On Saturday 11th July, at the Love Your Street celebration event hosted by Merton Council, Tom Walsh of Sustainable Merton announced the launch of Sustainable Merton’s Community Champions project.
This project is supported by a number of partners including Merton Council, The Institute for Sustainability, Moat Housing and Circle Housing.
Stakeholders from Merton’s Environmental Sub-Group have identified community engagement and communication on environmental issues as one of the biggest barriers to success for their programmes. Many Merton residents have expressed an interest in getting more involved with improving their part of the borough.
The overarching aim of the project is to establish a team of Community Champions to undertake a range of environmental engagement work throughout the borough. The project will involve the recruitment and training of dedicated local Community Champions who will be able to provide their communities with good quality advice on a range of sustainability issues, including energy efficiency, waste minimisation, water conservation and food growing, as well as being able to sign post to health and other support professionals. In addition, the Community Champions will support litter picks and report fly tipping and dog fouling in their area. They will also have opportunities to develop new knowledge and skills to help find employment in the green jobs sector.
“Becoming a Community Champion is a great opportunity for people who are already interested in caring for their environment to get more involved and encourage others to do their bit to improve their local environment”.
Tom Walsh