A huge thank you to everybody who has already completed our Strengthening Communities Survey.  We have had over 50 responses so far which means we are halfway towards our target of at least 100 responses.

 We have already received some really interesting feedback – the bit I have most enjoyed reading is what makes a strong community and what we need in the future – these are just a few of the fabulous responses:

 “A strong community is resilient, where residents look out for each other and neighbourliness exists . Residents come together to discuss concerns and issues and support each other to offer solutions working in partnership with community organisations to make a difference.”

 “A strong community is tolerant and supportive, and listens to the quietest voices rather than the loudest. A strong community is actively engaged in improving common spaces, rather than for the betterment of private property.”

 “A strong community is one that looks after its weakest and most vulnerable, a community that faces challenges together and shares its successes.”

 “Working together for shared causes with a sense of belonging, group action and interaction, kindness and empathy.”

 “We need better representation of minority communities, proper funding of infrastructure and anchor organisations, and appropriate seed funding and support for community projects.”

 The purpose of the survey is to find out more about the needs of communities in Gloucestershire and the impact of the Cost of Living Crisis as well as understanding how we can help to strengthen communities and better support voluntary organisations in the county.  This really helps to inform our work in the future and also helps to give communities a voice and platform.

 We have also heard from groups who have found completing the survey really useful to and though provoking for their own work:

“It was great way for me to reflect on this busy project I run and take stock of where we are and where we want to go.”

 To build the best picture of what is needed we really need your help

If you haven’t already, we would be so grateful if you could complete our survey to help feed into the future support we provide to communities and the charitable sector in Gloucestershire.  If you have completed the survey, please consider if there is anybody that you could share this link with to help us reach more respondents (especially those people who may not have previously applied to GCF for funding)

Please click HERE or paste this link into your browser https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/GCFStrengtheningCommunitiesSurvey  The survey should take less than 15 minutes to complete and will be a huge help to us.

Thank you so much for your help, with our best wishes

Talitha, Lucy and Sarah (the GCF team)