Meet the people growing our communities

We’ve been working with social enterprise, 'Enterprise CUBE', to offer our residents completely free access to its Strive Live business programme, ‘the start-up hub on your sofa’

Islander Stephen was referred to our Skills 4 Work programme from the DWP. He’d been unemployed for a while but wanted to kick start his career again.

"My role as Employment and Training Officer within Skills 4 Work is a very rewarding one, supporting people to fulfil their ambitions and gain qualifications to begin a sustainable career path."

"My financial circumstances changed radically when I became a single mother, and because I wasn’t generating any income, my rent became overdue."

Caitlin joins Sovereign with the help of the Kickstarter Scheme, securing herself a 6 month extension.

The Befriend Bus is kitted out with a laptop, screen and speakers, and a coordinator will help users connect with loved ones using FaceTime, which they can do from the comfort of the bus or their home

Jack Dunn joined Sovereign through the Kickstarter scheme after leaving school during the pandemic.

Charlotte joins sovereign with her twin Chloe, giving Sovereign a double dose of Admin support.

Aaron Marcham joins Sovereign, with a passion for tech he helps with data cleansing, completing information tasks.

We’re welcoming 40 Kickstarters to Sovereign over the next few months, as part of the government scheme to get young people back into work.

From a Kickstarter to employee, Jasmine Duddy talks about Kickstart and how it has helped her.

"Housing First gave me and Trevor the support we needed to move on with our lives. An address of our own makes us feel safe, and secure."

Our £1,122 funding paid for racking and boxes, which staff and volunteers used to organise the donated items into different age groups - parents can easily choose what they need and save money.

"One of our members said they’ve made a lot of friends and it’s a uniquely supporting community where everyone looks out for each other."

Longfield Community Fridge has fed over 100 bellies since launching, and it’s open each week on a first-come, first-served basis.

Backyard Nature and our Community Development Officer Henry set up a ‘nature drop-in’ at Coniston Community Centre in Bristol.

Isolation meant many older people found they’d lost some physical health and confidence. To help improve it, we worked with Royal Voluntary Service in Banbury to create activity and wellbeing packs.

Martin applied for the Skills 4 Work programme after hearing about it from his GP surgery. He tells us about his journey so far.

Susan joined the Skills 4 Work programme after hearing about it from our Income team. She talks about her experience.

As part of our Aging well programme, we funded Life Cycle UK to run two cycle courses for over 55s at the Hillfields Pump Track in Bristol.

We supported charity Baby Necessities with a £2,057 grant, to help it buy storage and office supplies for its new community space.

Joseph Everett, Service Charge Officer, tells us how the pandemic opened his eyes to the disparities in his homelife, with home-schooling a great leveller.

Adam Rowe, Head of Finance Transformation, tells us how the pandemic changed his working patterns and why he thinks that flexible working is the way forward.

We supported zero-waste Bristol delivery service Oat Float with a £5,000 grant through our Your Community Your Choice programme.

Motherhood brought big changes for Daynah, when she realised that she wanted to become her own boss and leave the world of pub management behind.

Fifty residents enjoyed a Biodiversity Day, recently, thanks to involvement from one of our suppliers, Ground Control and £300 investment from Sovereign.

Chris is the team leader at the Foyer. For Starts at Home Day 2021, he talks about working through the pandemic, gaining accreditation for the Foyer and more.

We gave over £1,400 to Support U, a leading LGBTQ+ help and support service, as part of The Good Exchange’s mental health ‘Surviving to Thriving’ campaign,

St Pauls Carnival hosted a three-part virtual event celebrating Bristol’s African-Caribbean community and discussing the experiences of those impacted by Windrush.

Reanna joined our Youth Housing Panel last year. Growing up living in council housing, Reanna wanted to share her experiences with others.

Dawn is a confident, passionate, intelligent mum-of-one, and one of ten young people who have joined Sovereign’s new Youth Housing Forum.

An email from Sovereign asking Shawn to join our youth panel gave him the prompt he needed to get out there and make a difference.

Stuart provides personalised, 1-2-1 employment and training support to Skills 4 Work participants

We supported Zion Bristol with a £3,500 grant to adapt its entranceway to make it more inclusive.

We gave charity Pramalife £4,000 to supports its launch of Telephone Friendship Groups.

We supported Bristol's Window Wanderland, which provided resources for communities to set up their own magical illuminated window displays.

Ebony Taylorson juggles a busy schedule. Despite this, she joined our Youth Housing Panel. Here she tells us more about why signing up was important to her.

Simone is a trainee plumber at Sovereign. She explains why this new direction was the right one for her.

Jane Carmichael is a military spouse. She’s also Sovereign Housing Association’s PR Specialist. Here she discusses her experience of joining the Aspire programme.

Sophie has worked in tenancy management for seven years as a Housing Officer she talks about her decision to join the Aspire programme, and develop her leadership skills for the future.

Stevie Chadwick talks about her apprenticeship in our Communities team and how the HDN mentoring programme helped her 'step up'.

We’ve supported a new commemorative garden at Gloucestershire Royal Hospital.

Sovereign supported self-employed Nicola with a £700 grant to focus her counselling business on helping those with eating disorders.

This Spring, volunteers delivered spring-themed treats to 104 older people at risk of isolation.

More than one hundred hand-knitted chicks will be handed out by the Botley Community Larder along with fresh fruit and veg.

Kaylee is an apprentice plumber at Sovereign. She explains why she enjoys having a role where she can fix things. 

Abingdon and Witney college students have been writing postcards throughout lockdown to residents living at two Oxfordshire Housing for Older People schemes.

Older people from Basingstoke gained a bunch of fun new pals during lockdown, thanks to the sterling efforts of charity InCommon.

Sovereign has helped the West Wight Men in Sheds, based on the Isle of Wight, with a £500 grant to insure their new community van.

We invested £1,000 in Oasis-Talk’s online wellbeing course giving 10 over-55s, who have been shielding at home the opportunity to share their experiences.

Neighbourhood community group Cllick approached us to help facilitate a Seeds and Feeds edible growing and gardening project for one of our housing for older people schemes.

Dementia Friendly West Berkshire (DFWB) has launched a new website thanks to £700 funding from Sovereign Housing Association.

Lockdown has put a pause on many of our residents’ aspirations. But Keyleigh, a Sovereign resident from Tiverton remains positive.

Writing has been a passion for Ryan and moving into his Sovereign home and living alone for the first time gave him the time he needed to focus on his future career plans.

Picking up the keys to your new home is a big moment, but for 30-year-old Samatar Maygag it was life changing.