The aim of our work is to strengthen and promote local voluntary and community organisations and the communities they work with. Find out more in our most recent impact report.
Below are example case studies from our Health & Wellbeing team, Organisational Development team and Community Development team collected between April 2019 and March 2020.
Health and Wellbeing
Case Study 1- The Dementia Support Service from Age UK:
Mrs P (93 years old) enjoyed weekly visits from Age UK's dementia support service, discussing the client's interest in ballet as well as conversations about the clients childhood. Age UK made an album for the client about the different ballets, which the client enjoyed going through. Mrs P was invited to exercise classes and to the memory café which she had started to attend. She said that she is enjoying them, and the visits and the activities have improved her mood.
NHS referrer feedback was that the dementia support service had benefited Mrs P and given her an opportunity to engage with others apart from family members. Her mood had improved and was much happier. Mrs P enjoyed the social environment of the memory café and interaction with people who share the same condition. Her daughter stated it had helped her access her interests, such as attending a ballet performance with the Dementia Group. Mrs P said she wants to continue to attend the Memory café and looks forward to the weekly visits of the Dementia Support worker.
Case Study 2 – The Link Up service from Open Age (OA):
Mr L (90 years old ) lives alone, and due to various health conditions was becoming more socially isolated and showing signs of memory issues. He had a very active life working as an antiques dealer and travelling the world.
Mr L is interested in art and signed up to the OA art class and did an amazing drawing which was admired by others there but the client was quite self-depreciating about it. Mr L also went along to a trip to Kew Gardens and really enjoyed the excursion. "I'll tell you what, it feels great getting out and being part of a group... I was pushing myself into myself and now I feel like I've come out of my shell...I feel like I've gone back 40 years. Like I'm in a different body. But I feel like I'm in the present."
The client has since attended an OA lunch group at a local Spanish restaurant, and has also been signed up for the Steady & Stable programme to help improve balance and fitness.
Find out more about Health and Wellbeing projects or contact [email protected] for information.
Organisational Development
Case Study 1 - An example of KCSC's work:
An organisation had been running as an unincorporated association for nearly a decade. The board decided that they wanted to grow and expand and in order to do so they needed access to funding opportunities that were only available to registered companies and charities. We met with them and discussed what legal structures they wanted to go with. As a result the board members decided that they would like to become a community interest company (CIC), and we assisted in helping completing the online forms. We then helped the organsation look at funding applications that they had not been successful with and gave feedback for future applications. They have now submitted their CIC paperwork and will be applying for funding after also attending our grant funding training for beginners.
Case Study 2 - The Natural History Museum:
The Natural History Museum wanted to look at how they could best support organisations in the borough during COVID-19. The KCSC team attended Zoom meetings with staff members from the museum to look at how they can support residents that have not got access to learning resources that the museum provide online. With KCSC's support, they have started to design and deliver printed learning suggestions to food banks in the borough that can be distributed with food deliveries to residents.
Find out more about Organisational Development support or contact [email protected]
Community Development
Case Study - Council's Charter for Public Particpation - Summary of work from Joe Batty (KCSC Staff Member):
The council published a Charter for Public Participation, which was found to be weak and did not address the fundamental issues of lack of genuine co-production and participation in the North (by extrapolation the whole) of the borough. I called a Grenfell Network Group (GNG) meeting to discuss the proposal and determined that there was an appetite to make our own response to the charter.
With a template provided by Stephen Duckworth (resident and board member of KCSC) I wrote an initial response which the GNG discussed at length and after the discussion I asked for additions and amendments. Subsequent to this I called a meeting of interested parties, mostly local residents who helped me to finesse the final product.The paper was submitted after the council called for submissions, and I then set up a public meeting where the council lead for communications spoke about the council’s own draft and discussed our draft at length.
After this meeting the council substantially redrew their own paper accepting four of the five premises we put forward. Finally I spoke at the Leadership Administration meeting in favour of the new paper but still requesting the last change. The council has agreed to a six and twelve month review. It was considered a considerable result by the community.
One participant was asked, "Do you believe the council would have altered their own paper and strategy without KCSC?"
They replied, "Without question, the paper and strategy would not have changed one iota without the interventions. The council presented their paper as if we were in a financial negotiation in which they wanted to pay the lowest possible price, forcing us to work hard to move them into a position which would be the starting point of any local authority with a sincere intention to consult and empower."
Find out more about Community Engagement or contact [email protected]
Please see below previous Impact Report: