Author Archives: Dr Anne Smith
Stories of Hope
As people of faith, serving other people in our community is a key part of our DNA. Where many of us may serve in formal projects, the long-term nature of faith groups and the potential for shifting roles encourages a relational approach, which allows for […]
Why partner with faith groups?
Faith groups working in partnership play a unique role in helping people access the support they need. But why? Participants and volunteers at some of the organisations running Creative English give some powerful examples from their experiences: Trusted spaces, trusted people Accessing support in a […]
Co-designing support for diabetics and pre-diabetics
BD_Collective in Barking and Dagenham, a network of voluntary and community sector organisations, was commissioned by North East London ICB to co-design and test new solutions to improve diabetes and health literacy outcomes in the borough. As one of London’s most deprived areas, and one […]
Creative English at the ‘Creative Health in North-East London Symposium’
Last month, Anne and Martin were delighted to be invited to present about our Creative English for Health work in Barking and Dagenham at the Creative Health in North-East London Symposium to multidisciplinary stakeholders. It was a great event aimed at promoting Creative Health work […]
Creative English for Health stories of impact: “I like it because it helps my life”
Creative English for Health has been delivered over the past year in Birmingham, funded by Birmingham City Council. We are looking forward to the imminent publication of the final evaluation report on the first year of delivery, which will show the progression against all 16 […]
Café Connect – Welcoming Hong Kongers
We have been thrilled to see Café Connect groups launch in three regions of the UK to welcome Hong Kongers into the UK, by providing a place to practise conversational English, make friends, meet local people, find out about systems and services and learn about […]
Café Connect: Welcoming new arrivals from Hong Kong
FaithAction are very pleased to announce we have been awarded three contracts as part of the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities’ Hong Kong British National (Overseas) Welcome Programme from the Regional VCSE Grant Scheme. The programme will be run through partner organisations in […]
Celebrating the Successes of Our Community Champions and Capacity Building Programme
2021 saw our amazing Community Champions advocating vaccine take-up and shaping national policy and strategy by sharing the concerns and barriers faced by their communities with central government. In addition, many of them engaged (or nominated organisations to participate) in our COVID recovery capacity-building programme […]
Faith’s response to the Afghan refugee crisis
Faith-based organisation and places of worship have been quick to respond to the needs of Afghan refugees. In one example, Bushey United Synagogue was “swamped” with 3000 parcels of aid being donated in 3 days following what started as a small, private group Facebook appeal. […]
What brings togetherness?
As we look beyond the pandemic, much discussion centres on how we keep the community togetherness that’s emerged through the crisis. The pandemic has brought strangers and acquaintances together, finding creative solutions to meet immediate needs in terms of food, medication and loneliness throughout the […]
