Investing in communities
We invest in places and people to create safe and healthy neighbourhoods for our tenants and residents. Here are some examples of how we’ve supported our communities over the last year.
of groups using our community buildings received support from Bolton at Home.
Total amount of external funding brought in for community groups
Number of people accessing activities/events in their communities
The graph below illustrates the different types of groups which we support across our diverse communities.
*The chart above displays some overlapping themes
Global Majority Groups from:
- Hong Kong
- Sudan
- Somalia
- The Congo
- The Caribbean
- Sri Lanka
- Iraq
- Africa
- Refugees and Asylum Seekers
- Groups open to people from any Global Majority
UCAN centres
Our Urban Care and Neighbourhood (UCAN) Centre teams continued to help customers with money advice and welfare and employment support, leading to over £234,000 in financial gains for customers and assisting 86 people in finding jobs.
Community buildings
We invested in 18 community buildings and 28 outdoor sites in the heart of our neighbourhoods, creating valuable spaces for people to connect and engage.
Local groups
We supported 137 local groups and organisations with grants, training, and development.
Tenants benefited
We organised various community activities throughout the year, benefiting over 18,000 tenants, family activities during school holidays, youth groups, and English classes for speakers of other languages.
Culture
We proudly continued to invest in arts and culture opportunities for our customers, such as theatre tickets, outdoor performances, and creative projects for young people.
Helping people with the cost of living
As the cost of living continues to affect our communities, we’ve invested in initiatives to support those who need it the most. This includes activities such as:
Warm spaces: supporting communities to open community hubs during the colder months, offering food, warmth, and a friendly welcome.
Christmas dinners: working with Urban Outreach, we supported Christmas Dinner on Jesus, delivering Christmas dinners to 253 vulnerable customers across Bolton.
Summer holidays lunches: we run several Bolton Lunches sites in our neighbourhoods, distributing 14,854 free packed lunches to 1,233 children via our sites over the six-week period.
Pantry food support: we run four Pantry locations, offering vital free food packages to customers, and more importantly, wrap around support to access money advice, talking therapies, and back to work provision to help people become financially independent. This year, 734 people were supported by this provision.
Nurturing community champions
We employ local tenants and residents as Peer Navigators in partnership with Bolton Community and Voluntary Services (CVS).
They act as community connectors and champions for their neighbourhoods. Since the programme started in 2018, we’ve recruited 34 Peer Navigators and we currently employ six who work within our neighbourhoods.
Our work in communities is made possible by the support of local volunteers. We’re thankful to everyone who freely gives their time to make our neighbourhoods better places to live. This year, we supported the work of 2,507 local volunteers, delivering over 260,000 hours of service.
Our Community Engagement Team works hard to enhance our service offer. In 2023/24, they brought an additional £374,525 into Bolton at Home to utilise in our community engagement work. They also supported local groups and organisations to attract a further £248,583 of external funding into our communities.
For more information, you can email ceteam@boltonathome.org.uk or visit your local UCAN centre.
Find details of our UCAN centres and Pop-Up UCAN centres at www.boltonathome.org.uk/ucan.