It's Official - Building Self-Belief are Investors in the Environment!

The environment has always been one of our key areas of Building Self-Belief's charitable work - from the development of gardens, to the use of open air spaces to improve mental health, to our visit to Glasgow for COP26 to encourage young people to take an interest in policy.

Therefore, Building Self-Belief is absolutely delighted to have been awarded the Investors in the Environment Bronze Award. There is a great deal of 'talk' about green initiatives, but to achieve this award, you have to implement the policies, not just write them. We now have our Travel Policy, our Waste Management Policy and our Environmental Policy. We have also incorporated our approach to green initiatives into our induction process for trustees, staff and volunteers.

Our Green Champion

Our Apprentice Shauna Nixon is our official 'Green Champion. Shauna completed a great deal of the training and tasks, she also collated the necessary information. Shauna will be continuing in this role, and we are looking forward to continuing with our green initiatives.

Highlights from the Accreditation Report

"Building Self Belief is committed to integrating young people within their community and frequently this is via environmental projects, such as their Tow Law Eco-Youth Ambassadors’ project in County Durham, and their restoration of Benfieldside Community Garden to use as a community space. Building Self Belief have a great buy-in from colleagues across the organisation, from Management to Volunteers, to develop their environmental management system. They have made good headway with promoting sustainable travel within their organisation, and going forward, this can be developed into a formal sustainable travel plan.

Highlights

• Excellent use of projects to support community, wellbeing and environmental efforts.

• Environmental Policy identifies the environmental champion and commits to reducing environmental impacts and legal compliance, with Net Zero commitment outlined.

• Strong communication channels, through their website, social media and use of notice boards.

• Colleagues from across the organisations involved in the process, with trustees being regularly updated in meetings, and staff and volunteers receiving information through induction process."

Thank you

Can we thank both the County Durham Community Foundation and Durham Community Action because they signpost us to key initiatives and they also provide links funding, and/or the funding itself that support us in our work in this area. Can we also than Jo Holmes of Gennee Consultancy who has supported us throughout the process in achieving the Bronze Award. We are looking forward to the future plans and making even more positive changes in how we approach and implement green strategies.