Earlier this year, Castle Vale Community Housing (CVCH), together with Castle Vale Community Partnerships (CVCP) kicked off its monthly drop-in sessions where residents could discuss local issues and concerns, community ideas or drop-in for a coffee and a friendly chat with the team. CVCH also shared information and updates on its various services and initiatives at the meetings.   

By attending you can find out more about resident engagement opportunities.  These include Block Champions, who help to improve where they live by being the eyes and ears of their local communities.  We are also recruiting for a Scrutiny Panel, which examines and challenges how well the organisation is doing and offer recommendations for improvement.  You can also find discover more about estate walkabouts, community newsletters and local events.

Details for upcoming drop-in sessions are:

• Saturday 25 June 11-1pm @ The Sanctuary
• Tuesday 19 July -2-4pm @Castle Vale Library
• Thursday 11 August 10-12am @The Meeting Place Café – St Gerard’s Church

The sessions are also attended by the following CVCH partners including:

West Midlands Police who are at most sessions can address any questions or concerns on crime prevention and community safety.  Teams within The Pioneer Group who can facilitate referrals to Employment and wider health and wellbeing services for the community.

Compass Support’s Employment team together with coaches can advise on accessing work placements, CV advice and training. The team has referred numerous residents for employment opportunities across both the private and public sectors.

Compass Support Volunteering team will provide information on how residents can get involved with the numerous initiatives taking place around the Castle Vale area.   Volunteering is a great way to connect with local communities, make friends and make a difference locally.

Castle Vale Community Housing Resident Engagement Officer, Vik Mistry, said:

We warmly welcome and encourage residents to attend our informal drop-in sessions. People come, we listen, we act. Putting tenants’ voices at the heart of everything we do, is key for us as an organisation.

The meetings allow for meaningful information sharing between CVCH, its partners and residents. The regularity of the sessions enables residents to engage with a number of different community initiatives, depending on their availability and interest. The meetings will also provide a much-welcome opportunity for tenants to connect with the CVCH team and community partners in person.

The first five sessions have worked well with more than 100 people in attendance. Myself and my team have already actioned 30 tenant concerns and tenant feedback forms which have been referred to the relevant departments including, Customer First, Repairs/maintenance and Neighborhoods teams.