Over £700,000 has been made available to help protect those in Greenwich most at risk from Covid-19.

Greenwich Council's Community Champions initiative is aiming to provide additional support for those most at risk, helping them protect themselves, their families and their local communities during the pandemic.

The scheme is a partnership with the council, the NHS and local communities, consisting of firstly working with residents in the borough, and secondly working with specific communities and residents who are at high-risk of Covid-19.

Both parts aim to share key information about the virus with friends, family and local community networks so everyone is fully informed, reducing the amount of misinformation and signposting the support available.

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And £720,000 in funding has been awarded to spend in the borough by Government, one of seven London boroughs to have won money.

Over the next six months, these funds will:

  • Tackle the double disadvantage of catching and sharing the virus and being digitally excluded by developing solutions to receive, understand and share key COVID-19 messages. This will include ways to improve access to and affordability of smart devices and high-speed internet connection.
  • Enable residents in high-risk communities to have a direct say in how local money is spent to help reduce the impact of COVID-19.
  • Increase the number of Community Champions from 264 and Neighbourhood Champions from 80 to 1,000-plus.
  • Expand our deep engagement work in communities to increase the number of neighbourhoods involved (from three to six) and identify additional communities to work with.

Cllr Adel Khaireh, council cabinet member for Culture and Communities, said: “It’s key that all communities have their say in how we can work together to protect those most at risk by building trust, communicating accurate health information and ultimately helping to save lives.

"This funding for our Community Champions initiative will go some way to achieving this, in addition to our ongoing work with partners, businesses and residents across Royal Greenwich.”

The funding is part of £23.75 million from the UK Government for councils and voluntary groups to better engage and communicate with at-risk groups.