The Pollokshields Trust 1

COMMUNITY LANDOWNERS CORONAVIRUS RESPONSES

We spoke to Bill Fraser from The Pollokshields Trust at the end of April about how the local community is coming together to tackle the COVID-19 crisis.

In early-April 2020 a group of about 20 individuals & community organisations formed Pollokshields Responds to COVID 19 to tackle food poverty, opening the Pollokshields Community Food Point in an empty local shop in the heart of the neighbourhood. The Food Point is open seven days per week and operates a drop-in system for local people that are currently unable to afford food and is open for donations from 14.00 – 15.00 and for collection, drop-in and delivery from 15.00 – 17.00.

Each of the constituent organisations is playing to their strengths and working together to ensure local people have access to up-to-date information, support, food, contact etc. The group consists of statutory organisations, NHS, Glasgow Mutual Aid, Urban Roots, Glasgow Community Planning Partnership, Southside Housing Association, The Pollokshields Trust and many others.

As with a number of communities we have spoken to in the process of collating these case studies, Pollokshields has experienced a series of local crises in the past year. 2

Whilst this has tested the resilience of the local community it has also enabled groups and individuals to mobilise quickly around a single issue. This experience has been invaluable in the current situation. Information on: Free food and essentials The Pollokshields Trust applied for the Community Land Scotland outreach grant and immediately put the The help available Money and finance and where to get it money to good use, producing an information leaflet Parents and childcare detailing all of the services available to local residents during lockdown, from where to access free food Local GP surgeries and essentials to pharmacies that deliver and Dentists information on money and finance. Significantly, the Transport leaflet says, “You are not alone. We are here to help.”

This funding has allowed the group to design, print Supported by and distribute 5,000 copies of the information leaflet. Not everyone is online so this leaflet has provided vital information to residents that don’t have access to social media or other online resources. As it is not advisable at

the current time to deliver to individual households, the Pollokshields leaflet is being left in local shops, at the Community Food Mutual aid As part of Point, going out in local deliveries to those self-isolating and in the premises of other partners which are open We are updating this leaflet regularly to the local community. The group plan to update the to give you the latest information leaflet on a regular basis to ensure that the information The details here are correct as of provided is as relevant and up to date as possible. 20.04.20 3

The Trust, due to its history of strategic thinking, has helped apply for funding to ensure the continuation of the Food Point whilst other members of the COVID-19 group are taking on the practical side of running the centre and ensuring a steady flow of supplies from donors, utilising existing contacts and networks. Bill points out that the funding scene has been getting particularly difficult over the last two years, something many organisations across Scotland would agree with, especially as there is no clear indication of how European funding will be replaced. However, the Trust has found that funders and Scottish Government are being supportive and quick off the mark in terms of getting financial packages together and out to third sector organisations on the frontline delivering essential services to the most disadvantaged and vulnerable in society.

As Bill said to us, “the speed at which local communities and anchor organisations can organise themselves and respond to crises within their areas is impressive, it shows that given the appropriate resources and funding, community organisations can deliver the frontline services that their neighbourhoods need. This is a lesson that should not be lost on local or central government when the current crisis is over.”

Bill says, ‘In Pollokshields and elsewhere around Scotland, multiple deprivation is not going to disappear once the current crisis is over. This is an opportunity to show Scottish Government that with relatively small amounts of money, local anchor organisations in partnership with others, can really deliver the services that their communities require. This makes a good case for real, locally-led community empowerment.’