Connected Communities
Projects > Connected Communities
Funder
Haringey Council
Purpose or aim
Connected Communities has been set up to improve access to both the council and voluntary services and provide support across the borough of Haringey to encourage residents to live their version of a good life.
Project description
Haringey’s pioneering integration programme, Connected Communities, began in Autumn 2018.
The programme aims to help residents of the borough with a helping hand if needed. This can be for example capable of improving connections in the community that can lead to employment opportunities and improved wellbeing, or providing advice and support with parenting or your finances. The programme also supports migrant groups and individuals with valuable opportunities and training.
Project outcome
The programme can provide anyone in the borough support with:
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Housing
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Employment
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English lessons (Adult learning)
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Parenting and childcare
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Benefits and financial advice
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Getting involved in community activities and groups
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Applying for the EU settlement Scheme
Find out more about the project
You can find out more about Connected Communities on the Haringey Council website.
Project gallery
UASC Project (case study 1)
We were introduced to the Leaving Care Team (Young Adults Service) by the Head of Connected Communities to work with a cohort of newly arrived Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children (UASC) who were all from Eritrea. The YAS Team was experiencing difficulties in orientation for the young people who came through their doors not least because of the language barriers and the traumas they had previously faced. We were asked to work on a programme to help introduce the young people aged between 16 and 24 into life in Haringey.
The programme was careful tailored specifically to the needs of these young people taking into account their cultural background, their personal journeys and the language and understanding differences.
We put together a six week rolling programme which would encompass the following:
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Getting to know each other (story boards/mood boards)
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Food Fuel (Eating healthy on a budget)
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Finding your way around the system (Immigration, government departments etc)
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Getting Out meeting people, joining in (clubs, activities for young people)
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Staying Safe, Well & Healthy (Doctor, dentist, buses etc.)
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Next steps
This programme was delivered in partnership with organisations in and around Haringey that could support the young people dependant on the subject we were covering. The program was originally designed so that once piloted the young people could take over and run these sessions to support and welcome other arriving accompanied asylum seeking children.
We continue to work with the YAS and have recently recruited young people to volunteer in the Selby Food Hub to help them integrate, socialise, learn and practice new skills in a safe environment.
Ex Servicemens support group (case study 2)
The Local Area Co-ordinator passed on the contact details of one of the residents she was supporting.
He was an ex Peace Keeping soldier in the Polish army and had suffered multiple traumas which included mental, emotional and physical but he still had the spirit to want to create and facilitate a support group for other migrant ex servicemen who may not have access to support for PTSD from their peers or through the statutory channels.
I met with him on several occasions to talk through with him the lack of support he had received from the Army, the difficulties he and other non British ex servicemen had in expressing their emotions to authoritarian figures, how he saw the group developing and how he would make contact with other ex servicemen. He agreed that he would need to also have some professional assistance.
In helping him to attain his vision we were able to offer him support to set up his group, work with him on a marketing strategy and make key connections with Mind in Haringey and T on the Green who agreed to offer him space to host his group once per month.