Coronavirus Emergency Funding

15th December 2020

One Community – the Community Foundation for the people of Kirklees – has re-opened its Coronavirus Emergency Fund to local voluntary groups and charitable organisations and is inviting applications from them as quickly as possible.

Grants (up to £5K for individual groups and £10K for hubs or anchor organisations) are being awarded for the period up to 31 March 2021 and monies must be spent by this deadline.  One Community cannot accept applications for loss of income due to the pandemic.  Projects must focus on Coronavirus-related need.  Priorities for immediate relief:

• Organisations that support the on-going needs of vulnerable people to ensure that their health and wellbeing is maintained
• Organisations in support of activities that relieve pressure on local statutory services, particularly emergency or health and social care provisions, or compliment their repose
• Groups and activities that support vulnerable people self-isolating (the elderly, people with pre-existing medical conditions, those contacted by track and trace)
• Support for food banks/food and hygiene provision and organisations working to combat hardship caused by the pandemic, including child hunger
• Additional support as required for emotional support, mental health and bereavement support

They are particularly keen to receive applications from organisations that support BAME Communities.

What can you apply for?

The cost of food and hygiene products, delivery costs, for example, petrol, PPE and additional cleaning costs, volunteer costs responding to the effects of the crisis, staffing cost relating to the project, equipment costs etc.

Who is eligible to apply?

Voluntary and community organisations, including but not limited to:

 registered charities, including charitable incorporated organisations, community benefit society 

 constituted organisations and non-registered charities

 community interest companies and community benefit societies

 Parent-Teacher Associations (PTAs)

 Religious organisations (if the funded activity is not deemed to be proselytising).

https://www.one-community.org.uk/looking-for-funding/coronavirus-emergency-fund.php

Dalton Together Features in Huddersfield Times

15th December 2020

Dalton Partnership Providing Christmas Hampers To Those In Need

By Jonathan Evans

Covid-19 is continuing to have a profound impact on us all and this Christmas lots more families are finding themselves living in poverty, struggling to heat their homes, feed their children and buy presents.Following a successful summer project offering hot meals and food parcels to vulnerable families unable to access free school meal vouchers, Greenfields Family Centre, working in partnership with Dalton Together is offering luxury Christmas hampers and a seven-day essential food and hygiene package to some of the most vulnerable families within their local community.

Lesley Stephenson, Development Manager at Greenfields Family Centre Dalton said “What we want to do is to ensure that our most vulnerable neighbours are able to enjoy some Christmas food and gifts. Working closely with partner organisations across the Dalton Ward we have been able to identify over 100 families who we will be able to help relieve some of the stress associated with Christmas. Families who were dreading the festive season will now wake up on Christmas morning to gifts for all the family and those little extras that make Christmas special”.

The family hampers, which will reach nearly 500 recipients have been made possible by the generosity of the local community. Individuals, families, businesses, community groups, a junior football club, churches and schools have all contributed. In addition, Greenfields Family Centre will also provide food and hygiene parcels from the foodbank based at the Centre, using funding that they secured from The Third Sector Leaders Supporting Communities Fund.

Local Dalton Ward Councillors; Musarrat Khan, Naheed Mather and Peter McBride are closely supporting this Christmas Food Sharing Initiative and have contributed a further £2,000 from their Covid ward budget to ensure more families and individuals can benefit from the hampers and the food parcels.

Huddersfield Times visited the team of volunteers on Thursday morning and it was fantastic to see their hard work.

Anyone who wishes to donate to the project can visit https://daltontogether.co.uk/christmas-hamper-appeal/ for all the details.

Free energy & money saving Green Doctor service

15th December 2020

The Green Doctors visit around 2000 homes each year across the Yorkshire and North East regions. We help households to save between £100 – 1000 per year on their energy bills through switching and increased energy efficiency whilst also making homes warmer and healthier.

The Green Doctor service is completely free and provides valuable assistance to many vulnerable households. It may be an elderly person needing help switching, a young family applying for energy grants, or perhaps someone suffering from a health condition exacerbated by the cold and struggling to keep their home to a safe temperature. The scheme is open to eligible people (see attachment) in all types of tenure. Housing Associations, Local Councils, privately rented and privately owned residents are all offered the opportunity to participate in the Green Doctor scheme. The aim of the service is to provide ‘assisted action’ in order for people to maximise their income and to ’empower’ consumers to make informed decisions.

Programme criteria

1.    Low income               

2.       Living with debt

3.       Physical health issues

4.       Mental health issues

5.       Dementia   

6.       Disabled

7.       In emergency accommodation

8.       Poor housing conditions

9.       In receipt of benefits

How does the programme work?

REFERRAL:
The local referral network provides referrals of vulnerable residents who are in (or at risk of falling into) fuel poverty.

SELF-REFERRAL:
A householder can apply directly or be referred by a professional / organisation.

HOME ENERGY VISIT:
A highly-trained Green Doctor Home Energy Adviser then carries out a home/telephone visit. This includes both a thorough assessment of the home such as checking for adequate loft and cavity wall insulation, boiler and central heating systems functionality and immediate financial help. They can install a range of technical measures including: LED light bulbs, reflective radiator panels, draught-proofing doors and windows and cylinder jackets. The Green Doctor assessor will provide tailored in – depth energy efficiency advice and help look for a better deal on energy bills and applying for grants such as the Warm Homes Discount. All the team are trained to assess and advise on issues relating to damp, mould & condensation such as behavioural changes to be made by the tenant to reduce the problem and impact upon the building fabric and decoration.

POST VISIT:
Based on the findings of the home visit there are a range of onward referrals that can be made. These include: referral to an income maximisation service, assessment for larger energy efficiency measures (insulation and heating), referral to the local fire service Safe & Well scheme, and identification of serious hazards in the home. With over 12 years experience, the Green Doctor team are highly trained in dealing with the wide variety of issues that present themselves during the many home visits we make and we have built partnerships with many local support organisations.

All Green Doctors are trained to City & Guilds Level 3 Energy Awareness 6281-01 as a minimum. We also have 2 fully qualified City & Guilds 6361 Domestic Energy Assessors who are able to assess properties and households for larger energy efficiency measures such as central heating systems and cavity / loft insulation. In addition all our Green Doctor team are trained to identify, advise and support households with damp, mould and condensation issues.

The Green Doctors have training in mental health awareness, suicide awareness, safeguarding, de-escalation techniques, crime prevention, dementia friendly training, Better Conversations, Universal Credit, Falls, Trips and hazards & hoarding awareness training.

In terms of outreach/marketing/promotion the Green Doctors delivered almost 200 presentations, talks and workshops in the last year to a wide range of both frontline professional workers and local community groups. We also deliver in-depth training with our own Green Doctor Accredited ‘Fuel Poverty Awareness’ course.

In order to increase awareness of this free service, the Green Doctors are delivering a series of presentations / group training sessions to both community groups and frontline workers.

Community group and Frontline worker sessions

Presentations may consist of a 30 – 60 min talk, can be tailored to suit the venue and the audience and cover such topics as:
 

• Switching supplier

• Tariffs

• Payment options

• Smart Meters

• Energy efficiency

• Damp / Mould / Condensation advice

• Additional support

• Carbon Monoxide

• Green Doctor service

We have found from previous years’ experience of delivering these energy / money saving presentations that they are both popular and vital in enabling consumers and frontline workers to better understand their energy options in order to take advantage of the best possible tariffs, grants and schemes available.

We can also come along to drop-in-sessions at children’s centres, One Stop centres, Community centres, Foodbanks and events.

Please see the attached Green Doctor leaflet for full details of the service.

We’re also running a variety of training/information sessions throughout the winter – here’s some dates for our fuel poverty training course aimed for frontline workers, which has been well attended & gained some postive feedback – all are welcome.

16/12/2020

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/130563479883

06/01/21

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/130563626321

20/01/21

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/130563780783

Green-Doctor-home-visit-flyer-2020

Looking after your mental health this winter

14th December 2020

24 hour mental health helpline and free training

A new 24 hour mental health helpline has been launched, offering confidential help and advice to anyone who is registered with a GP in Kirklees. There is also some free training available to support you with talking about mental health, delivered by the Zero Suicide Alliance and Future Learn. Find out more:

24 hour mental health helpline and free training

Wellbeing web page

Community Response Kirklees have created a new web page so that it’s easier for you to find the latest information about wellbeing support.

Looking after each other’s wellbeing during Covid-19

mental-health-support-card

MH-Partnership-Covid-poster-August-2020

Whats-On-Booklet-January-to-March-2021-PDF

Support For Staying Warm This Winter

8th December 2020

VIS_Affordable-Warmth-leaflet-2020-CM2405.9

VIS_Affordable-Warmth-poster-2020-CM2405.11

Angels Come in All Shapes & Sizes

8th December 2020

Employment Training and Support

26th November 2020

DT-Training-and-Support-Poster

dip-Leaflet-18.08.20

Works-Better-e-leaflet

Kirklees-Wide-SBS-marketing

Top tips for saving money this Christmas

15th November 2020

Brass-Loan-Shark-Christmas-Card-A5-ART

Yetton News

7th November 2020

yetton27autumn20v3-1

Dalton Together continues to help and support the HD5 Mutual Aid Group as it relaunches due to 2nd lockdown

5th November 2020

Volunteers in our area came together in March to help and support residents within the whole HD5 area. Each area had a local coordinator ensuring we could help with shopping, prescriptions, post office deliveries or even a friendly call.

We have now gone into lockdown for a second time and the group has re-launched to help residents where they can during this difficult time

We ask residents to consider:

 Using local suppliers where you can – get ready for the month ahead in the coming days, and if you haven’t registered to order online/pharmacy etc, if would be wise to do that now, if you can.

Check in on your neighbours, and let them know if you’re able to assist in the coming weeks – a doorstep drop could be a lifesaver, for some

 Be aware of previous/circulating scams.

 If you do need extra support, please contact the Council on the hotline 01484 226919.

 We may also need more volunteers if demand increases within our area. So, if you can help in anyway please have a look at our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/groups/199737537963393/

Covid-19 Mutual Aid – Huddersfield HD5 Public Group | Facebook