Blog: “We can all work together to tackle inactivity in the community"
Get Out Get Active in the Black Country are connecting with faith leaders in the community to help disabled and non-disabled people get active. As part of the Inter Faith Week in 2021, our partner Active Black Country has been using the principles of social prescribing to provide a physical activity programme for hard-to-reach communities.
We caught up with Michael Salmon, Head of Insight, Health and Wellbeing at Active Black Country, to learn more about the impact that GOGA is having on local people.
“Wolverhampton, an area of the Black Country, is one of the most inactive parts of England. We wanted to help faith leaders learn new skills so they could deliver physical activity sessions to local people.
There were a fair few challenges along the way. As the programme was launched during the COVID-19 pandemic, lockdowns made it difficult to organise training sessions for our faith leaders.
Through GOGA, we were able to push forwards to deliver quality training resources that would enable faith leaders to engage with locals in Wolverhampton.
To bring disabled and non-disabled people together, we worked hard to provide physical leaflets and other signposting resources to hard-to-reach communities. This would help people not only learn more about the benefits of activity, but also find out when and where the activity sessions would be taking place.
Participants were also given £50 as an incentive to attend the sessions, which would help people overcome financial barriers to physical activity. They were then able to purchase the right clothing and equipment for the community sessions.
GOGA has been fantastic for us. They have helped us connect and engage with parts of the community we haven’t reached before during the struggles of the pandemic.
They have also given us the opportunity to leverage additional funding into the region. Active Black Country have now received £1.44m from the Commonwealth Active Communities programme to positively impact local people.
By continuing our training with faith leaders, we can all work together to tackle inactivity in the community.”
This story is part of our campaign, #TheGOGAWay. Showing how the GOGA approach can help organisations do things differently across the UK.
About Get Out Get Active
Get Out Get Active (GOGA) is a programme that supports disabled and non-disabled people to enjoy being active together. Activity Alliance is the creator and lead partner. The programme is funded by Spirit of 2012, Sport England and London Marathon Charitable Trust.