‘Communities Matter’ to Sovereign

Sovereign Housing Association has provided £3,000 funding to Community Matters – a national charity providing support for voluntary organisations who manage community centres – to update and republish a guide that will support those trying to run their groups remotely.

At a time when community responses have been vital in tackling a national challenge in the form of COVID-19, community centres have an essential role to play in ensuring a diverse range of residents, groups and partners can continue to connect and reflect on local situations to create new ways of doing things and create services that meet very local ambitions. 

The popular handbook - Community Assets Matter - provides a thorough overview of every aspect of managing a community building and will be provided as a free-to-download resource for a limited period by Community Matters. This will enable existing community centre managers to revisit the material and for newly-formed community centre groups to reflect on their current practices.

Community Matters (Yorkshire) is also updating an extensive library of additional factsheets, which community groups across the UK will be able to access as subscribers to ‘Community Matters’.

John Wilson, Project Manager of Community Matters said: “It’s in everyone’s interest that every community centre is able to access resources like this to ensure management practice is up-to-date and sources of additional support easy to find.”

Scott Jacobs-Lange, Community Development Officer for Sovereign said: “We’re very pleased to be able to support Community Matters to update the Community Assets Matter handbook. It’s a vital resource for the groups who manage community buildings. It covers a wide range of topics including legal considerations, community engagement and facilities management. We’ll be making full use of it again and sharing it widely across our networks.”

Community groups wishing to download a copy of Community Assets Matter should email admin@community-matters.org.uk or contact 0113 450 4866

For more information about Community Matters or to subscribe to the other resources visit: www.communitymatters.org.uk