Thetford Shines Brighter – Case Studies
Local funds for local projects
Thetford Shines Brighter is a different way of funding. Thetford people have come together to create a pot of money to help great community projects get off the ground and start changing local lives. This highly localised model gets the funding to where it is needed through community consultation and tight monitoring. By funding from grassroots sources at a grassroots level, Thetford people can deliver unparalleled community benefit by prioritising the projects that are really important to them.
“Through extensive research within the town and a survey of 100 local residents we have assembled a framework to start to build a strong thriving community that looks after the most vulnerable.”
Claire Cullens, CEO Norfolk Community Foundation
Case Study – Access Community Trust
The Access Community Trust (ACT) promotes social inclusion for the community benefit by preventing people from becoming socially excluded, relieving the needs of those who are socially excluded and assisting them to integrate into society. Thanks to a grant from Thetford Shines Brighter, ACT were able to purchase laptops and printer equipment enabling job club attendees to access vacancies online and post their CV’s to job sites. Three individuals were successful in gaining employment as a direct result of being able to use the purchased IT equipment, with the laptops also being accessed during Covid-19, providing access to housing support and benefit or financial advice.
Case Study – Survivors In Transition
Survivors In Transition are largely based in Suffolk with hub sites for men and women (18+) who have experienced any form of sexual abuse in their childhood through a range of trauma-informed, psycho-educational activities including one to one and group therapy, counselling and advocacy. A grant from Thetford Shines Brighter, originally awarded to undertake a scoping exercise to determine the level of need in Thetford for Survivor’s in Transition’s core services, was repurposed due to Covid-19 to enable the group to provide direct support to survivors of sexual abuse, having received referrals for individuals living in the Thetford area from Access Community Trust. Two individuals received direct support and Survivors In Transition were pleased to report that in following sessions, both individuals had increased self-esteem and decreased trauma related symptoms.