News

Since the beginning of the pandemic and the launch of the lockdown, the internet and social media has enabled thousands of individuals to form support groups and to respond quickly to calls for help. That so much community action has taken place by so many has been both humbling and heartening but, at the same…
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Since the beginning of the lockdown POP ideas has been supporting more than eighty voluntary, community, social enterprise groups and organisations across the city with one-to-one advice on how they might survive the economic and social impact of the pandemic. The team of advisors has been supporting more than twice as many groups and organisations…
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Thank you for the 17 applications POP+ received for round two of the Learning and Collaboration fund, it highlighted the amazing collaboration which is happening across the city. In April, the Network of Networks the decision making group, met virtually in a Zoom room during the early days of lockdown, to decide which collaborations would…
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An extraordinary wave of empathy and compassion has swept across the city, on the back of the coronavirus, delivering practical support for those in need; befriending the lonely and reassuring those anxious. Through the newly-formed Neighbourhood Care Networks, areas around the city – Stonehouse, The Hoe and Stoke – have taken help-in-the-community to a new…
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 Swapping Cream Teas and Cricket for Footie and Fried Rice to improve ethnic relations in Plymouth  A pilot project in Plymouth aims to unify communities from different cultural backgrounds by sharing recipes, sport and life experiences.  Food hampers and sports sets have been delivered across the city as part of the Unifying Plymouth initiative.  Nigerian meal kits have been given to 25, mainly white, British families. They contain all…
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The Whitleigh Diversity Project was a 10-session project, later extended to 14 sessions, that ran from November 2019 until February 2020. The project originally started with a group Barefoot worked with in Ernesettle in 2016 and aims to challenge misconceptions young people may have towards people from different backgrounds and cultures through experiential learning while…
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Plymouth VCSE survey – April 2020 – Summary The voluntary and community sector in Plymouth is showing an extraordinary level of resilience, adaption and innovation despite being severely affected by the conditions put in place to tackle the coronavirus pandemic. A survey of the sector carried out by POP+ (Plymouth Octopus Project) in the last…
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Have you got unloved, spare digital devices that are taking up space and gathering dust that could be given a new lease of life for someone else to use and get on-line? Borrow Don’t Buy, supported by Nudge Community Builders, need your old digital devices to repurpose and recycle them so that local people can…
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With the lockdown extended, many people are finding novel – and meaningful – ways to come together through the internet using platforms, such as, ‘zoom’ and ‘houseparty’. Here at POP+ we are aware that technology can really help to connect people and so we have been hosting – and continue to host – ‘zoom’ sessions…
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At a time when the world is increasingly turning to digital solutions, are there ways we can go analog still or combine the two? How can we make sure we do not leave people behind by forging ahead with a digital framework? Take a Part has created an open-source Non-Digital Engagement Toolkit to share ideas for…
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