What will success look like in 2024?
We care for each other and make our informal networks a solution to the health and care challenges
We are collectively prepared for future threats and can respond and recover from setbacks – fiscal, environmental, cohesion and safety
How we will get there
What Calderdale can build upon
- Health and wellbeing strategy
- Calderdale Cares – our plan for health and care integration in place
- Suicide Prevention Plan
- Community Safety Partnership Plan
- Flood Resilience and Infrastructure Programme
- Active Calderdale
- Cohesive Communities Strategy
- Engagement and VCS/VSI Alliance
What we need to do more of
- Celebrating random acts or kindness and people.
- Improve volunteering offer to all ages.
- Partnership approach to mental health in workplaces and schools.
- Shift our health and care focus to early intervention and community anchors, invest in digital solutions.
- Interventions to make arts and culture accessible by diverse and disadvantaged communities.
- Provide local solutions to local problems.
What are our key interventions
- Anti-poverty Action Plan.
- Calderdale Citizen Pledge.
- Arts and Health Programme.
- Calderdale Cares.
- Digital Leadership - develop shared source of truth.
- Open Minds in Calderdale.
- Never Hungry Again and associated campaigns.
- Climate change net zero.
Exploring our kindness and resilience
What kindness and resilience means to us
Calderdale’s amazing kindness and resilience are summed up perfectly by its vibrant culture of volunteering and community action. We see people of all ages and backgrounds doing their bit to help each other, with a community spirit that’s unrivalled. With a whopping 800 voluntary organisations in the borough, there’s a huge mix of volunteering opportunities at people’s fingertips.
On Boxing Day 2015 Calderdale experienced one of the worst floods in its history. But it also saw one of the best examples of Calderdale’s incredible kindness. Over 450 residents formally volunteered to support the recovery, and many more helped out informally as individuals or as part of groups organised by businesses, churches and mosques.
The strong links created during and after the floods give Calderdale a great starting point to shape future volunteering efforts. Growing these for the benefit of local people is one of the key challenges in the run-up to 2024. But we know it’s vital to do this, as having more volunteers could lead to a healthier, happier, more confident and skilled Calderdale, with less social isolation – all the benefits that volunteering brings.
As fewer older people are able to volunteer now due to pressures on their time and additional caring responsibilities within their families, this opens up more opportunities for young people to get involved.
Bede Mullen, along with nearly 200 other people, is a volunteer for Slow the Flow Calderdale, an environmental charity working on natural flood prevention measures to slow the volume of water coming down the hillsides into the River Calder. Bede says:
“At Slow the Flow we have noticed an increase in the number of organisations contacting us for corporate volunteering opportunities. By 2024 it would be great to see even more corporate opportunities throughout Calderdale, with a wider range of organisations getting involved, especially small businesses. Some kind of mechanism, like a website or a central agency, would make it easier for volunteers to put their names forward and for activities to be matched.
Demographic issues are both a challenge and an opportunity over the next few years. At Slow the Flow and other voluntary organisations across Calderdale and the UK, we see a high proportion of older people volunteering. Going forward, we need to encourage a wider range of age groups to get involved; for example, by going into schools. Volunteers have limited time to organise this, so we’re looking for organisations to work together and help each other out, ideally with someone coordinating this centrally.
By 2024 I want volunteering to be seen as a natural part of life and work, not the exception – something that people just do.”
Rachel Cullen coordinates the volunteer programme at Centre at Threeways in Halifax, giving local people the confidence and skills to get back into work. She says:
“Whether people are unemployed, retired or have physical or mental health issues, volunteering has massive benefits, giving them a sense of purpose and helping them to feel valued in their community.
I’d like to see a huge increase in volunteering in Calderdale so that more people can benefit. First of all I think we need to dispel the myths and break away from the traditional sense of volunteering where people might think they’ll just be doing menial tasks.
Secondly we need to make sure people know about the opportunities available. We need to guide people into volunteering – it’s not just a passive thing and often people won’t just ‘come across’ opportunities, especially when they are out of work or isolated. Better promotion is needed in places where people will see the information. For example, many of the people who come to Centre at Threeways are not receptive to messages from the voluntary sector – they would be more likely to take on board opportunities presented by their job centre coaches.
We also need to incentivise volunteering and give people a real reason to make the effort, go out and participate. That could be things like covering certain costs such as travel expenses, or benefits like free gym memberships for achieving a certain number of volunteering hours. Saying thank you and showing appreciation for a job well done is really important.”
Other areas
School Readiness: preparing children for life at school
Active Calderdale
Our challenge
1 in 4 women - Classed as physically inactive doing less than 30 minutes of moderate activity a week (the national picture)
1 in 5 men - Classed as physically inactive doing less than 30 minutes of moderate activity a week (the national picture)
9 years - Gap in life expectancy for men and women living in richest and poorest parts
Our plan
Physical activity can help reduce:
- Dementia by up to 30%
- Hip fractures by up to 68%
- Depression by up to 30%
- All cause mortality by up to 30%
- Cardio vascular disease by up to 35%
- Type 2 diabetes by up to 40%
- Breast cancer by up to 20%
- Colon cancer by up to 30%
The cure
For Calderdale to be the most active borough in the North of England by 2021.
Adults (19 - 64)
- 150 minutes of moderate intensity activity each week or
- 75 minutes vigorous activity
- x2 strength training a week
- Minimise the amount of sedentary sitting
Children & Young people (5 - 18)
- 60 minutes of physical activity every day
- 3 days a week, these activities should involve exercises for strong muscles, such as push-ups and exercises for strong bones, such as jumping and running
Modes of delivery
Communities - Working with schools, care homes, local shops, youth and voluntary groups to improve the health and well-being of Calderdale.
Workplace - Engaging businesses to improve workplace health showing the effect this has on sickness, production and employee retention.
Sports - Supporting, developing and growing sport participation in Calderdale through local clubs and groups.
Open spaces - Making all areas of Calderdale as accessible as possible for all forms of physical activity.