Weekly Engagement Update

🍺 This week kicked off with an afternoon of seasonal fun at The Courtyards’ Oktoberfest! Residents enjoyed German-themed food a raffle and musical entertainment from Independent Living Facilitator John!

🌧️ The Engagement team carried out a mini pop-up in the Ashton area, promoting our Winter Warmer sessions in November, which will support tenants with heating, cookery and money advice as the weather gets colder.

🤝 The team also spoke to tenants in Dawson and Aughton Walks in the city centre, consulting them about the removal of some benches which are a focus for anti-social behaviour, as well as a range of ways they can get involved. As you can see, they're sporting new CGA-branded beanies, ready for winter!

👮‍♀️ Engagement Officer Eddie spent some time in Moor Nook, following up an environmental audit by the Police, to see how we could support them in the area.

💻 Our Gateway Central group met on Thursday evening for an Insight and Information workshop, and were given new Chrome Books to help them carry out their roles. Gateway Central is a sub-committee of our Board, overseeing the development of our Community Empowerment Strategy, monitoring customer service performance and look at all tenant consultation activity. If you’d be interested in getting involved, let us know by emailing get.involved@communitygateway.co.uk.

🙋🏽‍♂️ It’s been another busy week here at CGA, which kicked off with our Chief Executive, Rob Wakefield, joining Gateway Central at their meeting to talk them through his ideas for our new Vision, Values and Corporate Plan. The Committee shared plenty of opinions and insight to help shape and develop these projects before they’re presented to Board next week.

👩‍👧‍👦 Our Engagement team joined Tenancy Management colleagues at the launch of LCC’s Preston Family Hubs, which was also well attended by local partners and families.

🍎 Sharon was in Moor Nook to sign up another allotment holder, and was happy to see the apple trees full of lovely-looking fruit!

🪑 Eddie and Lisa visited one of city centre neighbourhoods to check out some benches which tenants had identified as being a focus for anti-social behaviour. This is part of a wide project to tackle ASB in the area.

🤝🏽 The team also held a community pop-up in the St Matthews area, meeting tenants and chatting about ways they can get involved.

🧽 Our Cleansing team have been busy on the Grange Estate, power washing the communal outdoor space to improve the environment for everyone.

This week our Engagement Officers have been out and about in the Holme Slack area, chatting to tenants about our upcoming Annual General Meeting on 7th September as well as other ways to get involved.

We held the final session of our School Uniform Store on Thursday, taking the grand total of people we’ve helped to 101 families, providing 215 kids with 805 items of uniform ahead of the new school term 👔

Friday was the first time we’ve worked with new partners, Rebuild with Hope charity, who held a pop-up sale of high-street goods at heavily discounted prices at The Hub at St Bernards 🛒 The sale was really well attended, with lots of our tenants there to grab a bargain or two. Rebuild with Hope plough all profits back into the charity and are also donating a portion to help support CGA tenants over Winter. We’re looking forward to more joint projects in the future.

The team also called in at the last Cook, Eat, Repeat session this afternoon. These family cookery workshops have been really popular, helping tenants make budget friendly meals for everyone to enjoy 👨🏽‍🍳🥕

🥞 Our Engagement team joined the gang at Farri Park's Wednesday Breakfast Club this week - check out Dot's fry-up! They also took the opportunity to call in at the Over 50s Friendship Club on Thursday, where everyone was enjoying crafts and lunch together.

🎨 At The Hub on Grange Park, they met with manager Michelle to discuss upcoming activities before dropping in at a community Art Club at Soundskills.

🍰 It was great to see the community fridge being well used at Preston Community Hub, and the team finished the week with a visit to another Cook, Eat, Repeat session with Beanstalk Cookery, where families were having a lovely time creating budget-friendly dishes together. This week's treats were cake pops!