Giving something back
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Community Development
Our company mission is ‘to help people get on in life’, and CSR, for us, is all about giving something back to our communities and being mindful of our impact on society. It's our vision to unlock people’s potential through housing, skills and technology, and we are committed to delivering this and keeping customers at the heart of everything we do.
We launched our CSR strategy at an event attended by more than 60 stakeholders from local commercial and voluntary organisations working across Wolverhampton, all keen to explore partnership working so we can all achieve more for our communities.
We will support our communities socially and economically through activities which deliver social value, including employment opportunities, volunteering, events, fundraisers and community projects. Where possible we will award contracts locally to contractors who share our commitment to creating opportunities in our communities. And we will work in our communities to empower them, providing opportunities to influence our decision-making and improve the services we provide.
We recognise that we are stronger together, so we aim to deliver effective community development that improves tenant involvement, supports our decision-making on social value and builds tenant networks, to create a bigger impact in our communities.
Read our strategy
An accessible version of our strategy can be accessed here.
What does this mean for me?
This means we will increase our work with diverse communities and groups, linking to our equality, diversity and inclusion strategy.
We’ll create more opportunities to meet customers and work with the city council to empower our Tenants and Residents Associations (TRAs) as a voice for their communities. And we’ll provide funding to give something back and support community projects
We’ll continue to develop our volunteering offer to support our most vulnerable customers. We’ll support residents to embrace digital technology and make sure employment, training and learning opportunities are promoted in our communities.
To help develop a sense of community and strengthen the voice of our customers, we will bring communities together and involve them in our decision-making.
We will create new partnerships to improve understanding of our communities and deliver increased opportunity for investment, and continue to give something back by supporting good causes locally.
Our procurement process will focus on how we create local value and embed social value throughout our network of contractors and sub-contractors. We will continue to support the City of Wolverhampton Council and their city plan. 'Our City, Our Plan'.
WH colleagues create value through their work every day, and we continue to build on this by ensuring our teams are fully trained to deliver great customer service.
We will increase the visibility of our colleagues and senior leaders across our communities, and all Wolverhampton Homes staff will be given volunteering days to spend on the local projects and initiatives that really matter to our customers.
Measuring our impact
Our commitment to CSR is based on the positive outcomes we can deliver for our communities, while keeping customers at the heart of everything we do. We will monitor and record our progress, so you can be confident we’re doing a good job.
We will regularly ask customers for feedback on how we are doing, through surveys, get togethers and when we’re in and around communities. We’ll use your feedback to continually improve and we’ll update you regularly on what’s going on, through emails, social media and our annual report.
We will calculate the social value in £s that has been generated through our own, and our contractors’ work. And we’ll hold a stakeholder event each year to review progress and ensure we are building on the good work. Our new customer experience panel will review our activities. The panel will be made up of customers from across our communities, embracing diversity and inclusivity to help us shape our future.