Seed Fund 2014

2014 saw the first year of the Hastings Exchange seed fund, offering organisations with a community focus and academics the opportunity to gain funding to develop an idea they may have for a project in the local area.

There were 40 enquiries to the fund which resulted in 7 applications, 4 of which were successful in gaining funding.

Below is a summary of how the seed fund programme contributed to these projects  and what other support would have been useful. People highlighted the necessity of resource to help their work happen.  This enabled people to spend dedicated time on their partnerships and projects away from the day to day demands of their work.  The on-going support offered by the programme has helped projects to make changes to their initial plans and keep their project management and partnership on track.

 

Art at the Heart

Catherine Orbach, Culture Shift CIC | Irralie Doel, School of Humanities

15 community consultation sessions were carried out at local events, with 300 questionnaires completed.   The results of these have identified potential volunteers for the community organisation and helped inform future programmes and activities.  The project has helped to improve access to the organisation’s’ services through a better understanding of the pressures and dynamics of barriers people face that prevent their participation.  The university, through Irralie developed knowledge of local structures, organisations and groups as well as new relationships with community organisations which can inform future development work.  Working together has provided essential resource to support the consultation and bring rigour, through Irralie’s input to methods and analysis to make use of the results.  The project also benefitted from a student volunteer who worked on the data collection and analysis as part of her curriculum, and has developed skills that enhance her employability.

The partnership are now drafting a case study for the Culture Shift website and have presented their  findings at a Hastings Research Forum.

 

Community Resilience

Boing Boing | Claire Stubbs, School of Health Sciences

This partnership between Boing Boing and School of Health professions aimed to pilot a ‘resilience forum’. A resilience forum is a networking space that brings together a range of partners, including parents, young people, professionals and academics to learn, discuss and debate ideas and developments around resilience. The forum is now running successfully, with over 35 people attending each session. In particular, one young man with a history of youth offending has been supported to attend the forum and  lead a forum in July focused on his own story.

 

Doorstep Health, Delivered the Doorstep Way; StreetGames Empowering Young People

Ken Dullaway, Hastings Borough Council | Claire Marriott, School of Pharmacy & Biomolecular Science

A series of meetings provided time and space for partners to identify and develop research ideas. Partners eventually began to design a new health project, linked to the Royal Society of Public Health that focused on young people involved in the StreetGames programme participating in a Health Improvement course held on university premises.  The aim was to develop peer-to-peer teaching activity and support young people to communicate the knowledge gained after the course finished.  This phase of work is currently ongoing.  The course was received positively and involved university media students in supporting and recording the work.  Press coverage of the course made it into the local paper: http://www.hastingsobserver.co.uk/news/local/students-complete-health-awards-1-6682224

The partnership targeted Diabetes UK to fund a PhD studentship – this initial bid was not successful but was highlighted as having high potential impact. They were advised more preliminary data was required, which future partnership working could provide.  New project opportunities are also being identified for students to consider as part of their curriculum on both Hastings and Eastbourne campuses.  The partnership has also led to new networks being developed with academics and students on Eastbourne campus and local community networks that Claire can now connect to.

The partners are now preparing a case study for publication.

 

Private Rented Sector Model 

Kay Reynolds, Brighton Housing Trust | Marylynn Fyvie-Gauld, School of Applied Social Science

This project has developed a baseline research picture of problems facing the Hastings community who are on low income and need access to the private rented sector. Marylynn has been able to offer guidance and support on conducting research and understanding social policy in relation to housing.  The research conducted involved a series of different methods to gather information and involved volunteers in carrying out interviews and surveys.  The project also included an undergraduate student who focused on shared housing as part of their curriculum.   The partnership has allowed the community partners time away from the day-to-day operation of running a service to look at barriers to housing from different perspectives.  Working with the university has also provided a platform to access landlords and letting agents as the university has a reputation as an ‘honest broker’.  The partnership has also established a placement resource for level five students on Applied Social Science.

The partners are planning a conference paper and report for local stakeholders. The report will also be disseminated through a future Hastings Exchange Forum.  Funds for further research are being actively explored and connections to the Research Office made.

 

The next round of seed funding will launch in early February 2016. If you have an idea for a partnership project and would like to learn more, contact Ceri Davies at C.Davies@brighton.ac.uk.