Reopening Community Buildings - Free Support

Slowly community buildings are beginning to reopen or to move from limited activity to inviting groups back in. We are hearing a level of caution about taking these steps. In addition, many citizens are still wanting just to be in spaces that seem Covid-safe. Even though restrictions have been lifted, the advice from Dr Justin Verney, Director of Public Health at the end of July was it to take things “slow and steady” and that he is a supporter of organisations being cautious, continuing to do risk assessments and to keep some of the safety mechanisms in place. See his sector briefing here.

BVSC and Acivico have been running webinars, workshops and one to one support to provide support to organisations through this challenging period of reopening or restarting community activity. Thanks to some funding from Birmingham City Council this support for community organisations in the city can continue. The support focuses on managing a building and keeping people safe in it.

The expertise of Acivico staff has been valued by those who attended events. Feedback from previous sessions has included:

• It was all made very easy. The language used was simple and jargon-free.
• Very good baseline to see what is required in re-opening/re-engaging citizens in activities within the community.
• Just a thank you, as I personally searched the internet for resources, daily for weeks, and mainly due to this and networking with similar groups, as to how to handle this otherwise, us who run buildings on a 100% voluntary basis would be in the dark on what to do!

The webinars include a presentation and plenty of time for questions and discussion. In particular, Alice Clark and John Merchant from Acivico will cover the following:

• Covid-19 Risk Assessments
• Building Compliance
• Ventilation & Handy Hints
• Signage & Cleaning
• Resources – Fire & First Aid

The next sessions to be held on Zoom will be on

Tuesday 24 August 14:00-16:00  -  Sign up for this date here

Monday 13 September 11:00-12:30  -  Sign up for this date here

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

In addition, if you would like someone to offer some support about your risk assessment and reopening your building this is also available for Birmingham based voluntary, community and faith organisations free of charge. The Acivico team can also come out to visit your building and provide advice.

Please let us know at [email protected]