Voluntary, community, faith, and social enterprise organisations in Solihull are launching new and innovative projects to improve health and care for residents after clinching nearly £1.8 million in funding.

Twenty new projects are now underway in the borough after receiving funding via Birmingham and Solihull Integrated Care System’s £22.2m Fairer Futures Fund (FFF).

FFF was launched in 2022 to reduce health inequalities and improve health and care services for patients and citizens across Birmingham and Solihull.

Delivered through - and with - the voluntary, community, faith and social enterprise (VCFSE) sector, the projects being funded particularly focus on improving the lives of those who are the most vulnerable; hard to reach; and suffer the greatest health disparities.

The 20 projects funded in Solihull via FFF comprise of 17 funded through small grants of up to £10,000 and three larger projects which have received a combined total of over £1.6 million.

Some of the projects being funded via the small grants are:

  • Inclusive Sports Academy – providing a weekly youth club to youngsters in Smith’s Wood aged 11-16 with special educational needs and disabilities.
  • Aesops Arts and Society - delivering ‘Dance to Health’ sessions for those aged over 55 from minority-ethnic and under-represented communities in the St Alphege ward to reduce risk of falls and improve confidence and mental wellbeing.
  • Bethel Health and Healing Network – providing young mothers or those with experience of being in care and those from African and African Caribbean communities a peri- and post-natal mental health service through a senior ‘Doula’ listener champion. For women at risk of developing pre- or post-natal depression, it will raise awareness of the importance of diet and exercise and offer mentoring and information, advice and guidance to improve self-management and parent/child bonding. .

The three large projects funded via FFF in Solihull are:

  • Health in the Hearts of the Community Programme - spearheaded by Colebridge Trust working with Three Trees, Cars Area Together and Amba care solutions.  The project focuses on improving heart and lung health to prevent and manage conditions including cardiovascular disease (CVD), dementia and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) whilst also improving other aspects of population health and access to services.  
  • Solihull Family Hubs which will see Solihull Council working with various voluntary, community, faith and social enterprise (VCFSE) and health organisations. The FFF award will drive key elements of transformational change that are critical to the success of the borough’s four Family Hubs and Early Help offer by promoting new models of integrated working; maximising value; developing innovative solutions; driving community engagement and co-production; fostering leadership in the VCFSE sector; and testing and evaluation of new approaches. 
  • Support for Young People with health and wellbeing needs in North Solihull - led by Ordinary Magic working with Urban Heard, Inclusive Sports and Meriden Adventure Playground.  This project will develop an integrated model of wellbeing support across North Solihull, making health and wellbeing services for children and families more accessible and enabling partners to work together.  The three-year project will use the digital platform, JoyApp, as a gateway to local services. The app will act like a ‘marketplace’ - providing professionals with better connection and improved knowledge of services locally as well as availability and direct referrals of services for families with one or two areas of need.   

Solihull’s Place Committee, which brings together the NHS, Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council and the voluntary, faith and community sectors, approved the allocation of funding for the 20 projects according to agreed criteria. The small grant schemes have been distributed by the Heart of England Community Foundation, acting on behalf of the Committee.

David Melbourne, Chief Executive of NHS Birmingham and Solihull Integrated Care Board, said: “These projects are a fantastic example of innovation and creativity, bringing communities and professional together to meet peoples’ needs.  I look forward to seeing how the three larger projects and the 17 small grants impact their local communities and improve the life chances of people in Solihull.”

Chet Parmar, Chief Executive of Colebridge Trust, said: “The Health in the Hearts of The Community project is about enabling the community to help itself. We will offer comprehensive training and support to our teams of staff and local volunteers to improve health literacy and the understanding of risk factors amongst local residents. We will do this through one-to-ones, workshops, community activities, peer-to-peer support groups. We’re really pleased to be working collaboratively with our third sector partners to help Solihull residents manage their health better.”

Councillor Tony Dicicco, Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council’s Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care & Health, said: “Our four Family Hubs are a physical expression of our ambition to support our families and communities to live well in Solihull. They embody our prevention strategy which is about taking action to stop issues arising in the first place and when they do, providing the appropriate support to ‘nip things in the bud.”

Michelle O’Connor, of Ordinary Magic, said: “Our Connected Care project is all about supporting young people to be able to easily access support for their health and wellbeing. We’ll be launching JoyApp, for professionals to be able to refer children, young people and their families to a health and wellbeing co-ordinator who can support them to get their needs met through a wide range of place-based services. We hope this will help us offer a truly joined-up approach to working families and young people so they can get the local services they need, be that health, social care or education.”

Councillor Karen Grinsell, Deputy Leader and Lead Member for Wellbeing, Skills & Inclusion at Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council, said: “It’s great to see Solihull Place Committee being able to support these three Solihull projects. I wish the organisers all the very best and look forward to meeting them and seeing their work in the coming months. I welcome the £3.9 million that the ICS has invested into Solihull, and I am sure the 17 small grants, alongside the larger projects will have a profound effect on our communities right across the borough.”

Tina Costello, Chief Executive at Heart of England Community Foundation, said: “We are delighted to share news about the latest small grants from the Fairer Futures Fund for Solihull. We are proud to support such an array of amazing projects, from a new women’s health support group to a luncheon club and drop-in centre for older people helping to reduce social isolation. These groups are already beginning to make use of the funding in their communities, and we can't wait to see their impact over the coming months.”  

FFF has been split on a fair share basis between Birmingham and Solihull, with £18m allocated for Birmingham, and £4.2m for Solihull.

To date, over £2.1m of the fund has been allocated to over 50 projects being delivered by, or in collaboration with, VCFSE organisations across Birmingham and Solihull.

Birmingham and Solihull Integrated Care System sees health and care organisations, local government and the voluntary sector working in collaboration to improve population health, tackle health inequalities, enhance productivity and help the NHS support broader social and economic development.

It serves 1.3 million people living across the city and borough and is working together to deliver a vision for Birmingham and Solihull to be the healthiest place to live and work, driving equity in life chances and health outcomes for everyone.