About the Chichester Community Network
About the Chichester Community Network
The Chichester Community Network (CCN) is an informal group of approximately 60 organisations including residents’ associations, voluntary organisations, churches, charities and elected representatives.
It was originally established to identify relevant COVID-19-related help, share information across the group on help and available resources, and to provide early warning of emerging new problems and needs in Chichester.
Initiatives have ranged from signposting for food, debt, and mental health support, poverty alleviation through the Mayor’s Hardship Fund, digital poverty initiatives, and support of charities helping homeless individuals and families.
The network has continued to operate to support other initiatives such as support of Ukranian refugees, local NHS provision and the economic crisis.
What CCN Has Achieved
CCN has initiated or helped support the following initiatives:
Food. Working with organisations such as the Chichester Foodbank and UK Harvest to promote and refer their work to wider networks including creation of the “Chichester Restaurant.”
Debt. Working with the Chichester Debt Relief Centre to promote its work to help enable people to become debt free.
Wellbeing. Encouraging and promoting initiatives such as local “Chat Café’s.”
Poverty alleviation through the “Mayor’s Hardship Fund”, digital poverty initiatives, and support of charities helping homeless individuals and families.
Information sharing and circulation. Facilitating a wider distribution for the Mayor’s Open Letters, communicating about resources such as the West Sussex County Council Hub, local Chichester District initiatives and Citizens Advice support.
Signposting and best practice sharing. Circulating appeals for urgently needed items for local community work e.g., items for the Harbour Rotary community programme, identifying new ways to problem solve.
Wide, two-way communication. Communicating where to go for help, increasing the effectiveness of local agencies and charities.
Early problem identification. For example, vaccination programme feedback to the NHS about vaccination sites which helped create the case for the opening of the Vaccination Centre in Central Chichester.