07 Aug Adapting to support Torbay’s needs over ten years

Our 2019 Imagine This Festival asked children, teens and young people who attended “what would make Torbay a better place to grow up in?” with the answers shaping the following years of the Imagine This project

A tenth anniversary is a good time to look back and reflect on the many projects that have come and gone as funding has moved around the voluntary, community, and social enterprise sectors.

No matter how successful a project is, keeping the funding to maintain it is a perpetual problem in the VCSE sector as funding pots get reallocated or dry up altogether.

However, since its launch in 2014, Torbay Communities has always been able to flex and reallocate expertise by working with partners across the sector when and where it has been needed.

For instance, in 2016, when commercial bus operators withdrew their support for a service from Livermead to Torquay, Torbay Communities didn’t just react but identified the risk of residents becoming lonely or isolated. This led to the launch of the first OurBus route, a collaborative effort with volunteers and the support of Torbay Council.

Around the same time, our Community Builder working with residents of the Foxhole Estate recognised the need for an informal meeting place and supported the community to create what would eventually become the Crafty Fox Café ‘n’ Hub.

Also in 2016/2017 two new projects were launched in the Bay, both offering help and support for people experiencing barriers to volunteering or employment – STEPS Forward and Positive People.

Both projects were not just successful, but also transformative. Positive People, in particular, was instrumental in helping many people over the age of 25 who were unemployed, financially and socially isolated, to build better futures for themselves through a range of training, education, volunteering, and work placement opportunities.

By 2019, Torbay Communities had evolved its focus from adults and older people to include young people. This shift was marked by the Imagine This… partnership, a collaboration with nearly 50 VCSE organizations, all dedicated to working with children, young people, and families across Torbay.

Ultimately, young people decided on five priorities that they continue to lead and work on to this day – more spaces to hang out, reduced stress and anxiety, greater access for all, safer streets and ways to protect our environment.

In his annual report in 2019 the chair of the trustees, Chris Forster looked back at the first five years of Torbay Communities and noted: “We have brought in circa £10 million to support community and voluntary activity in Torbay, stimulated the creation of more than 70 jobs and supported more than 1,650 bidders.

“We have led two VCSE partnerships, fostering collaboration and new approaches for both young and old that assist in reducing demand for statutory services and involve people in the delivery.

“We have designed and delivered a social prescribing system to tackle social isolation, that includes asset-based community development, timebanking, peer support, digital and financial inclusion for people 50+.

We have facilitated Torbay becoming a part of the UK Age-friendly network, the development of an older people’s charter and the creation of the Torbay over 50’s Assembly.

“We have developed community resilience across Torbay and become a national leader in delivering strengths or asset-based approaches in the community, with the largest scheme of its type in the country.

“Community Builders enable neighbours to look after each other and look out for each other. We have 19 Community Builders working across the 30 neighbourhoods. Community Builders identify the ‘connectors’ in each neighbourhood – the people that hold their community together, that know what is going on and who’s who. By linking these connectors together and working alongside them we help to transform communities”

By the end of the first five years were able to boast that as a result of our work in communities across Torbay:

• A 33% increase in participants feeling they belonged to their neighbourhood/community
• An 84% increase in the number of participants talking to neighbours or others in their community
• A 143% increase in participants who felt they were able to use their skills, knowledge and/or expertise for the benefit of their community
• A 74% increase in participants who felt the social activities in their neighbourhood were meeting their needs
• A 32% increase in participants feeling they could influence decisions affecting their local area.

And then, in March 2020, the world changed with the arrival of COVID and Torbay Communities flexed once again responding swiftly with the launch of the Torbay Community Coronavirus Helpline. But more on that next week.