The team, which consists of a Community Investment Manager, Community Investment Officer, Tenancy Readiness Officer and Welfare Advice Officer, has been able to gain and utilise funding from various sources such as The National Lottery Community Fund, Scottish Government, Scottish Federation of Housing Associations, and East Renfrewshire Council, to tackle poverty and inequality for local families with its coordinated partner and community volunteering approach.

Across their communities, the team has supported the delivery of cooking, exercise and craft workshops, employability workshops and supported people though the cost-of-living crisis.

Highlights have included:

• Through the Brighter Futures Project, the team has tackled poverty and inequality for local families with a co-ordinated partner and community volunteer approach, engaging with 1200 people.
• 139 people have taken part in Cooking, Exercise and Arts and Craft Workshops.
• £16,000 has been awarded to various Community projects in Barrhead, through a BHA Community Fund 2022 Voting Event, with over 380 community members voting on the projects they wished to see funded.
• Through ERC’s Young Persons Guarantee project 22 young people have completed an intense employability course and we have created 2 internal paid 6-month work placements, one of which has become an extended 12 month role.
• 82 people accessed a warm welcoming space either in the ARC Café or Totnosh premises.
• The team received 227 Welfare Advice Referrals and recovered £310,711.52
• We created a Tenant Support Fund with £30,425 distributed ito 164 customers to help with the Cost of Living crisis and £5,200 of payments to 26 customers to help with Fuel Debt
• £30,000 has been distributed to customers to have carpets installed in their homes through a local business: Flooring Solutions Scotland, Barrhead.
• £10,450 of Food Vouchers and Kitchen Equipment has been purchased and distributed to Customers in need of food and kitchen equipment.
• 17 Referrals Back 2 School Bank ER to provide new warms clothes, school uniforms, and supplies have been completed.
• A £15 Christmas Present for every young customer 15 and under has been bought and distributed and we held a Christmas party for 80 Young Customers.
• Barrhead has delivered a Tenancy Sustainment course to 250 Young People from local High Schools.

Barrhead Housing received national recognition last week as the team won the Runner Up Award as the ‘Champion of the Year: Organisation” for their Community Investment Activity, amongst so many other worthy nominees at the TPAS Scotland National Good Practice Awards. 

Lorna Wilson, CEO, said: “This success demonstrates the exceptional work of Community Investment Team, who have developed a wide range of local partnerships and work tirelessly to strengthen and grow our community anchor role for the benefit of our customers and the wider community.”

Building on this success, in June, Barrhead Housing was awarded a grant of over £260k through the Scottish Government’s Investing in Communities Fund for their Brighter Futures Barrhead project to tackle poverty and inequality in their most deprived communities and with this funding, they can take a community-leading role in this. With a coordinated and community-led approach, they will work with 11 of their grassroots community partners to deliver a range of projects to reduce poverty and support those experiencing difficulties in the local area over the next three years.

The Community partners include:

• Dunterlie Food Share: Provision of Food that would have become food waste
• Dunterlie Babies and Tots: Safe space for the children to socialise, play and develop
• Dunterlie Arts and Craft: Volunteer-run group that teaches art skills and reuses materials by recycling into new products
• Dunterlie Parent Peer Group: Bumps, Births and Boobies: Focus on breastfeeding and supporting families in our communities from pre-birth to post-birth
• Back to School Bank East Renfrewshire: Provision of School Uniforms and essential school equipment to families who are struggling to meet these costs
• East Renfrewshire ASN Parent Action Group: ASN support group for activities in the Waterworks with a focus on food growing, gardening and outdoor play
• Totnosh: Family cooking programme in community centres engaging families at risk of food poverty and engaging parents and children to cook together and tackling holiday hunger
• InCahootz: Drama group which uses issue-based theatre that focuses on developing confidence, social skills, empathy, and theatre skills
• Prestige Analysis: Health and wellbeing and exercise programme in community venues
• East Renfrewshire Culture and Leisure: Digital Inclusion Workshops in the Community
• Steph Davidson Textiles: Community-based Upcycling and recycling workshops for BHA Customers to make household items
• The Tenancy Readiness Officer will create and deliver a Scottish-based tenancy independent living skills course designed to improve the skills and confidence of vulnerable young people taking on a tenancy.

Bryan Dando, community investment manager, added: “We are extremely grateful to receive this Investing in Communities funding from the Scottish Government, which will help us cement us as a consistent, constant and trusted presence in our communities and build on and surpass the work we have done this past year.

“We will be Investing in our Barrhead Communities over the next 3 years during the Brighter Futures Barrhead Project, providing funding and working with a number community partners and organisations who have the specific grassroots expertise and insight to work with our communities for a brighter future.”