early action
Success Stories
Gloucestershire County Council: Village and Community Agents
Village and Community Agents provide older people in Gloucestershire with easier access to information and services. They bridge the gap between the community and sources of support and help from statutory and voluntary organisations. Village Agents have a cluster of parishes that form their “patch”, whilst Community Agents cover the county and support BME communities. The Village and Community Agents provide high quality face-to-face information and support, helping individuals… Read more.
Islington Fairness Commission
Although not a 'project' in the sense of many of those featured on these pages, the Islington Fairness Commission embodies many of the hallmarks of Early Action. It was set up in June 2010 to explore how to make the borough a fairer place. It met in public 7 times at meetings attended by over 500 people. Commissioners included senior figures from Islington Council, Islington Police, NHS, Homes for Islington, Islington Trades Council, Islington Chamber of Commerce, City and Islington… Read more.
Discover Childrens Centre ‘Catching Words’ project
Discover Story Centre based in Stratford, east London is the UK’s first hands-on creative literature space for children aged 0-11 years and their families/carers dedicated to generating a love of language, literature and stories. The 'Catching Words' project supports year 2 students struggling with literacy, by focussing on stories and play. Developed by the Discover it was used in 3 schools in Newham last year with excellent results. The project is continuing in four… Read more.
Wythenshawe Early Intervention Service
This successful project began when a panel of staff from a range of local agencies realised there was a significant gap in provision for families, with children under 5, who were in need of support but not in such a serious situation that they met the threshold for statutory interventions. The Early Intervention Service was born, as a partnership between the local authority Children's Service Deparatment (where the project manager was based), Barnardos (who employed the six project workers) and… Read more.
Advice Services Coventry
Advice Services Coventry are an alliance of advice providing organisations in the city. They run a coordinated online referral system which means people seeking help can turn up at any member’s door and be booked an appointment at the organisation most able to help. By pooling their resources in this way they are able to offer the best help as early as possible to those who need it. They also use their network to identify issues common to many clients – for example the way the… Read more.
Building Bridges Project
Building Bridges is a professional home-based family support service designed to meet the needs of families with ‘multiple complex needs’. It starts with the families’ own perceptions of what needs to change, and involves proffessionals spending time with the family, linking with other services, and providing both emotional and practical support. The project was initially designed as an early intervention for families where ‘multiple complex needs’ such as… Read more.
The Big Question
Family Action worked with primary school children in Walthamstow to create a film asking the question: “does being in a gang or carrying a knife make you safer?’ The film is being distributed to Year 5 & 6 teachers in Walthamstow primary school, along with teaching materials, to highlight the dangers of being in a gang. The film aims to give primary school children an awareness of the dangers of carrying knives and joining gangs, and some arguments to resist the pressure… Read more.
Children NE - Youth Link Project
The project pairs 18-25 year old volunteer mentors with young people aged 12-18 who are not achieving or engaging in school. After being matched by youth link workers, they meet weekly for 2-3 hours. Young people are referred by professionals (schools, children’s services etc). The project coordinator meets with the family and the young person before deciding if a placement would be feasible, and then assigns a volunteer. The volunteer and young person meet weekly, the placement is… Read more.
WRVS
WRVS a nationwide charity that recruits volunteers to provide a variety of support for older people – helping out at home, running social activities in the community, providing transport or delivering meals, running services in hospitals, and responding to emergencies. Their support for 100,000 people, with 45,000 volunteers, helps older people stay independent and active in their communities and reduces isolation. They are currently conducting SROI research on their programmes. They… Read more.
Kickz
Kickz began as a joint project between the Premier League and the Metropolitan Police, with the idea of using professional football clubs to help deliver football sessions with young people in deprived areas. It now spans 131 projects involving 43 clubs and over 50,000 young people. Ninety-one per cent of the programmes run on Friday and Saturday evenings. It is delivered with the help of 5,000 volunteers, many of them young people themselves, and also offers workshops on issues like drug… Read more.
Quaker Social Action - Down to Earth
Down to Earth helps people on a low income have the funeral they want at a price they can afford. Planning a funeral for a loved one is extremely hard for anyone, but for older people on a pension, and others living on a low income, meeting this extraordinary cost is a huge financial hurdle which can lead to severe difficulty, debt and additional unnecessary distress, and lead to spiraling financial problems. Through advice and guidance in person and over the phone, and a circle of trained… Read more.
Ocean Maths
Ocean Maths is a project based in east London that helps schools engage parents in their children's maths education, improving both students' and parents' ability, but also their relationship with eachother, with knock-on effects for learning in general. Parents are invited (and actively encouraged) into special maths sessions and children are then given homework to complete with their parents. Poor numeracy has a dramatic impact on future life chances. Each workshop costs schools £400,… Read more.
Southwark Circle
Southwark Circle is a membership group, targeted at over 50s, offering cheap practical help and bringing people together for social events. It aims to combat the isolation and lack of practical support elderly people told Participle – its founders – were most damaging in their lives. Members pay £10 or £20 per year, and have access to a wide range of social events organised by staff and other members. They can also buy £10 vouchers to exchange for small… Read more.
Positive Tickets
Positive Tickets is a project, begun in British Colombia, Canada, that sees police reward young people for good behaviour by issuing ‘positive tickets’. The scheme allows police to build more positive relationships with young people, preventing anti social behaviour and crime, and improving community relations. It has been adapted for use in many other countries. The rewards are often donated by local business. The tickets can be redeemable for goods or activities (anything… Read more.
St Giles Trust - Through the Gates Project
Through the Gates aims to reduce reoffending by providing a package of accommodation and support for offenders before and after their release. Run in conjunction with the London Probation Service and launched in 2008, it worked with prisoners serving a minimum of 1 year, returning to any of 14 London boroughs. Staff, many of whom are ex-offenders themselves, work with prisoners prior to their release, as they leave the prison gates, and once they are back in their community. Much… Read more.
Fight for Peace
Using boxing and martial arts as a hook, Fight for Peace promotes education, personal development and leadership amongst young people. It began in 2000 in the Complexo da Maré, a complex of favelas (shantytowns) in Rio de Janeiro., and opened its London Academy in Newham in 2007. The core boxing and martial arts training is complemented by a programme of personal development education which all young people who attend the open access sports are expected to attend, and includes 1:1 mentoring,… Read more.
Quid’s In
Quid's In is a quarterly magazine focussing on money advice for people on low incomes, distributed free to over 130,000 readers by housing associations and social landlords. It takes a 'tabloid' approach to conveying messages about managing finances. In a readers’ survey 83% responded that they were ‘very likely’ to act on the advice provided in Quids In. The quarterly publication is self-sustaining through sales, mainly to social landlords, who pay a unit… Read more.
Upper Room - UR4 Driving Project
Tony (aged 44) came to UR4Driving whilst serving a community service for drugs’ offences. His 20 year record of offences included several wounding and weapon offences in his early record followed by a string of robbery and assault charges related to drugs. After three months on the project he got his HGV licence and took a job as a delivery van driver, which he is still enjoying three months later. Run by homeless charity The Upper Room, the UR4driving project works with ex-offenders… Read more.
Participle’s LIFE programme
Ella is a mother in one of Britain’s increasingly infamous ‘troubled families’, living in Swindon, she was abused by her father and then several partners. Her four children are all known to a myriad of local services. Yet after two years as part of Participle’s Life Programme, she has a new job, new friends, and her children are all back in education. The project recognises fundamental problems in the current system – that billions of pounds spent on ‘troubled… Read more.
Children North East - BU Diploma Project
When 12 year old Sarah began attending ‘BU’ diploma classes she was unruly and disruptive. As the course progressed she settled down, started contributing, and soon became the life and soul of the group. She also began telling school staff about her problems at home and difficulty controlling her anger. By the end of the course she was teaching other students about relaxation techniques. Children North East’s ‘BU’ diploma in wellbeing is an accredited… Read more.
Quaker Social Action - Made of Money project
Quaker Social Action’s family ‘blind jaffa cake’ testing is not normally part of a financial inclusion course. But the organisation realised that for many families, financial problems stem from pressure within families rather than lack of knowledge. The Made of Money project provided financial literacy education in various forms to over 200 families last year. It recognises that supporting families to communicate and share their hopes and fears about money and spending… Read more.
The Reading Recovery Programme
Reading Recovery (RR) is a short-term intensive literacy intervention programme for primary school children who are experiencing problems with reading and writing after their first year of school. There are over 60 Reading Recovery centres throughout the UK, Ireland and Denmark. It consists of intensive daily 30 minute one-to-one lessons over a period of approximately 20 weeks, held with a trained literacy teacher. Poor literacy has been shown to be a serious disadvantage in later… Read more.
Nurse Family Partnership
The Nurse-Family Partnership (NFP) is a community based health program that seeks to support vulnerable mothers who are pregnant with their first child. A mother is paired with a registered nurse at an early point in her pregnancy. She then receives ongoing nurse home visits up until the child is two years old. The nurse follows a programme of activities with the mother and child. The NFP originates from the US but was introduced to the UK in April 2007 in 10 pilot sites throughout… Read more.
Chance UK
Thomas is a quiet 10 year old who because increasingly sullen and violent at school, after his father ran away leaving his mother and three siblings. He was sent home for threatening to stab someone. Every weekend for a year he spent time with mentor Richard, a journalist – they played sport, visited the park, and went on the London Eye. After the project ended, Thomas was elected class representative by his peers. Chance UK run an early intervention programme working with 5-11… Read more.
School Home Support
Leo is a single parent with 3 boys, and suffers from depression. The SHS practitioner at his sons’ school helped persuade the council to move Leo from his damp and badly-maintained house far from school to a much better one near the school gates. This meant his sons weren’t missing school due to bad health or transport difficulties, and their grades could improve. School Home Support (SHS) places specialist staff in schools, who work with young people and families to help them… Read more.
Rokeby Hub
Jude was 19 when he first came into Rokeby and remembers the area before the centre was there: “The green was often used as a base for criminal activities…cars stolen and set alight.” First he attended the youth club, then he was recruited as a youth worker, and soon after set up his own dance school, initially based out of the hub and later moving to a studio. Rokeby is open all day Monday – Saturday. Their programme includes children’s play sessions,… Read more.