Plymouth City Council has worked with communities during the COVID-19 pandemic to provide community-led solutions. In particular, it was becoming increasingly apparent that the pandemic had the potential to leave some of the city’s most vulnerable residents isolated, distressed and worried.
In response to the challenges posed by coronavirus, the Plymouth Good Neighbours Scheme (PGNS) was set up to support the mobilisation of Plymouth’s Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise Sector, empowering residents, businesses and wider stakeholders to play a key role in safeguarding those most at risk. PGNS was set up to harness and organise the goodwill demonstrated during the pandemic and was developed by identifying old and new partners across the city and linking them with volunteers.
PGNS was promoted through a social media campaign and online forums. The Council produced case studies and profiles on some of the volunteers on Facebook and Twitter. PCC was able to call on the skills and experience of the ‘Mayflower 400’ team that included project managers, a volunteer co-ordinator and a bank of volunteers, as well as other employees to set up PGNS. It has interfaced with a wide range of groups – from Caring for Plymouth, which provides support for people who are extremely vulnerable, to the Devon and Cornwall Chinese Association (DCCA), who donated 34,000 face masks to the Council to be distributed to those in need.
An online volunteer response form was created to gather information from those interested in volunteering, with over 700 people registering. Community partners were involved from the start; key voluntary and community sector partners attended a twice-weekly planning and response meeting which focused on coordinating the volunteer response.
The projects were a success, helped by the co-operative values of collaboration and partnership working which were embedded into the projects from the outset. Successes were very many and very wide-ranging; from supporting more than 80 households in ending digital exclusion with the Plymouth Hope WiFi project, to the Biker 19 Group of motorcyclists delivering medication to vulnerable people shielded through the Council’s Caring for Plymouth hub.
The Council, working with our partners across the city, has continued to build on the lessons learned during this stage of the pandemic and to harness the collective power of so many volunteers across the city using the goodwill and infrastructure developed through PGNS to continue to support the most vulnerable residents.