How it works · 2026/27
Our project plan
Each year the Community Connectors write a plan for the year ahead, built on what partners raise at the gatherings. Here's how that works, and what this year's plan sets out to do.
How project plans work
The Community Connector service is funded by NHS Lincolnshire Integrated Care Board (ICB). Every area, or lot, writes an annual project plan for it. Lincoln City North is part of Lot 2, Lincoln North, so our plan covers Lincoln North Rural and the north of Lincoln.
Each plan sets out a shared picture of where the area wants to get to, at least three local priorities, and how each one helps with the everyday things that shape health, such as having friends and people around you, a secure home, and a job or something meaningful to do.
The priorities come from the gatherings: what partners say is getting in the way, and what they think would help. We report progress every three months, and what happens shows up in You said, we did.
- ListenPartners raise needs and gaps at the gatherings
- PlanThe most important ones become the year's priorities
- ActConnectors and partners work on them together
- Report backEvery three months, and in You said, we did
The lenses we use
Job, Home, Friend
A simple way of looking at what keeps people well, and the lens every priority in the plan is looked at through.
Something meaningful to do: paid work where people want it, but also volunteering, learning, training and a routine.
A safe, settled place to live, and the help to keep it: housing problems, repairs, debt and bills.
People around you: friendships, belonging and regular contact, so fewer people are lonely or cut off.
The six outcomes
The ICB asks every plan to show how its work lines up with six outcomes for mental health, dementia, learning disabilities and autism (MHDLDA). We count what we do; the outcomes themselves come about through the partners and services people are connected to, over a longer time, so we claim a contribution, not the credit.
- 1Fewer children and adults with mental ill health
- 2Fewer people in mental health crisis
- 3People as independent as possible
- 4More people with meaningful occupation
- 5Better quality of life
- 6More people living longer in good health
This year's plan · 2026/27 · written October 2026
Where we want to get to
We want the north of Lincoln and the villages north of the city to be places where people, groups and services know each other well enough to respond together when someone needs support. Help should be easier to find and closer to home, built on what already exists locally. The real test is how much of the local network keeps working when the Community Connectors aren't in the room.
Four priorities
-
Stronger partnership
Bring local groups, parish councils and services together regularly, so they know what each other offers and can spot gaps together.
In Lincoln City North
- Set up one online hub for Lincoln City North partners: a simple website, an opt-in partner directory and an opt-in WhatsApp community
-
Making support easier to find
Give partners one clear route to local support and how to refer people, and keep it up to date when services change.
In Lincoln City North
- A regular item at every Lincoln City North gathering on changes to referral routes, recorded in the notes
- One clear route for professionals to local community support, linking to H.A.Y. Lincolnshire, Connect to Support Lincolnshire and other directories that already exist
- Finish the Lincoln City North and South Hoarding Project report and share what it found with the countywide hoarding work
- Link Lincoln North into the wider Lincoln work with military families living off base
-
Making better use of community spaces
Match organisations that have something to offer with spaces and groups that are happy to host, so support happens where people already gather. We check six months later that it's still running.
In Lincoln City North
- A short "room and offer" check at every Lincoln City North gathering: who has a room with space, and who has an offer that needs one
- Check each match six months on, and record why if it has stopped
-
Peer support that lasts
Help people with lived experience who want to support others to get training and start peer-led groups that can keep going without a Community Connector.
In Lincoln City North
- Help a first group of Lincoln North residents onto funded peer support training
- Support a first peer-led group to start meeting in Lincoln North, in a room found through the room and offer check
- Write down a simple pathway that others can follow to start and keep a peer-led group going
Help shape next year's plan
The best way is to come along to a gathering and say what you're seeing locally.