On Sunday June 26th, the Community Development Team’s Project Support Officer Edgar Roberts and the Head of Community Development Neetu Squire, along with a group of volunteers from Freeths Solicitors, attended the Somali Community Parents Association (SOCOPA) in St Matthews for a Team Challenge.
I would like to say thank you to Leicestershire Cares and their business partners for helping us to repaint and refresh our community centre. We’re so grateful, and so are so many of our clients who will experience the new outlook of our centre. Thank you!
Abdikayf Farah, CEO of the Somali Communities Parents Association (SOCOPA)
The SOCOPA organisation works to support Somali communities within Leicester City, with the aim of empowering them to contribute to and benefit from life in the UK while celebrating and preserving Somali culture, religion, and language. SOCOPA provides resources such as young people’s homework sessions, adult English language classes, a food bank, holiday cultural activities, homelessness support, and a drugs and alcohol addiction service.
For the Team Challenge, twelve volunteers from Freeths Solicitors arrived first thing in the morning to repaint SOCOPA’s main room. Prepped in a snazzy company uniform and carrying in a few gallons of emulsion, they set to work applying a new coat. By the early afternoon, SOCOPA’s central room had been reinvigorated, every wall now a soothing, beautiful shade of sky blue.
The Community Development Team has also been collaborating with SOCOPA through the “SOCOPA Sports & Activities Group” established by our Youth and Community Development Officer Lee Hawthorne. Through a series of basketball training sessions, Lee has brought six young people on the project to full accreditation in Multi Sports Coaching and first aid. This has enabled them to set up their own basketball training sessions on Saturdays, which roughly 40 more young people from the local community are expected to attend.
The SOCOPA Sports & Activities Group is testament to our view at Leicestershire Cares that bringing people with similar experiences together is an empowering experience that gives them a chance to develop and build relationships, networks and connections, and reflect on the community to which they belong. The project puts into practice our "Power to Change" model, delivering a lasting positive impact in the lives of young people by joining up with them in an agile and holistic way rooted in partnership.
The Freeths team thoroughly enjoyed this task, which was facilitated by Leicestershire Cares and which gave us the opportunity to give something back to our local community. It was great that so many people were willing to give up a large part of their Sunday for the benefit of others – and I think we were pleasantly surprised at our decorating skills!
Emma Anderson, Litigation Director at Freeths Solicitors, Leicester City
The Community Development Team is proud of its work in brokering collaborative projects between businesses and community groups in order to support initiatives that deliver vital services to our communities. We are grateful to our business partners whose generous support enables us to develop projects that build a safer, more inclusive Leicestershire where no one is left behind.
#TogetherWeCan
It was fantastic seeing SOCOPA main room in a new, beautiful coat of blue paint. Freeths did a great job! It's always so rewarding to see that, together with the support of our business partners, we can make a difference in our communities and give valuable support to groups like SOCOPA that are delivering vital services across the city and county.
Edgar Roberts, Project Support Officer on the Community Development Team at Leicestershire Cares
For more information about getting involved in our Community Development Work please contact:
Email: Neetu@Leicestershirecares.co.uk
Tel: 07834 181041
To learn more about our Community Development work, please click the links below:
#BagsOfHope | Leicestershire Cares
Fashioning a Beautiful Future | Leicestershire Cares
Leicestershire Cares Eggstravaganza Campaign 2022 | Leicestershire Cares