‘Help each other hand-in-hand’: England-first community champion scheme launches in Peterborough to take burden off NHS and welcome refugees

More than 30 volunteers - who helped with Peterborough’s vaccine rollout and supporting lonely residents during the pandemic - are forming a supergroup, called the Community Champion Alliance.

Faustina Yang, group founder, says it’s a first, not only for Cambridgeshire, but the country.

She believes the group of key volunteers will “create massive value” by taking pressure off authorities and reducing the burdens on the NHS.

What is a Community Champion Alliance?

These are 33 ‘Champions’ so-far signed up – from all walks of life in Peterborough – who know their communities like the back of their hand.

Not only will they represent individual wards in Peterborough, ‘Champion’s will help residents of Russian, Ukrainian, Chinese, Sudanese, Lithuanian, Latvian heritages.

It’s claimed these volunteers will be vital to signposting people for health, finance, victim or job support.

Currently, the scheme is launching as a community group but it’s hoped it will soon register as a charity and attract the funding to pay ‘Champions’.

It comes as during lockdown, mutual aid groups flourished and experienced a surge in volunteering not seen since the Second World War.

Over a million people signed up to the NHS volunteers scheme and traditional charities.

Millions more informally supported vulnerable friends and neighbours through mutual aid groups - without much support given to them in return.

It’s these people who became ‘Champions’ of their communities in lockdown - and were never paid to attend meetings and couldn’t claim for any expenses.

‘Survive and thrive’

Faustina told the Peterborough Telegraph: “This group will provide peer support, a platform to share experience, skills and resources, and also encourage partnership working and build capacity and stronger communities.

“Community champions and leaders have worked very hard together and this is a good way of carrying on the legacy.”

On 9 June the Alliance had its first consultation meeting and on 6 July an official launch event was held at Peterborough College.

Faustina said when she first came to Peterborough, with Chinese heritage, she found herself needing a support network and believes others might feel the same.

She added: “This is a completely new initiative there’s nothing like this in Cambridgeshire, also nothing like this in the country.

“I personally experienced so many barriers and challenges.

"I learned the very hard way how to do assessments and reports, how to get support for my community members, where to signpost them - and I have loads to share with others.

“We've always been asked to do things and serve the people and a lot of the time it’s been voluntary - it’s not paid or no expenses paid.

“We go to meetings and events but now we are forming this group and hopefully help them with governance, structure, funding and developing their leadership skills so they’re not on their own anymore.”

A website is due to be set up for referrals and for more Champions of diverse heritage to join the scheme.

“We are going to help each other hand-in-hand going forward. We want to build very firm foundations.”