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The Collective is now a representative alliance of organisations with a common purpose - to place the Voluntary, Community, Faith and Social Enterprise (VCFSE) sector at the heart of Trafford’s locality plan and health and social sector reform. We want to develop the sector’s role as an equal strategic partner to oversee collective engagement in design and delivery of work.
Since the pandemic hit, the Collective has been working across Trafford to make sure people have the support they need during the challenges created by the pandemic.
Six Community Response Hubs were set up in March 2020 to offer an immediate response to the situation. Each Hub was led by VCFSE organisation, and offered support across the entire borough of Trafford. People needing support with needs like food, fuel and medication called a central helpline, run by Citizens Advice Trafford, who directed the callers to their local Hub as well as providing any information, advice, or further referrals they might need. The Collective was a key partner in helping to shape the strategy of this work, and provide support for member organisations as part of this model: https://www.traffordhubs.org/
Despite the pandemic the Collective has continued its development as an organisation. We have established a project group and regular cycle of meetings to engage and develop the membership, agreed and delivered key priorities for 2020/2021, and secured funding from Trafford Council and Trafford Clinical Commissioning Group to deliver these priorities.
A year on from when the pandemic began, the Collective is continuing to support recovery work in Trafford, ensuring we build back better. Our overall ambition is to create a sustainable VCFSE sector in Trafford through developing a Community Partnership framework that will reduce health inequality and contribute to improving health and well-being outcomes for all Trafford residents.
