Building capacity & increasing community resilience
QPCO grew from the ground up in one of the most multi-cultural wards in Bedford. While our work now extends across Bedford, we remain true to the belief that building capacity and self-sufficiency within our communities enriches our society and reduces barriers for many people.
The overarching aim of the project is to set up primary groups to provide a safe space and increase access and open communication between primary groups and statutory and non statutory organisations.
What is a ‘primary group’?
They are characterised by:
- Cultural familiarity, which helps vulnerable people to feel comfortable and safe – in some cases physically – to attend.
- Opportunity for fellowship, where connections are more likely to happen organically.
- Language accessibility, ensuring people are surrounded by familiar sounds and able to communicate their needs and understand advice with ease
We develops community tailored safe spaces designed to act as a stepping stone for under-represented communities. The project will develop a stronger collaboration to bring people together and keep people together, create community infrastructure such as networks, shared resources or coordinated approaches, or supporting infrastructure organisations that support the work of others groups.
The social changes and aims of this project are to:
1-Increase and develop partnership working between the diverse communities, supporting community cohesion across Bedford..
2-Give diverse communities a sense of caring about them especially groups most likely to be isolated and in the most deprived areas of Bedford. This will be all the more important in the aftermath of that extreme right-wing riots, that have targeted communities based on faith racial discrimination.
3-Increase socialising withing communities
4-Open communication and networking opportunities between communities and statutory and non-statutory organisation.
5-Increase the sense of trust amongst the hardest communities to reach, something desperately needed as the riots of recent weeks that have made many of those communities feel unwelcome, unsafe and even in fear of their lives.
Thank you the co-operative for being one of your project’s for the year 2023. The money raised through this initiative will support our capacity building work for 2024.
