TORUS Foundation has won a £494,000 National Lottery grant to continue its Healthy Neighbours scheme – including two projects in Warrington.
Longford Neighbourhood Service Centre and The Friends of St Elphin’s Park will benefit from the two-year award which will also cover areas of Liverpool and St Helens.
The Foundation – the charitable arm of housing group Torus – focuses on projects that are intended to promote community cohesion, bringing people from different backgrounds together to strengthen neighbourhoods.
The grant is a testament to the success of a pilot commissioned by Torus Foundation and delivered in partnership with local organisations.
The Warrington projects – and the volunteers and community members – have been integral to the initiative. .By gathering research and consulting with their community, volunteer champions helped the commissioned organisations to understand their communities better and enhance service delivery.
Activities have so far included sessions to help reduce isolation, support people’s well-being, encouraging community members to stop smoking and increase their physical activity, as well as making improvements to their environment and much more.
Since the initiative was launched in April last year, 141 Healthy Neighbour volunteers have delivered over 2130 hours of their time, supporting 2067 individual people who have engaged with the 918 activities and support sessions organised to deliver the project.
Many could be facing wider challenges in their community and Torus Foundation is experiencing an increase in the need for its services.
The team is working within neighbourhoods with more exacerbated health issues post-pandemic, more entrenched, long-term unemployment and the cost-of-living crisis has created further disparities across Torus communities.
Kate Shone, managing director at Torus Foundation, said: “This incredible grant from the National Lottery has come at a critical time, as it will allow Torus Foundation to continue contracts with the four commissioned organisations. By empowering community members, the project will continue to respond to local health needs by working inclusively within communities, mapping their assets, and encouraging community members to create more and stronger social connections which will improve wellbeing.”
Helen Cibinda Ntale, head of Health and Wellbeing at Torus Foundation, added: “We recognise Healthy Neighbours needs long-term investment to enable everyone involved to create the positive change intended, and thanks to this additional funding, we’re able to extend the project and continue creating evidence-based learning.
“Alongside the community organisations, we’re now in the position to embed the project fully, giving it time to strengthen relationships and generate further resilience within communities.
”So far, the Healthy Neighbours Project has given communities a voice and the work will continue to create strong, long-term partnerships built on trust and build community cohesion. The ambition is to grow the delivery of the project across further Torus communities. Healthy Neighbours is part of a wider commitment from Torus Foundation to increase investment in community action, projects and initiatives that improve lives, increase opportunity and bring people together to help create stronger communities.
