VIVID’s new charitable arm, VIVID Plus, has now officially launched with an ambition to help its communities thrive. VIVID Plus invests in tenancy sustainment services, to provide people with tailored, individual support and tackles community led priorities, to help people feel proud of where they live. It plans to invest £21m over the next five years.
Mark Perry (pictured above), Chief Executive of VIVID, said: “We’re so pleased to launch VIVID Plus and it feels particularly right to do so now, when many more of our customers and communities are struggling following the impact of the pandemic, so we can in partnership help make a long-term difference.”
VIVID recognised it could play a bigger role through its access to resources and skills and its ambition to do much more, by making a long-term investment in local communities. The pandemic will continue to have a profound effect on society for many years to come. This gives rise to the need to help people through a wide range of services, projects and initiatives to help create brighter futures — from helping to maintain independent living, providing support through money and benefits advice and offering employment and training initiatives. In addition to running wellbeing and mental health services and investing in neighbourhood improvements, youth engagement and social enterprises.
The projects supported by VIVID Plus will be highly targeted to its main areas of focus, working closely with experts and partner agencies, rather than there being an open application process to apply for funding. These areas include: improving personal safety through crime prevention and youth support; health interventions to improve life chances; growing economic opportunities through employment and job creation; alongside tackling homelessness and investing in neighbourhood improvements.
To represent the views and voices of the community and ensure the best investments are made, two VIVID customers have joined the VIVID Plus advisory board.
Mark added: “We’re delighted to have our customers involved in the decision-making. From our regular engagement with customers, we’re aware of how our communities are being affected and we’re well-placed to help provide support where it’s needed most.
“We’re living through challenging times and we want to do all we can to make people safe and proud of where they live and feel they have the opportunities to thrive and create brighter futures for themselves. VIVID Plus will allow us to offer support and investment in a variety of ways. In partnership, we’ll combine our experience and strengths to unlock potential for the benefit of people who live in our geography and provide a springboard of opportunity for those who need it.”
Giuseppe, customer and board member of VIVID Plus, commented: “I’m very pleased to be involved and I hope that I can help in making positive decisions on the projects and initiatives that VIVID Plus chooses to support, to ensure they have a direct impact on local communities.”
A series of projects to kickstart its work are already underway. An example includes working with partners to invest in a local youth project in Eastleigh, to make people feel safer in their neighbourhood and provide positive alternatives for local young people. This involves the development and delivery of tailor-made individual pathway programmes, where opportunities such as work placements, certified courses and interpersonal skill development is provided.
VIVID Plus is also working on a peer-to-peer mentoring project alongside social enterprise, Outcome Home. This enables individuals who have recently experienced homelessness to have access to the individual support they need to help re-build their lives and find a path that helps them to succeed, to help promote social inclusion within the community.
For further details on VIVID Plus, please visit https://www.vividhomes.co.uk/vivid-plus
