Statement: Great Yarmouth Borough Council secures £465k to support community engagement during Covid-19

Cllr Carl Smith, leader of Great Yarmouth Borough Council, said: "We are very pleased to have successfully secured £465,000 from the Government's Community Champions scheme to expand our important community engagement and communications work around coronavirus, particularly with at risk groups, to further support public safety and well-being during coronavirus response and recovery.

"Working closely with our partners in the public and VCSE sectors, we have a long-established approach to fostering stronger, better connected, more resilient communities in the borough, radiating from our Great Yarmouth Community Hub, and those existing relationships, networks and services have been so vital in delivering responsive multi-agency support to our residents during this pandemic.

"This most welcome additional funding will allow us to expand our community capability and capacity to engage more proactively with our most hard-to-reach and vulnerable residents and communities, those who have perhaps felt most isolated as a result of the pandemic.

"We will undertake an intensive period of outreach work, working with our partners, supporting covid-safe community development activities and direct engagement with those residents on a one-to-one basis, reassuring vulnerable residents, providing covid advice and guidance and signposting those in need to immediate and longer-term support services."