What is Stay Warm in Newham?

Our project aims to help Newham residents struggling with rising energy bills through our Warm Hub sessions and energy advice from Groundworks Green Doctors.

What do we offer?

• Advice, support and tips for tackling fuel poverty – provided by trained volunteers and energy experts.
• A Warm Space on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays – community members can enjoy free refreshments and catch up with friends.
• Four single-use guest passes per year
• We provide training for volunteers so they can advocate, empower and support our community in the face of fuel poverty.

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What are our aims?

We prioritise multilingual communications in our community centres and public libraries through a number of outreach events, ensuring the most vulnerable, hard-to-reach communities are aware of the support available to them.

With an estimated 8.6 million people expected to be living in fuel poverty by April 2023 (End Fuel Poverty Coalition) this two-year project will see the Renewal Programme work with the energy efficiency experts at Groundwork Green Doctors to combine energy advice and support through a ‘link worker’ service to help residents maximise opportunities.

They will provide residents with tailored advice, learning about energy debt management, understanding how to save energy in their homes and take control of the bills, to help them cope with the rising cost of living crisis. In addition, the Green Doctors will work with Newham Local Authority to help residents access council funded grant and support schemes, by guiding them through the processes to access this existing support.

Stay Warm Cooking Classes

Our Warm Welcome Host puts on his Chef hat to teach our community to make warm, simple, sustainable dishes.

This is a volunteer led initiative to help save on energy bills and make the community greener.

Thank you to Climate You Change for helping us make this happen!

Community Charged Energy Champion

Newham Council has generously funded this project, in partnership with Skills Enterprise, allowing us to expand our project. 

Our Community Charged Energy Coordinator, Heidi will be working closely with our Stay Warm in Newham Project Coordinator, Kadiza, to reach out directly to community members. 

Heidi will be working with volunteers and attending community space (such as the library, GP, Community groups, Stratford Centre, faith groups) to provide relevant advice, signposting, support and tips for our Newham community. 

This extension will allow for us to actively reach out to our community, create community links so the Renewal Programme is able to provide Newham with the support they need

The Renewal Programme has been working in Newham for over 50 years, and our mission is to stand alongside those who are struggling, inspiring hope, and offering opportunities for connection, growth and progress. The current cost of living crisis is having a deep impact on Newham’s residents and it is likely to have implications for years to come. The funding of this project by the Cadent Foundation will enable us to provide vital support to the community.

We are determined to stand with Newham residents during these trying times and provide the support needed to tackle the rising levels of fuel poverty, and we are proud to be working with Cadent Foundation and Groundwork to do this.

Peter Laing, Chief Executive Officer, The Renewal Programme