One Year On: The Alliance

We’re part of The Alliance in Battersea. We’ve recently written a report about the work we’ve done together over the last year. It’s an update for our partners and funders. We thought you might find it interesting too.

The Alliance 

The Alliance has been formed by the Big Local SW11 (which is an independent, resident-led group that has been awarded £1m over 10 years to invest in projects that improve opportunities for local people and strengthen our community) to help deliver its own strategy of building a stronger, more self-reliant Battersea.

A partnership of six local long-standing, trusted and passionate organisations (Big Local SW11, Caius House, Carney’s Community, Katherine Low Settlement, Providence House, St Peter’s Church). We have deep community roots and social relations that span many generations. We are working together, alongside 30+ other local community delivery partners, to rebuild the social fabric of Battersea.

Headlines

 Over the past year the Alliance has:

• Secured £360,000 new funding to support the Alliance and BLSW11 initiatives in Battersea
• Appointed a worker to deliver Battersea Youth Voice
• Appointed a Volunteer Coordinator to support groups and organisations in BLSW11 and Battersea with volunteers
• Successfully hosted Battersea Charities Week 2019
• Initiated and helped to deliver a £100,000 Emergency Covid-19 Community Support Fund

Summary

More on offer

In 2018 if you were a young person living on the Winstanley, York Road Estates you might (or might not) belong to a youth club with a limited range of things to do; in 2020 you could belong to a network of six organisations which offers a much bigger range of things to get involved in for you, your siblings and family.

One of the first acts of the new Alliance was to set up a system of referrals between each organisation so that a young person might be a member of (say) Carney’s but could get support from Providence House, Caius House, etc.

This alone is breaking down barriers between different parts of our community.

A good example of this is the work done between Carney’s and Caius to support a victim of a shooting to deal with anxiety issue and to engage in education and positive activities. As result this person and his family have accessed extended support from both organisations, he has done work with Caius and was a panel member that interviewed for the Battersea Youth Voice workers role.

A Louder voice

The Alliance’s multiagency approach has been recognised in the responses of statutory and non-statutory organisations in Wandsworth, with consultations being held with community leaders, heads of Department in the Council, the MP for Battersea and other key stakeholders and potential partners, many of who have attended Alliance meetings.

Increasing influence

There is some evidence that the Alliance helped to shape Wandsworth Council’s response to Covid-19 with regard to the Voluntary Community Sector and was instrumental in the design of the emerging Covid Grant Fund.

Throughout the Covid-19 pandemic the Alliance has been a strong supporter of local initiatives including the Battersea Coronavirus Angels, Waste Not Want Not, Kambala Care, the Covid-19 Mutual Support Network and many others.

Strengthening the sector

The Alliance led on Battersea Charity Week 2019. It was involved in the planning for the postponed 2020 Battersea Communities Month events which will be developed for 2021 as a networking and mutual aid programme for community organisations and charities in Big Local SW11 and Battersea.

Working together for Battersea

The Alliance regularly collaborates across a range of projects and is increasingly looking at measures that aim to address isolation, loneliness and mental health issues (all BLSW11 priorities).

• Battersea Youth Voice (BYV) – the appointment of a Youth Worker to oversee the development of BYV will aim to include young people who might not otherwise engage with their peers and local community; support, training and guidance on project planning, research and engagement will see young people gaining a voice and a space for developing their own responses to bullying, depression and low aspiration. Managed by Caius House on behalf of BLSW11 and the Alliance the worker will help to deliver this key BLSW11 Objective.
• Battersea Volunteers – our State of the Sector report (2018) identified 55 organisations with 1300 volunteers operating in the BLSW11 area; it also showed where there are gaps in provision and potential opportunities for more of our residents to get involved in the life of our community. The newly appointed volunteer coordinator will support local groups and individuals to get the best from volunteering.

Details

The following provides a snapshot account of the Alliances joint work and collaboration between October 2019, February 2020 after which the focus was directed towards Covid-19 issues and meetings were conducted weekly online until June, when meetings become bi-monthly and returned to monthly since August 2020.

Contact

To find out more about The Alliance visit here.