With the help of Community First Yorkshire’s Leadership Mentoring programme, the Manager for Community Led Homes North Yorkshire and East Riding is confidently steering the Hub towards the future.

What was the challenge?

As the Community Led Housing hub for North Yorkshire and East Riding plans for its future, manager Angela, wanted to develop and strengthen her leadership skills. Angela applied for a mentee place on cohort 1 of the Leadership Mentoring Programme in July 2021 in order to benefit from the advice and guidance of a mentor.

How did Community First Yorkshire help?

We chose the Chief Executive of Selby District AVS as a suitable mentor, and provided support for both around how to get the most from the mentoring sessions. There were six one-hour monthly mentoring sessions; most of these sessions were face-to-face meetings, and Angela says, they were “the highlight of my month”.

Throughout the programme, both mentor and mentee received ongoing support. A mid-point evaluation session with both mentees and mentors from Cohort 1 identified any common development areas, and we provided additional support where needed in the form of resources and signposting training. Strategic vision and confidence were the two main areas of concern for Angela coming into the programme. The sessions with the mentor helped her to address these, and the  confidence Angela gained during the programme really helped her to communicate her passion, knowledge and commitment for the work of the hub to a wide variety of audiences – whether presenting to potential funders or delivering workshops.

We held a final evaluation session in March 2022 to bring the mentees and mentors together. At this session, we offered the mentees places on Peer Learning Groups and opportunities for further leadership development.

What does the future look like?

Angela is now part of a Peer Learning Group along with other mentees from cohort one of the Leadership Mentoring Programme. She wants to continue to build her leadership network and continue peer learning. She is also keen to take up a bursary place on a further professional development programme, this is likely to be the Common Purpose Senior Leaders programme starting in May 2022.

About the organisation

Community Led Homes, North Yorkshire and East Riding is the hub for community led housing in the region. They work with key public, private, voluntary and community sector organisations, to provide effective solutions for communities to deliver community-led housing schemes.