Community

Rachel is a proud native of Ynysybwl, in Rhondda Cynon Taf. She has worked in the Third Sector for 27 years, predominantly with charities and organisations concerned with improving the quality of life of older people. Since joining Age Connects Morgannwg (ACM) as CEO in 2005, she has led the growth and diversification of the charity in response to the changing aspirations of older people, communities and national policy; most recently delivering a multi-million-pound transformation project called Cynon Linc, a community hub which comprises intergenerational and inter-agency working from primary care to housing advice, from play sessions for toddlers to therapeutic activities for mind, body and soul.

More widely, Rachel is influential as a third sector leader through various national collaborative groups such as Age Alliance Wales and the Third Sector Partnership Council. Rachel’s national and regional work has included Chair of Care & Repair Cymru’s National Board and the Cwm Taf Morgannwg Regional Partnership Board (RPB), as the national Third Sector Representative. As its Chair and the first Third Sector representative to be elected as an RPB Chair, Rachel led the RPB to deliver its Transformation Programme alongside a programme of Integrated Care funding. Rachel also campaigned for a single Population Needs and Wellbeing Needs Assessment to deliver on the requirements of the Future Generations Act and the Social Services and Wellbeing Act, resulting in the ‘Hear Our Voices’ engagement programme. Her tenure as RPB Chair also spanned almost all of the COVID-19 pandemic and as such, she led the Protect Workstream of the COVID-19 Test Trace Protect Programme (TTP) for the region.