It’s so sad to see cuts like those at Pengegon (see previous post) in prospect when ‘the voluntary and community sector sits at the heart of the Government’s ambitions to create a Big Society’ – Building a Stronger Civil Society. And when good evidence is emerging that empowerment pays.
A new report from the New Economics Foundation for the Community Development Foundation demonstrates that for every £1 a local authority invests in community development, £15 of value is created.
Empowerment Works is a movement of people and organisations committed to building support for community empowerment in the South West and beyond. For more information please visit the Empowering Communities website.
Wednesday 27 October 2010
Cornish empowerment project under threat
Effective community empowerment on the deprived Pengegon estate in West Cornwall has been featured in the Guardian because it is at risk of serious cuts next March. Clare Arymar, Pengegon's neighbouhood manager, is widely recognised on the estate as the 'glue' that has made the estate more secure and happy. She helped set up the residents' association, runs events to bring people together and create a sense of community, and has an open-door policy for residents to drop in for support or advice in her estate-based office. Her project costs just £38,000 a year but is under threat because like all local authorities, Cornwall Council is being asked to cut its budget by more than a quarter over four years.
Tuesday 26 October 2010
New health empowerment guide features three South West projects
A new guide to community empowerment in health has just been published by CDF. It advocates community empowerment as a way to improve both efficiency of health services and directly improve individuals' physical and mental health as they become more active and empowered in their communities. It gives guidance to anyone who works with the public in the health sectoron how to make empowerment work and what some of the common challenges may be.
The report also presents case studies of successful community empowerment in health, including three projects in the South West:
The report also presents case studies of successful community empowerment in health, including three projects in the South West:
Wednesday 20 October 2010
Participatory Budgeting
It was good to see the Communities and Local Government website give a plug to participatory budgeting last week – you can read it here:
www.communities.gov.uk/communities/bigsociety/participatorybudgeting/
www.communities.gov.uk/communities/bigsociety/participatorybudgeting/
Monday 11 October 2010
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.
Friday 1 October 2010
Community Organiser discussion in Cornwall
Hayle-based Disability Cornwall hosted a meeting yesterday to give people in the far South West a chance to hear about the Big Society and Community Organisers. No government person was available to deliver the official Community Organiser presentation, so having heard it from the horse’s mouth the day before, I did my best to give it straight. The reaction was much as it had been in Somerset – scepticism, generally speaking. Concerns were voiced about how this approach fits with principles of equality. How well will the quiet voices be taken into account, and young people, for example?
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