Working in communities of deprivation

Earlier posts concentrated on the difficulties surrounding community engagement and community development.  In this post I shall look at positive aspects, based on my experience. 

The most important thing is to think small.  The starting point is to set out and find people in the area who are willing to do something, anything, to improve their community.  It is not easy, but with some effort it is possible to find a few people who are prepared to turn up to a meeting.  They might well be people with a range of individual problems, as well as having a catalogue of complaints about the area in which they live and a mistrust of statutory organisations.   Let them rip. From this a number of themes will emerge and the trick is to turn the negativity round to a discussion of what needs to be done and who should do it.

The next step is the most difficult: what do they think they can do?  This is where you can hit the proverbial brick-wall.  Lack of confidence, low self-esteem, feelings of apathy can all rear their heads. An atmosphere of helplessness and hopelessness can develop and once into  that it is difficult to retrieve the position.  This is why it is important to think small, to have an idea that fits in with one of the positive suggestions at the meeting and is achievable.

It is not difficult to come up with ideas. The problems do not change much from area to area.  Walking round the patch, talking to people, looking at the neighbourhood statistics will identify issues that need to be tackled. The important thing is that any suggestion for action that is put forward is seen as a response to what is said at the meeting.  Indeed, it should be possible to tease the idea out of the people at the meeting.

One meeting suggested it would be a good idea to have a Millennium Garden.  A small plot of land was identified.  Then the questions? Who owns the land? Who will pay for the plants and seating?  People at the meeting were happy to draw up a plan, prepare the ground and do the planting. The community worker talked to the owner of the land (the Council), secured funding from the housing association and dealt with the planning issues.  The local garden centre supplied plants at cost and sent a man with a rotavator to start the ground preparation.

Come the day the original group plus a few more arrived with spades, forks etc and within three hours the job was done.  The following week local bigwigs arrived, the mayor declared the garden open and the press published a report.  With a success in the bag, time to consider the next idea.........