Wolverhampton Social Isolation Project asks for Unwanted Items

The Faculty of Science and Engineering work closely with a Housing Consortium group to take science into the community. The project works with isolated, underrepresented, vulnerable and excluded community groups to support them with their needs around housing, work, community support and education.

Unfortunately, in these strangest of times, the intended projects have taken a step back due to current government guidelines. Given that the overwhelming majority of their work involves directly working with or for vulnerable individuals and communities, the community engagement element of the projects and the front line work with participants has had to stop for at least the next 6 weeks.

However, they are still committed to carrying on and delivering some aspects of the projects whilst minimising the risk to all participants. This is where your help would be invaluable. The Housing Consortium has asked whether anyone linked with the university could help with the following areas: - Help identify small items of unwanted furniture (chairs, coffee tables etc.) so that they can deliver them to participant's homes where they can carry out minor repairs with the right tools using a support manual they have developed e.g. sanding, varnishing etc. - Help identify any art or construction types of resources where participants can "make" and "learn" at the same time. - Help identify any furniture, fabrics, tools etc. that they could use to help participants repair, re-cycle and up-cycle small items of furniture.

These will help support the following projects:

1. "On Thin Ice" - a science project about climate change, specifically how the Hole in the Ozone was caused, effects over the years and the fact that it's now shrinking in size.

2. "This Is Me" - an arts based project bringing people from different individuals and communities together to make personal objects of meaning that reflect their countries of origin, faiths, cultures, heritages and interests in order to breakdown barriers, stigma and any negative perceptions that may exist.

3. "Game of Homes" - a project to train people from refugee and migrant communities on how to maintain successful tenancies in the private sector, rights and responsibilities of tenants and landlords, budgeting etc. using an adapted version of the Monopoly board game.

4. "Pop Up Furniture Factory Project" - a project to train people from refugee and migrant communities to repair, re-cycle and up-cycle furniture that people and organisations no longer want or use and is going to landfill.

Once the furniture is repaired it is then given free to vulnerable households identified by Wolverhampton Council (homeless, victims of domestic violence, young people leaving care etc.). We are also doing room makeovers (painting, wallpapering rooms etc.) for vulnerable households to improve their current living conditions or so that their flats, houses are ready for them to move in.

If you are local to Wolverhampton, and think that you are able to support this initiative in any way, please contact Arun Bector; arunbector.consortium@yahoo.co.uk or Zoe Mason; Zoe.mason@wlv.ac.uk