Joint effort - Angela Corner ( right ), with Thirteen ’ s neighbourhood development manager Lyndsey Coe .
Working with communities
How Thirteen is bringing people and organisations together to benefit communities
A s one of the region ’ s largest housing associations , Thirteen provides homes and support services to people across the North-East and Yorkshire .
But as a major part of its mission , the Middlesbrough-based organisation is also working with communities to help them develop and thrive , bringing partners together to enhance communities and help them become successful today , while preparing for tomorrow .
To develop this work , Thirteen has recently launched its community resilience team and a five-year strategy to work within communities to empower them , build strength and better understand their needs .
Angela Corner is head of community resilience at Thirteen . She explained : “ If there ’ s one thing the pandemic taught us , it ’ s that the future is incredibly uncertain and it ’ s difficult to predict the challenges that lie ahead .
“ Even before Covid , Thirteen identified the need to build resilience and strength in our communities , so we ’ ve been working on a strategy that maps out how we can support people and community organisations to tackle the challenges they face .
“ To help this strategy succeed , we ’ re putting our communities at the heart of our decisions , working on social and physical regeneration projects and promoting a culture of working with and not doing to .
“ In other words , it ’ s a strategy to help us build resilience in our communities , empowering them to help themselves .”
As an anchor institution within Teesside , Thirteen has an important presence in its communities , with the potential to bring together a range of organisations to shape change .
Community work , global impact One recent example of partnership working to empower the community is the Active Tees Valley eco-shop in Pallister Park .
It ’ s a community venture that Thirteen supported to become a great local resource . Run by members of the community to support the community , the shop supplies low-cost food that might otherwise have been thrown away by shops and supermarkets .
Gary Hamilton from Active Tees Valley , said : “ Thirteen provided support for a range of work on the eco-shop and other on-site facilities .
“ We not only help families
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