East Suffolk Council
Community Partnerships
What are Community Partnerships?
Community Partnerships are an exciting way we bring ideas to life by working together on local priorities. Eight Community Partnerships operate across East Suffolk, based on natural groupings of communities and using the East Suffolk Council ward boundaries as the ‘building blocks for each area.
Each partnership consists of East Suffolk Councillors, together with key partners from town and parish councils, Suffolk County Council, Police, Health, businesses, voluntary organisations, community groups and youth representatives. Everyone works collaboratively to solve local problems identified by local people and make a difference on the ground in our communities.
How do Community Partnerships work?
Community Partnerships are relatively informal bodies, who meet for workshops and networking events in community buildings and village halls around the district. Many of the Partnerships also have small multiagency working groups solving specific issues affecting their area.
Data is important. We ensure our partnerships have the best available data on which to base their activity. A data pack is produced for each partnership area and updated regularly.
We also need excellent local intelligence to complete the picture. So, the data is used as a focal point for a wider discussion in community stakeholder workshops. As a result, priorities are identified for each Community Partnership area. This is a continual process, and each Community Partnership revisits their priorities regularly to refine them and stay focussed on the specific outcomes they seek to deliver in their local area.
The Chair of each Community Partnership automatically joins the East Suffolk-wide Community Partnership Board to come together with other public, voluntary and business sector partners to solve the challenges common to more than one Community Partnership.
What difference are Community Partnerships making?
Our Community Partnerships are tackling some of the most important issues we face in our communities including isolation and loneliness, mental health and wellbeing, transport and travel, the impact of Covid, and financial inequality.
These YouTube clips show just a few of the many projects and initiatives that Community Partnerships are delivering or supporting in their local communities:
- Siren working with East Suffolk Council young apprentices in 2022
- Compassionate Communities
- Meet Up Mondays
- East Suffolk Period Poverty
- Voice of a Friend
- Good Neighbour Schemes
- Pathways Care Farm
What resources are involved?
Community Partnerships represent a major investment by East Suffolk Council, with a total delivery budget across all eight Community Partnerships and the Community Partnership Board of £1,730,000. This money is earmarked to tackle priority issues that have been identified as important to our people and places in East Suffolk and each Community Partnership is spending their own budgets on projects and initiatives to make a difference on the ground in their communities.
Which Community Partnership covers my area?
Community Partnerships Newsletter
The Community Partnerships newsletter provides quarterly updates and information about the fantastic range of work of East Suffolk’s Community Partnerships and the difference it is making.
Funding Applications – Top Tips
If you are a community or voluntary organisation seeking funding, we have put together some tips that may prove useful, whether applying to the council or any other funder.
Want to know more?
The links on the right hand side of this page will take you to more information.