CRCW - Rosie Buxton
In the Dalton ward 25.5% of people are living in neighbourhoods amongst the top-10% most deprived in England and in the Ashbrow ward 42.5% of people are living in neighbourhoods amongst the top -10% most deprived in England.
Whilst Brackenhall has enjoyed some regeneration, the Moldgreen area (less than one mile from the town centre) appears to be in decline. Moldgreen United Reformed Church will manage the project with support from three other churches: Waverley URC, Brackenhall URC and Stainland & Holywell Green URC.
The project will enable the Church Related Community Worker; Rosie Buxton to connect with every member of the four congregations, helping each person to discern how they are called to utilise their unique God given gifts to contribute to this shared vision.
Moldgreen URC has strong links with the local primary school where the headteacher is seeing an increasing social need. At a governors meeting (Jan 2016) it was reported that, “Need is growing, as fewer and fewer agencies are available to meet need. Safeguarding needs are growing, and services do not have the manpower or budgets to meet need. Domestic violence is on the increase, emotional neglect cases are increasing, and children’s mental health needs are becoming desperate!”
Initially, most of Rosie’s work will be based in Moldgreen, due to the rapidly changing face of the community. Geographical isolation, cultural, social and language barriers mean many young families are in need of support. Rosie’s role includes liaising with existing local authority partners, churches and local charities, to audit and further quantify the exact needs and assets. Although a major focus of the project will involve working with families, the project realises the importance of working with other groups too. A couple of the churches currently run weekly activity and lunch clubs aimed at addressing some of the issues around social isolation and Moldgreen is committed to continuing its work with Alzheimer’s clients, building on the two weekly sessions which have been run to date.
Aims of the project:
* Empower local people and particularly a younger demographic (20-50 year-olds) to identify and begin to address the needs of their community.
* Participation will include groups of people currently under-represented in community activity.
* Provide a range of activities which will be regularly reviewed on a theological basis.
* A better understanding of the most effective ways of the four Huddersfield URC’s working together to both engage with the community and to further the work of God’s kingdom amongst their congregations.
* The four URC’s will be able to use their project experiences to inform the wider URC and churches in their locality.
You can read a Reform magazine interview with Rosie here.
