The CHEMS project was funded by Manchester City Council to target communities facing racial inequalities (within the context of Covid-19). This section of the project focused on the strand concerning ‘the Covid-19 Conversations’ that were planned from April 2022 and the conversations were held from July 1st – July 31st, 2022.

AIMS

1) Engage with specific groups and communities to understand what is important to them, and how we can reduce the spread of COVID, severe illness and death in those communities

2) Support specific groups with the immediate indirect consequences of COVID-19 e.g., mental health, DV&A, Income loss etc.

METHODOLOGY

To enable the project model to engage with as many people as possible, a ‘Train the Trainer’ model was produced and delivered to group leaders and Covid-19 leads of targeted organisations which entailed developing a ‘structured approach’ to Covid-19 Conversations in 2 formats; (an activity-based session and a Focus Group) to ensure different techniques were employed to enable greater engagement from all ages (>12 years).

OUTPUTS

16 Covid-19 Health Equity Conversations were implemented covering areas around Manchester

123 people contributed to the Covid-19 Health Equity Conversation

10 organisations attended the CHEMS ‘Train the Trainers Session’

1 ‘Post Project Evaluation and Celebration Event’ held

Organisations received financial gain for their time

COVID Health Equity Programme

OUTCOMES

Main themes identified;-
• individuals mental and physical health
• access to health care
• the lack of information
• concerns about Long Covid

Recommendations
• Using the ‘Train the Trainers’ model,
• funding Community Hubs where appropriate to deliver projects and/or interventions to tackle health inequalities
• to build on the good work that Manchester Settlement has begun
• having information and/or resources available to Secondary Schools and the voluntary sector and to determine ‘why’ information to our BAME communities is ‘blocked’

All in all, the project was successful in engaging with BAME communities and to determine their needs.

For further information regarding the project, please see report, ‘ Covid-19 Health Equity (CHEMS) Conversation Project Report, (Sept 2022).

, “Enjoyed the whole experience and don’t want it to stop”. [Facilitator -Covid-19 Conversation”