confidence and self-awareness training, partnering with other organisations to develop and support specific advice/drop in sessions and continuing to support the establsihment of peer support groups.
Within the work on food & health we aim in particular to look at the challenges of healthy eating within a limited household budget and tackling the underlying causes of childhood and adult obesity through providing a variety of learning and support opportunities.
We shall also look to continue and expand upon the good practice that we have developed around money advice, budgeting and access to other advice services.
Community Development
2.
REACH C.I.C continue to develop the work already taking place across all four estates. This will be crosscutting work to benefit all the involved communities or tailored specifically to the needs of an individual estate where required. All this will be modelled and adapted so it can be used in all the estates.
Residents are encouraged and supported to take an increasing part in defining the future of their communities, including working with other partner agencies and local councillors to influence decisions on service delivery in their area.
Another important aspect is to establish and maintain community venues for residents so they can access services, courses, groups, events etc. in their community whilst also providing somewhere people feel confident to come and have a chat.
Training: Improving Skills & Access to Services
3.
We will continue to look at providing opportunities for the local community to access various free or low cost skills and training courses or sessions. The aim will be to provide these opportunities in response to highlighted needs from the communities themselves or due to social developments or pressures such as the ever increasing emphasis on digital and online service provision.
One of the aspects we are looking to focus on is indeed providing open access to computers/internet for the local community to use. More and more services are being made digital by default and we will look to not only provide the access to computers and the internet but also support to those who may need it.
We will also be looking to further develop ongoing volunteering and mentoring programmes by working with key agencies and through working with local businesses to increase apprenticeships/jobs locally. This will also help identify any skills gaps that local employers may experience when looking for new employees.
By providing these opportunities we hope not only to improve the skills of local residents but also improve their confidence.
Additional Support to Schools
4.
Projects and activities are aimed at providing more additional, coordinated and holistic support to young people and their families throughout the four areas; particularly those that have been identified as, for whatever reason, becoming disengaged from school life or at risk of becoming so.
We at REACH C.I.C also look to utilise the expertise, of not only our staff but, from individuals and organisations operating in the four areas in order to implement more coordinated youth and family focused provision.