Your Good Neighbour Journey
The good news is we have lots of resources and support available to help you in your journey to joining our Suffolk Good Neighbour Network and setting up your community’s scheme, so whether you’re starting from scratch, or you’re an existing community, or Mutual Aid group looking to join the Network and make your activities safe and sustainable, then we’re here to help and we believe we’re stronger together!
When you join the Suffolk Good Neighbour Network:
- You can access our set of resources and direct support from Community Action Suffolk’s Good Neighbour Network Development Officer
- You’ll be given opportunities to take part in tailored Network events & training opportunities
- You'll receive our monthly e-news Bulletin packed full of up to date info including good practice, community content and helpful links
- We’ll provide you with a login to access our Members Area on this website so you can access up to date resources on demand at the click of a button
Our Resources Include
Good Neighbour Network Step-by-Step Guide
A step-by-step guide, giving you an overview of how to set up a safe & sustainable scheme from scratch.
Good Neighbour Network Toolkit
Our Good Neighbour Toolkit provides a set of resources and guidance to help you on your journey when setting up and launching your community's scheme; this includes template policies, procedure and governance documents that you are recommended to adopt to ensure you are creating a safe & sustainable scheme, including: Safeguarding, a group Constituition, Money Handling, Equality & Diversity, GDPR & Privacy, and more.
Good Neighbour Volunteer Information Pack Template
Our template Good Neighbour Volunteer Information Pack will help your scheme's volunteers to understand your activities, policies & procedures, and your expectation of them in their volunteering role. This helps your volunteers to have greater confidence when carrying out their voluntary duties, and helps to ensure that your residents calling for help receive consistent and appropriate support from their allocated volunteer(s).
Template Good Neighbour Community Survey
Our Template Good Neighbour Community Survey is a good place to start to help share your intentions with your local community, gather information about what types of support might be wanted and this will also help you to identify and gather your potential Good Neighbour volunteers!
Facebook Live Video - Introduction to becoming a Good Neighbour Scheme
Your Scheme & Volunteer Journey
At Community Action Suffolk we talk about the Volunteer Journey. The Volunteer Journey is how an organisation enables a diverse range of people to volunteer, ensuring they feel supported and valued while also measuring their impact. The aim is that every volunteer has an enjoyable experience and tells others. We feel this also relates to your journey of volunteering with, and setting up your scheme, here are some things to think about when starting your journey to setting up a safe & sustainable scheme...and don't worry, as you'll already have seen, we have the resources and support available that can help you find the answers that are right for your community's activity!
Plan:
Planning for both setting up a safe & sustainable scheme, and planning how to make your volunteers & service users part of this process, and at the centre of what you offer and do. Think about what you need in place for both your scheme & its volunteers to flourish in your community, and don't be afraid to ask for help from other community members and our Good Neighbour Network Development Officer.
Recruit:
How will you recruit volunteers & service users to your scheme?
Support & Retention:
How will you best support and retain your volunteers & service users?
Impact:
Recording, measuring, and celebrating the positive impact your scheme and its volunteers have within your community, and the benefits it has brought to your residents (both volunteers and service users) is really important, how will you do this?