Change X Building community wellbeing

Change X is a platform of proven innovations from across the world. Their mission is to build community wellbeing by unleashing the potential of changemakers everywhere.

One of their initiatives is Neighbourhood Network. This is an initiative that provides neighbours the opportunity to reach out to one another and give support to those in their local communities.

They have created a summer guide filled with community-based activities that encourage people to work together as a community and enjoy the remainder of the summer despite COVID-19 restrictions.

With the country adapting to the idea of staycations and working from home,  Neighbourhood Network are attempting to make people realise that it is a great time to work on embracing our local communities.

This goes a long way in building lasting relationships with neighbours and to start getting to know our surroundings a little bit better.

The summer guide is filled with various activities such as a community-based cinema, a virtual book club, gardening supergroups, and cocooner check-ins to ensure that the elderly portion of the community is being cared for.

Change X: Grow it Forward

Another of their projects is the Grow it Forward campaign.

As the COVID-19 crisis unfolded in March and people were confined by restrictions, there has been a spike in popularity for growing food at home.

Change X’s #thecommunitycall project Grow it Forward, enables up to 50,000 people to start growing in their kitchen, garden, balcony, or window sill, many for the first time.

This initiative not only taught communities how to cultivate some of their own fresh food from home, but also provided people with an outlet during lockdown restrictions, and helped to increase biodiversity in neighbourhoods.

Although growing seeds at home was the end goal for everyone, every reason for growing and way of going about it was unique.

For example, Niamh Becton founded her GIY community garden in September 2019 alongside 15 other members in Newcastle, County Wicklow.

Their new patch soon transformed into a community herb garden and they are now undertaking stage 2 of their course in Basic Horticulture.

Although lockdown put their course and herb garden on pause, they started to GROW it Forward to keep their community in touch.

Niamh thought this would be a great way to keep the community interested in growing while in isolation whilst promoting good mental health, growing your own food, reducing carbon footprint, alongside  the health benefits of eating your own produce.

Niamh explained that GROW it Forward was really helped by the online courses available from GIY and that it really motivated them to keep growing over quarantine.

Alongside their novel motto, “Gardening is cheaper than therapy and you get tomatoes”, their community’s plants and pots flourished during lockdown.

Niamh and her team are only getting started. They now intend to start their own version of the hit TV show, “Grow, Cook, Eat” in Newcastle and also have plans to connect with the local direct provision community.

Niamh spoke about their efforts and how they want to integrate residents who don’t have the facilities to grow their own food:

“We also want to integrate residents from Newcastle and Direct Provision Hotels to come and socialize, grow their own food, and cook their traditional meals for both communities as most of these residents do not have the facilities to cook their own meals or grow their own food”.

Change X: Direct Provision

This is a system of accommodating people seeking asylum in Ireland. It was set up in 1999 as a short-term solution to provide accommodation, food, and basic necessities while people apply for asylum.

There are many challenges facing people living in these accommodation centres.

The centres are often crowded, with sometimes multiple families sharing one room. They lack basic amenities, from outlets in their communities to basic needs like kitchen facilities.

People seeking asylum that stay in these centres can be forced to move to another centre without any notice, and in some cases, have spent 7 years in direct provision awaiting refugee status.

These are people who leave their home country for fear of war or persecution but arrive in Ireland to live in uncertainty, disenfranchised from Irish society.

People in direct provision can spend years awaiting approval of their refugee status.

Until then it’s a waiting game and they often spend their time idle in direct provision with very few outlets to develop themselves or integrate into their communities.

The best way to aid these refugees is through community sponsorship. Community Sponsorship means getting together with some neighbours or friends to provide support and housing for a family seeking asylum in Ireland.

It is a huge commitment, but incredibly rewarding and it empowers your community to play an active role in the integration of people into our society.

Community Sponsorship is carried out by Regional Support Organisations like the Irish Red Cross, NASC Ireland, and the Irish Refugee Council.

Other ways to become involved include:

• Invites to local events
• Teaching English and other skills
• Contacting your local TD
• Donating to your local centre
• Hosting a welcome dinner
• Calling to your local refugee centre

For more information got to the ChangeX website: https://www.changex.org/blog/direct-provision-in-ireland-what-you-can-do-to-help/.

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