Meet The Team: Get To Know Marcia Cunnison!

We’d like to introduce you to Marcia Cunnison, who is our Community Partnership & Tenant Engagement Manager here at Nehemiah Housing.

Most of you will already know Marcia but for those who don’t, this is a great opportunity to become familiar with who she is and what she does – and discover more about how she can support you as a Nehemiah tenant.

What Is Marcia’s Role?

Marcia’s role is challenging and rewarding, and she is supported by a great team of colleagues who help her achieve her goals and make a real difference every day.

Her role is about being the link between the tenants of Nehemiah Housing and Nehemiah Housing association itself. Marcia plays an important part in driving Nehemiah’s desire to not just build meaningful homes but to build meaningful homes within thriving and diverse communities.

In her words: “I lead the strategies that ensure tenants’ voices are heard in all of Nehemiah’s decision-making. What brought me here is the belief that good housing is the platform for a thriving social unit. I love knowing that by helping tenants engage, we can create successful communities and not simply homes.”

What Is A Typical Day For Marcia?

There is no such thing as a typical day for Marcia – every day is different and that’s the way she likes it!

Balance, however, is key to Marcia’s days as she needs to address the needs of our tenants and Nehemiah Housing association.

She says: “I often oversee the tenant satisfaction measures (TSMs), while in another moment, I’ll make sure we meet the Consumer Standards set by the Regulator of Social Housing.

“In reality, this means that I’m in a meeting with the leadership team to discuss tenant involvement one minute and coaching the team on how to increase tenant numbers, the next.

“I also always stay up to date with current issues in housing, health, and social care, and am flexible to the needs of West Midlands when it comes to events and meetings.”

Starting the day with a strategic plan that includes prioritising direct community engagement, means that Marcia and her team are constantly strengthening partnerships and undertaking initiatives to meet the needs of tenants.

Which part of the day does Marcia enjoy the most? “That moment tenants realise the power they have to hold Nehemiah to account or when we successfully launch a partnership project that truly benefits our tenants or a community,” she says.

“Knowing we’re delivering on our promise of being accountable and accessible to the communities we serve is incredibly rewarding.”

How Are Tenants Engaged, Made To Feel Heard & Involved At Nehemiah?

Marcia and her team work hard to provide many opportunities for tenants to get involved with the decision-making process at Nehemiah.

She explains: “It’s important our tenants feel empowered to influence and scrutinise our services and strategies. We achieve this by not only having formal tenant groups, such as our Scrutiny Group and the Nehemiah Tenant Panel, but by facilitating these groups so our tenants feel supported and confident to express their views.

“Crucially, we ensure all tenants’ views are considered, and we communicate back to them just how their feedback has influenced decisions.”

Marcia and her team work hard to proactively engage tenants through a range of activities.

“We organise events, run customer satisfaction surveys, produce newsletters, and even lead the annual report to tenants,” she adds.
“Plus, we ensure our formal customer panels get practical training and timely information for their meetings so they’re fully prepared.”

What’s A Recent Example Of How Tenant Feedback Has Influenced Change?

Marcia says: “A recent example is when Nehemiah Housing initiated a consultation on the proposal to begin recording telephone calls for quality improvement, dispute resolution, and staff/tenant protection.

“Tenants expressed concerns and provided feedback on the proposal, particularly regarding privacy and data protection, and transparency on why and how the calls were being recorded and used.

“As a result of the consultation process and tenants’ feedback, the policy was implemented with transparency of purpose – namely that tenants were aware recordings weren’t solely for disciplinary action – and with explicit data compliance.

“The consultation itself demonstrated that the association is committed to listening – and this led to Nehemiah offering further opportunities for tenants to ask questions and provide feedback on the policy before it was fully rolled out.

“Tenant feedback ensured the new policy was introduced with a stronger focus on transparency, data security, and communication about its benefits to both staff and residents.”

How Are Partnerships Built & Maintained Within The Community?

Building and maintaining partnerships with other organisations and services in West Midlands is an important part of Marcia’s role and she does this through a combination of working with and influencing external agencies to promote Nehemiah’s work.

“My team and I attend forums and meetings to represent Nehemiah, working with and influencing agencies to deliver community development programmes and other related projects that meet agreed targets,” explains Marcia.

“These partnerships are hugely important and their impact is significant! Nehemiah supports people to obtain and maintain tenancies, making a substantial contribution to preventing homelessness.

“Our partnerships enable us to access resources and services that cater for the specific needs of our tenants.”

What’s A Recent Example Of A Project You’re Particularly Excited About?

“I’ve been particularly excited about the recent End-of-Year Celebration, which focused on addressing social isolation among our most vulnerable tenants,” enthuses Marcia.

“This project truly matters as it was much more than just a party – it’s committed to making a meaningful difference. This event was for those tenants at a higher risk of loneliness and isolation as it reached out to them and brought them into the community fold.

“The celebration served as a low-pressure, welcoming environment for these tenants to meet other tenants in the community and other residents living in independent living schemes, to connect with our support staff and discover local resources available to them.

“We are continuing to work with key community partners, such as Age UK, and other local support services, who attended the event and were present to offer advice and guidance for these tenants going forward.

“This project is a perfect example of our commitment to ensuring our tenants’ wellbeing and quality of life improve through active community partnership – we are about so much more than simply providing housing.”

What Are The Biggest Challenges Of The Role?

Marcia and her team are keen to achieve meaningful engagement for all our tenants – and to ensuring that every community is heard, represented and supported through our work.

She explains: “The biggest challenge is ensuring that we achieve meaningful engagement, rather than just tokenism, across our diverse tenant base. We serve multicultural communities of African-Caribbean, Asian, Irish, and European descent across six different areas in the West Midlands. Ensuring that we provide all these diverse voices with a wide range of opportunities to influence and scrutinise our services can be a constant balancing act.”

The team also need to show value for money for our tenants.

“Another significant challenge is the need to work with financial and performance data and to demonstrate value for money for our tenants,” Marcia adds.

How Is The Success Of The Engagement Work Measured?

“Success is measured by the tangible influence tenants have on our decisions and strategies,” says Marcia.

“We must communicate to the tenants about how their feedback has influenced decisions, which demonstrates that their involvement is meaningful.

“We also track the effectiveness of our various activities that include running customer satisfaction surveys, formal customer panels, and events.”

What Moments Make All The Hard Work Worth It?

“Hearing personal testimonials or witnessing a direct, positive change in someone’s life because of a partnership, programme, or resource I’ve helped establish and seeing tenants empowered to make a difference in our service delivery,” explains Marcia.

What Key Skills Or Qualities Are Essential For This Role?

“You need to be a great communicator, first and foremost, able to adapt your style for various groups,” says Marcia.

“Strong report-writing skills are essential, and you must be able to establish and maintain positive relationships with a diverse range of internal and external stakeholders. Beyond that, knowledge of social housing legislation and good practice in tenant participation is a must.”

Do You Have Advice For Someone Interested In Working In Tenant Engagement Or Community Development?

“Yes!”, says Marcia.

“Be proactive, be dependable, and be a great listener. Understand that you’re not just delivering a service; you are building trust. And crucially, be willing to learn and develop.

“We need people who are willing to embrace IT to improve procedures and who are committed to delivering results.”

What’s One Thing People Might Be Surprised To Learn About The Role?

Marcia states: “One surprising thing is how much I have to work with performance data! While the job appears to be very tenant focused, I must work closely with the Finance team to plan and report on customer satisfaction surveys, and I also regularly prepare reports and statistical information. Everything we do needs to be outcome-focused, efficient, and demonstrate value for money.”

How Do You Unwind After A Busy Day?

“I try to switch off completely,” Marcia says.

“After a day of meetings, reports, and community involvement, I enjoy taking some time for myself. That usually means away from the screen and enjoying cake making, singing at my local church and spending time with my family.”

Nehemiah Is Here To Help & Support

Tenants’ wellbeing is at the core of all Marcia and her team do – and all of us here at Nehemiah, in fact.

We fully appreciate that tenants are the most knowledgeable with regards to our services and areas for improvement. This is why we want our tenants to engage, get involved and give us feedback whenever they can.

We hope you’ve enjoyed our Meet The Team with Marcia.

If you want to speak to Marcia Cunnison about any issues or to discuss potential ways to get involved, you can contact her on 0121 358 8031 or 07739 705 048, or email marcia.cunnison@nehemiah.co.uk

You can also contact your Housing Officer or call us on 0121 358 0966 or email contact@nehemiah.co.uk on other matters and we will do all we can to help you.