Know someone who could benefit from Help and Connect?

Grapevine’s well-established Help and Connect project is for people with a learning disability or autism to make a plan, get connections, get work, stay healthy and stay safe. Working with adults aged 18 plus across Coventry, Michelle Reid has been connecting, strengthening and readying people for new opportunities for the last few years. Help and […]

Help to stop council cuts for people with learning disabilities in Coventry

Coventry City Council has come up with a list of tough savings proposals to consider ahead of setting its budget in February 2025. Among those proposals, the council wants to cut money for voluntary sector services that help people with a learning disability who do not qualify for council support. Austerity has meant that the […]

Learning disabled experts by experience train more than 2,000 NHS staff on better care for them and their peers

Looking back on 2024, one highlight definitely worth celebrating is the important milestone of our experts by experience training over 2,000 general practice NHS staff in ‘Autism Awareness’. The Health Leaders we are helping to develop each have autism and/or a learning disability and a desire to use their experiences of healthcare – good and […]

Teens with special educational needs and disabilities receive help and support thanks to Warwickshire Freemasons

Around 35 teenagers with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) – many of whom will have stopped attending school due to a lack of provision for their needs – will benefit from one-to-one and group support thanks to a grant from Warwickshire Freemasons to our Teenvine Plus Next Steps intensive development programme. The £60,000 grant […]

New Connecting for Good report reveals impact and learning from shifting power to communities

Connecting for Good is a social movement working to address isolation and marginalisation across Coventry, empowering people in the city to make change through community organising. We believe that the key to closing equity gaps is direct participation by impacted communities in developing and implementing solutions. Connecting for Good (CfG) is an ecosystem of 18 […]

Meet Holly – new connector strengthening autistic and learning disabled Coventry people

We’re welcoming Holly Thurgood to the Help and Connect team in Coventry, working alongside autistic and learning disabled people to help them make a plan, get connections, get work, stay healthy and stay safe. As a connector on the project, Holly says she’s looking forward to her new role as a ‘detective’ – finding out […]

Coventry Youth Activists call for allies new and old to join first online gathering

A Coventry Youth Activists (CYA) Ally Gathering is no ordinary meeting – it’s an opportunity to learn, connect and take action. Together. Our team of campaigners, fighting for young disabled people’s right to a good life, are inviting YOU to join them online on Friday 27 September (10am to 11:30am) for their first ever Ally […]

Dreaming big about community leadership and community centres of the future

A new blog from our deputy CEO Mel Smith. Mel joined the first panel of March’s Restitch 2024, the social fabric summit, to share how we know social infrastructure matters and how we might build the growth of local people’s power and agency “into the walls” of reimagined community centres of the future. Mel’s blog […]

The latest from Connecting for Good – community, connection and capacity for change in Coventry

Our Connecting for Good community organisers are a busy lot! When they’re not helping Coventry people form and lead their own solutions to isolation and marginalisation, they’re sharing what works with the world through Medium or taking a quick trip to Poland to compare notes with European counterparts. But it is also good to pause […]