Bolton gets £500,000 for Covid Community Champions

1 Feb 2021 12:50
Published by: Scott Callan

 

Bolton has received £500,000 of government funding to help save lives by sharing accurate and trustworthy information about Covid-19 in the community.

The council and its partners bid for the funding as part of the ‘Community Champions’ scheme, aimed at the groups most at risk from the virus including older residents, disabled people and people from ethnic minority backgrounds.

Those behind the scheme say trusted community voices have a vital role to play in sharing important messages about Covid-19 and “challenging dangerous misinformation”.

The new funding will complement work already being done by Bolton Council, Bolton at Home, Bolton CVS, Bolton NHS Foundation Trust and many others.

Bolton’s Fund has awarded grants to community groups for Covid engagement. Ongoing outreach, including as Q&A sessions have been held on Bolton Hindu Radio and the hospital has two new cultural liaison volunteers

The £500,000 will now be used to build and further develop Bolton’s network of community champions.

Data shows that for a variety of reasons, vital Covid-19 information is not reaching disabled people, young people and families, people with African or Caribbean heritage and the gypsy, traveller and Roma communities.

Working with Bolton CVS and Bolton at Home, the new champions will have access to training from Bolton College to help produce tailored, compelling, visual and multi-language messages to their communities.

A key part of their role will be focused on mass testing and the Covid-19 vaccine. By sharing information and encouraging take-up, this work aims to actively help reduce the spread of infection and save lives.

 

Council leader David Greenhalgh said: “Accurate and trustworthy information about Covid-19 and the vaccine is an essential part of our response to this pandemic.

“There is already a great deal of work being done to make sure communities across Bolton have the advice they need about staying safe, testing and the vaccine.

“This funding is very welcome and will help save lives by keeping everyone in Bolton up to date and tackling harmful misinformation.”

 

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