Danger of short-termism in community empowerment

Wiltshire is launching four new local voluntary sector forums, and I attended the launch of the first of these last week to share with them my understanding of Big Society and what it might mean for voluntary organisations. I had an interesting chat afterwards with an experienced community empowerment worker.
Typically for this kind of work, she was just about to finish a short term project supporting migrant workers, and was very concerned about how to continue the work. There is such a danger that we set up creative new projects to work with sometimes disenfranchised and vulnerable people and then do not have the resources to continue that support. We risk losing the trust and networks that are built up and damaging relationships with isolated people and communities. Of course the woman I spoke to is highly committed and will find a way to continue to support and empower the people involved in her short term project. But talking to her highlighted to me the challenges we have in sustaining important work in a fast changing environment. This woman is just the type of person we need to support through Empowerment Works, and who is also essential to make it a success. We are aiming to develop the tools and resources that will support people like this in their important work with some of the most marginalised and vulnerable people in our community.