Community Cafe/Cosy Hub

Aim

Cosy Hub; a group with access to empowering budgeting support, advice and guidance to improve financial situations.

The Community Cafe & Cosy Hub

Our Wednesday drop in session Community Cafe & Cosy Hub is a place to go whilst individuals are waiting to use our Community Cupboard to have a free barista coffee and receive budgeting support. The Community Cupboard is our food store to help reduce food wastage and food poverty - individuals and families in our community do not have enough. From November until March we are also opening a Cosy Hub, our warm space for individuals to keep warm, have a hot drink and a cup of soup, chat to friends or read a book. Cosy Hub will be open Wednesday and Thursday 10 - 4, with the addition of budgeting support on Wednesdays.

When someone has used the Community Cupboard 4 or more times, they will be required to get budgeting support from our support workers. Of course, individuals can also self refer to budgeting support if they feel they need it.. Not everyone who attends the Community Cafe or Community Cupboard needs to come each week but attendances are monitored so we can get the right support to the individuals that do require it. People know that when they do come the others who are there are in a similar situation to them; they feel empowered to ask for the help in a less formal situation where they know they aren't alone in their situation. 

We work with individuals to uncover the root cause of their difficulties and aim to support them in the best way possible. This could be difficulty understanding money and budgets, mental health, lack of income to provide, addiction etc. We look to support with short term and long term solutions; e.g if someone cannot work because of lack of childcare, we will look to the future to work towards getting back into work when the children are of school age.

Location

The cafe is situated in our newly refurbished room with a fully working cafe set up with barista coffee and sweet treats. The environment is safe, warm and calm, which allows attendees to feel comfortable, relaxed and more in control of conversations around budgeting and change. Attendees report feeling less anxious and do not feel that anything is expected of them, which makes them more open to discussing their situations and planning changes.

 All individuals are in different situations. It could be that they really do not have enough money to survive on and are therefore welcome to keep using the cupboard, or that they have enough money but are unable to managed their finances well. In this instance we support them to make changes to their lifestyle, refer on to our other services to support and encourage a donation to the Community Cupboard if they wish to continue to use it. 

Attendees will build self-esteem and confidence, discover money saving tips and learn ways to reduce waste and bring their bills and outgoing down. The confidence built will empower individuals to make the changes they need to get themselves in a better financial situation; more security and more freedom. Individuals will learn how to understand their bills, a deeper understanding of money and how to use the digital world to help them financially - online banking, online bills etc. 

The Need

We are seeking funds to help pay towards staff costs, refreshments and the utility bills.

This project successfully funded on 25th January 2023