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Citizen Outreach Coalition (COC) is a Liverpool-based charity focused on supporting and improving the well-being of black and ethnic minority communities and other residents on low incomes and suffering from fuel poverty. They work in partnership with organisations to fulfil their motto, ‘empowering communities’, by providing job training, health advice, promoting arts and cultures of African and other BME people among other objectives.
COC received £122,306 funding from the Energy Redress Scheme to support its Energy Savings Awareness Campaign, running from 1 October 2022 to 30 September 2024.
Energy Savings Awareness Campaign - Project aims
Through the campaign, COC aimed to provide energy advice services to vulnerable people from black and ethnic minority backgrounds to improve energy efficiency at home and fuel debt support when necessary. Their high-quality energy advice is designed to have a long-lasting impact, so that people can learn to manage their energy consumption and reduce energy bills.
Project deliverables
The funding has paid for the following services to support community residents:
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energy advice during home visits
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energy advice through the telephone
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face to face energy advice
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community energy saving advice in-person events
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3 energy saving advice videos distributed digitally, through social media
Impact
The project has successfully raised awareness and encouraged residents to take action to save energy and money and reduce fuel poverty. As a result of COC’s quality energy advice in-person, over the telephone and digitally, hundreds of Liverpool area residents have improved their overall well-being, their financial situation and physical and mental health.
Over the course of the project so far, a number of outputs have been achieved to support the local community:
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261 households have been reached through 10 community energy awareness campaigns that have been held, offering free, impartial light touch advice on energy reduction tips.
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134 homes were visited, providing specific energy advice
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120 people were supported with face to face energy advice and 88 people were helped through the telephone energy advice service
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84 people experiencing fuel poverty and unexplained high energy bills were empowered to save energy and money at home and help to contact suppliers to solve this problem
Read more about COC’s Energy Savings Awareness Campaign on their website.
The people I have spoken to that have benefited from the energy savings project are very grateful. There is a single mother of three boys who received advice and some voucher support which helped her a lot. She is also supporting her elderly mother and trying to get an education at the same time. She gets a bit overwhelmed with all these responsibilities and getting support to reduce her energy consumption and her bills was timely and God-sent.
Sylvia Kalungi, project partner
