At the heart of the aid we provide our L4 residents is our dedicated Neighbourhood team, who ensure the Club and its charity arm, Everton in the Community, is a good resident to all of its neighbours.

Known as 'The Blue Mile' in reference to the one-mile radius which surrounds Goodison Park, the team are currently contacting circa 200 EitC participants to check in on their general welfare whilst our 14 project delivery is postponed to prevent isolation due to the coronavirus outbreak.

This communication will take place during times in which sessions would usually go ahead to keep in line with routine. We are also continuing to support those in crisis cases with foodbank, housing support, money management and mental health issues where we can. This correspondence will be made via phone, email and its designated Twitter account.

For support on foodbanks, money management, general welfare, advice and guidance and check-in calls, you can email neighbourhood@Evertonfc.com or call our neighbourhood manager, Sarah on 07807 752 740.

Everton Football Club is committed to being a good neighbour. We recognise the impact we can have in our communities and it’s important that we work closely with our neighbourhood to deliver positive change within the wards of Walton, Anfield, Everton and Kirkdale.

Our dedicated Neighbourhood team work in a one-mile radius surrounding Goodison Park, known as ‘The Blue Mile’, and strive to make a positive impact on the residents and communities within that area. Over the course of the last 12 months, the team has made a visible impact throughout Liverpool 4, empowering and supporting more than 180 residents each week to improve the area in which they reside.

A particular highlight for the team came in March 2019 as part of ‘Kirkdale Community Impact Day' when the Neighbourhood team helped co-ordinate an ‘area clean up’ along Delamore Street, promoting safer, stronger communities and offering advice on home safety through its impacting mini-police team from Gwladys Street School.

As plans for The Goodison Legacy project move forwards, it is also important that we provide our residents with a voice in shaping the future. Several L4 Legacy focus groups were carried out in April 2019, giving neighbours the opportunity to have a say in the future plans for the area, with more than 1000 neighbours supporting the proposals online and during the practical drop-in sessions.

We also seek the collaboration of partners in the area to provide opportunities. In May 2019, we hosted a Rovio Intergenerational Enterprise Day with retired neighbours and local schools. And, in June 2019, a new partnership with Peel Ports emerged, giving us access to pallets to build new planters for our Goodison Garden. As a result, a once troubled area of land in Kirkdale is now a space of tranquillity where crime levels are down to 0 per cent.

July 2019 saw the Neighbourhood team support the launch of a six-week refugee resettlement project to find homes for refugees and asylum seekers in the Blue Mile, while, in August 2019, they hosted a ‘Real Men Don’t Carry Knives’ football tournament with our Premier League Kicks programme, engaging with 60 young people aged 14 to 15 who are potentially exposed to knife crime. It also offered the opportunity to launch a new campaign called ‘Knife Savers’, which has since resulted in a decrease in knife crime activity in comparison to 2018.

The Neighbourhood team is always looking to provide support and opportunities to its neighbours. We hosted a ‘Shaw Community Day’ to provide employment, volunteering and housing support for Blue Mile residents, tackling the third generation of unemployment that the area is facing, with a focus on enhancing highest reported qualifications from GCSE level to Further Education standard.

It was a privilege in October 2019 to host a half-term food and exercise camp, sponsored by Riverside Housing Group for our neighbours and a Blue Mile Stay and Play group was launched for children’s provision in November 2019.

The health and wellbeing of our residents is at the forefront of our delivery, particularly those who find themselves in difficult circumstances. To mark the festive period, we joined forces with Fans Supporting Foodbanks to offer a Christmas dinner at The Blue Base to homeless and socially isolated people on Christmas Day. We also provided an emergency 25kg food parcel, a Christmas present and a hygiene box, all of which was supported by Appreciate PLC and Slater Gordon.

The turn of the year provided our Neighbourhood team the opportunity to work with Liverpool Women’s Hospital through EitC’s Women’s Knitting Group to provide a fundraising stream for ‘The Newborn Appeal’, a cause which raises funds to provide services and facilities above what is normally provided through NHS funding. The group have recently opened a shop - Little Woolens - which looks to raise £26k per year for the hospital.