Aug 1, 2013 - of Pontypridd in Rhondda Cynon Taff. In the ward based Index of Multiple Deprivation developed in 2000, Gl
Glyncoch Community Partnership Case Study Update
August 2013
“As soon as people realise that they have something important to offer their family or community and that they can be an agent of change, they are; the realisation is a catalyst for accelerated personal growth as well as community regeneration”
Glyncoch Community Partnership A new team was recruited in late 2005 to support the community of Glyncoch to embrace the Communities First Programme. Glyncoch is a post war council housing estate two miles north of Pontypridd in Rhondda Cynon Taff. In the ward based Index of Multiple Deprivation developed in 2000, Glyncoch was categorised as the 26th most disadvantaged community in Wales, scoring poorly in areas relating to child poverty and household income. The newly recruited team found a community that was strong in terms of community spirit with large numbers of people volunteering from a range of different groups. Partnership meetings, however, were made up of agency members and a tiny number of residents. They didn’t reflect the spirit of the wider community nor did they lead to meaningful change. The partnership enlisted the help of John Duff from Community Development Cymru to explore ways of facilitating a genuine participative democracy and finding ways to support local people to
negotiate with a range of service providers to regenerate the area. The Approach The method eventually adopted by the Glyncoch Community Partnership does not follow traditional cyclical approaches to community consultation and planning; (i.e. primarily, the consultation, planning, delivery and evaluation cycle). The fact that there were high numbers of people volunteering whilst there were low numbers of people attending meetings, suggests that many people are not attracted to formal meetings but they are attracted to action and want to contribute to more visible ways of making a difference. Based on this information, the Glyncoch Partnership decided to abandon traditional delivery approaches and instead take an approach which: •!
Taps into the passions, skills and interests of local people
•! Engages with people through action and low level activities, building relationships and levels of trust •! Creates opportunities to develop a meaningful conversation and process of qualitative consultation and skills building •! Enables community and agency members to co-deliver the plan then review a year later using the same process.
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To describe this approach, John Duff coined the term ‘ quadruple helix’, which describes how the partnership is undertaking four vital strands of activity (consultation planning, delivery and evaluation) simultaneously, year upon year building upon the activities and capacity developed in the previous year. Learning Communities… As far back as 2006, Glyncoch identified very quickly that the single area of greatest importance was education. Whilst primary schools were generally seen as positive, secondary school attendance was rock bottom. Young people wanted apprenticeships and adults wanted more courses and opportunities for further learning. Through honest and collaborative relationship with partners and with funding and intensive support from the People and Work Unit, as well as specialist advice and research from key people in the field, Glyncoch threw themselves into developing relationships with course providers, schools and, most importantly, parents in order to address education and employment. After a worker was appointed by the People and Work Unit, specifically to support parents to support their children to attend school, truancy dropped by 1/3 in 3 months. Truancy rates amongst young people from Glyncoch are falling and are now equal to the most affluent areas around Pontypridd.
Has there been a rise in actual grades? ‘Grades here saw a little rise above other regions in the Pontypridd area. Is that directly related to our project? It’s hard to tell. But there has been a definite shift in involvement’ The partnership has employed the same ‘quadruple helix’ methodology to supporting active citizenship and supporting increased success in learning and education. Active citizenship hours have increased and reached 37000 hours per year (in a community of less than 3000 people). With the support of the People and Work Unit, adult learning is increasing, with 150 people engaging in accredited learning. The basic skills classes are full and have waiting lists. There is a now a demand for more progression courses. Are there more people in work now? ‘Recent Welfare reforms and austerity measures have made this difficult to evaluate. The Job Club, [also run by the partnership], is packed. People want to work, but there’s often no viable work to be had. ‘The job club helps significant numbers of people into work but all too often the work is just temporary and in other cases welfare reforms have led to people being much worse off financially. We work with a range of partners to mitigate this but even with all the support in place when we successfully placed some 2
of those on long term unemployment into work, administrative errors and delays with housing and other benefits combined with bedroom tax have led to arrears and even evictions’ Glyncoch Community Centre The largest achievement of the Glyncoch community to date has been the development of the Community Centre which opened in January 2013. This was a fantastic milestone for the community, which helped to raise money for the centre, many claiming bricks in the new build as ‘theirs’. The partnership raised close to £1 million for the centre, around 5% of which came from private sector and donations. Much of this achievement was attributed to Glyncoch’s co-production efforts within the community and a strong sense of involvement and cooperation among residents. It has been a massive learning curve for everyone involved. In addition to the value of the space, the development gave the partnership institutional capacity to press forward with other ‘on the ground’ project. FAST (Families & Schools Together) “It takes a village to raise a child” FAST™ is an award-winning set of preventive/early intervention after-school programs that has dramatically changed the learning climate at schools and communities all over the world. First released in 1990, this model has changed the way many people
think of parent involvement, interventions...and how to keep kids safe, drug-free and in school. ‘This is co-production in practice, there’s been no drop outs. They [parents and practitioners] come together as equals to plan the delivery. They cook together, it’s about mutual reciprocity. It’s empowerment’. The FAST programme is peer led; those who are trained get trained to train, it builds on the social capital and will continue to do so when staff are not there to facilitate. The current programme is aimed at primary schools but GCP are looking into developing a ‘Teen FAST’ programme in the near future. ‘The journey from vulnerable, social service support starts with the realisation of value. Our job is to create an infrastructure and culture that supports communities to do that’. Sustainable Livelihoods Project – January 2013 For Professor David Egan, a leading educationalist in Wales, good quality schools are really important but they only have a maximum of 30% influence on an individual’s educational performance; the rest is down to family and community. However, low confidence or few qualifications all too often leads people to believe that they have nothing to offer. Oxfam has worked alongside GCP to grapple with this key challenge and tapped into funds from the Big Lottery to deliver. The 3
Sustainable Livelihoods Project. The project promotes an assets based approach to development and can be used in a variety of contexts. In Glyncoch, it is helping parents and families to see themselves as assets to their children’s education, supporting people to realise what they have got to offer and how important they are to their children’s learning. Healthier Communities… Community Health Advocates The Community Health Advocate Project was developed to address poor local health statistics. Led by a local GP, 15 people have been trained as ‘Community health advocates’ With a range of partner organisations; Interlink, Glyncoch Community Regeneration, Valleys Kids, Local Council the advocates are supported to address: •!
Health Eating
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Physical Activity
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Risky behaviour
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Parent and toddler support
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Mental health / depression support.
Prosperous Communities… Community Safety was another significant issue which was quickly identified in the early stages by the new team. Glyncoch now has rock bottom crime rates and a better environment. In early 2009, crime rates in Glyncoch were soaring, one of the local shops was petrol bombed and racist graffiti and violent crime was on the rise. The head of Community Safety in the local council made a plea to a wide range of agencies to work with the Communities First Partnership to reverse this trend. Local people and groups worked together with the police, VALREC, RCT Homes and RCT CBC Street Care team and Community Safety Team, reducing crime to almost zero within six months and putting an end to racist crime. The actions undertaken were all simple, yet engaging and involved a range of stakeholders coming together. It was the cumulative effect of these simple actions that led to meaningful results. Nearly 5 years on from it’s inception, crime rates are still the lowest in the Pontypridd area. Going forward… The partnership still has a long way to go before it achieves its vision of supporting Glyncoch to become a model of sustainability, however the intention is to continue using and refining the quadruple helix approach. There is a very strong sense that the community is developing a much more positive future. 4
2013 saw the implementation of major WG changes for the Communities First programme. This has led to the development of the Glyncoch Communities First Cluster which has merged the previous partnership area with the two branches of Valleys Kids; a charity which has strong roots in youth engagement and play delivery. They have been working on one of the Forestry Commission Wales ‘priority’ Woodland projects and are developing the woods in between the valleys to maximise their social and economic potential. Although some teething troubles are to be expected as the two organisational cultures come together, the new arrangement will bring a wide range of skills across the partnership and provide an ideal opportunity to spread successful projects across a wider area.
continue to deliver innovation and facilitate co-production across the region whilst meeting the newly devised targets.
Changes to the WG programme may present other challenges for the cluster. The co-production techniques so successfully engaged in may in some instances be at odds with very specific WG targets. ‘Blank page action plan ‘ events may require a greater institutional steer than under previous programme arrangements. Results Based Accountability has also been a challenge for GCP
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‘It was very difficult to do RBA for the new Work plans because we had to deconstruct the current way of working and reconstruct it to fit’. The challenge for the cluster going forward will be to effectively bring together the best practices from both organisations and
After the dust has settled on the new cluster arrangements, Glyncoch intend to take the co-production model into the town centre regeneration plans for Pontypridd and use it to assist building community enterprise. GCP are keen to see the model piloted in as many different service sectors and contexts as possible. To ensure that the momentum continues to build, the partnership has set up a strong community anchor organisation, Glyncoch Community Regeneration Ltd, to undertake the challenges over the next few years.
Glyncoch Community Regeneration Ltd. http://www.glyncoch.org.uk/ Community Development Cymru: http://www.cdcymru.org/ Families And Schools Together (FAST) Programme: http://www.familiesandschools.org/ Sustainable Livelihoods Toolkit, Oxfam: http://policy-practice.oxfam.org.uk/publications/the-sustainable-l ivelihoods-approach-toolkit-for-wales-297233 5
