The Sutton Coldfield Neighbourhood Network is one of two pilots in Birmingham looking at the provision and development of local community support to people with additional needs. The first part of our project has been to carry out asset mapping of the constituency which identified local groups, organisations and services which support people over the age of 18 who have additional needs. The pilot builds on the work already carried out across NNS to support older people, and the findings of our work in Sutton Coldfield will, we hope, inform the wider network when this is rolled out across Birmingham in 2022.
We have also endeavoured to build partnerships with both local and citywide assets providing local specialist provision, leading to a very strong working group to advise our main NNS project steering group. Our aim now is to identify the gaps in existing provision and plan out how NNS can add value and understand where investment should be best placed.
An emerging theme includes:
The provision of local organisations (assets) supporting adults with additional needs in Sutton Coldfield appears low, but there is a strong appetite amongst the wider and non-specialist assets here to offer accessible and inclusive support.
The existing groups include the active Sutton Coldfield Disability Action Group (SCDAG), an organisation with their finger on the pulse of disability and access issues in the constituency and Square Peg, who are a local provider of support for younger people with autism and learning disabilities. But citywide organisations like Midland Mencap, Focus and BID also have presence on the ground in Sutton Coldfield. One of our early achievements has been establishing an outreach advice drop-in for people who are deaf or have hearing loss, which is provided by BID services at the Age Concern Birmingham office in Boldmere.
We are also planning capacity building workshops for wider groups, aiming to make more services in Sutton Coldfield inclusive and accessible.
As our pilot continues to move into the active delivery phase we are keen to fund and develop more assets and activities for adults with additional needs in Sutton Coldfield and would encourage potential partners to get in touch with us and get involved. Please email us at
nns@ageconcernbirmingham.org.uk
or telephone 0121 362 3663.