Our Community Connections Project, funded by the National Lottery Community Fund in October 2018, aims to reduce isolation and loneliness in the local area by providing opportunities enabling local people to come together to share experiences, improve social contact, provide support, identify challenges and become more connected within the community.
This initiative will benefit the participants of the programmes events and activities as well as those providing delivery of the services, which will impact positively on wider community cohesiveness/ harmony.
Recent research indicates that both extremes of the age range - old and young - experience isolation and loneliness. As communities we need to reach out and understand the factors at play and enable local people to reconnect with their community and re-establish their sense of connectedness.
The inclusiveness of the programme will enable shared learning and mutual support by encouraging the whole community to review how the most vulnerable are supported, acknowledging that isolation and loneliness impacts on others as well and is not exclusively experienced by the elderly.