Dear Partner,
We are contacting you to give you an update around the regional responses to Covid-19 and ask if you would be willing to join a cohort of organisations tracking the impact of this on vulnerable or risk groups across London and the organisations supporting them.
Strategic Coordination Group
We are part of a team working across the Greater London Authority, London Plus, London Funders and the City of London Corporation, which is called the Funding, Community and Voluntary Sector cell within the London COVID-19 Strategic Co-ordination Group (SCG). The London SCG is the cross-agency partnership responsible for providing leadership and support to London at this time. And within this, one of the key threads of work is a focus on people who are vulnerable or at risk.
Our aim is to undertake rapid intelligence gathering to understand and map the impact of Covid-19 on Londoners and civil society. This will enable us to plan how we co-ordinate support for vulnerable groups and ensure that the support is both responsive and more efficient in meeting the diverse needs of communities and the groups who support them.
Invitation to participate
We would like to invite you, as an organisation working directly with Londoners at risk, to participate in a weekly survey to identify impacts from week to week that you are experiencing as a result of COVID-19.
From this survey information, we will produce weekly summaries, highlighting key themes for communications, advocacy and support. This information will be anonymised and shared with the GLA, London Resilience Strategic Coordination Group, London Community Response Fund, Local Authorities and civil society. Furthermore, it is very important to us that we share analysis from the data back with you.
What it involves
If you would like to join the cohort, you need to commit to completing a weekly five-minute survey. Initially we will conduct this research for two months, with an option to extend if needed. The weekly survey will be distributed on a Monday, close Wednesday and we will aim to get results to you each Friday. Information will always be presented in aggregate form, without identifying any individual organisations. If at some stage you are no longer able to take part there will be no obligation to continue, please just let us know and we can remove you from the distribution list. We know how stretched services are and want to make it as simple as possible.
To join the cohort please email civilsociety@london.gov.uk by the 10th of April. If you know other organisations that would be interested in joining the cohort, please do forward this invitation to them.
We understand that this is a difficult time for us all. If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to get in contact with civilsociety@london.gov.uk and we can discuss this with you.