Communication has been crucial during the Covid-19 pandemic as normal channels have been disrupted and people have needed to swiftly find new ways of interacting with each other. Our teams across the city have worked with Brighton & Hove City Council as well as local services in each of their areas to create local community newsletters directing people to services which meet whatever needs they might have.
TDC’s community development worker in the West of the city, Mark Drayton, has praised the work of the local volunteer newsletter delivery team in the Portslade and Portland Road area.
One challenge they have been dealing with since the Covid-19 outbreak is in delivering newsletters across political wards totalling almost 15,000 addresses. This piece of work has been essential in making sure that individuals and families are able to connect with vital services. Prior to receiving the newsletter this may not have been the case especially if residents had no computer access.
Along with the Community Engagement Team at BHCC, Mark has been supporting the newsletter team by organising the volunteers to deliver across the two wards in Portslade. This has been a huge undertaking to liaise with them and council colleagues to make sure streets/flats, etc weren’t duplicated or missed. Once the newsletters were received Mark allocated them across the volunteer base to be delivered to individual households. The work all volunteers did distributing across their area of the city was outstanding. Their hard work has meant that food aid and advice during the Covid-19 lockdown has reached many isolated residents. TDC’s Cal Chester has also been able to support residents with their enquiries and the Extra Time Food hub has been distributing food parcels every week after residents contacted the council for emergency food using the contact details listed in the newsletter. Going forward these residents will continue to be supported where before they may have been missed.
