Community Links

Geraldine Blake: Community Links CEO.

Today saw the first policy statement of the new coalition government: the focus on community activism is a subject we care deeply about.

David Robinson, Senior Advisor at Community Links and former Vice-Chair of the Council on Social Action was one of a small and diverse cast of individuals invited to a discussion of The Big Society with the new Prime Minister and Deputy PM at No 10.  Though the ideas announced this morning were largely familiar from the manifesto and election campaign it is interesting to note that in addition to  the PM and his  Deputy, Cabinet Office ministers Francis Maude and Nick Hurd were also around the table. This was the first Cameron / Clegg joint appearance since announcing the terms of the coalition.  Any of the many obituaries for the Big Society written during and after the campaign were clearly premature. Whilst we don’t disagree with the rhetoric, we feel the Big Society approach will stand or fail on the investment put into it.

At Community Links for 33 years we’ve been supporting young people, families and local residents to engage in their communities, to volunteer, to help shape local services and to deliver those services. We know that this work transforms people lives and makes our communities better places to live (crime dropped by half on one estate after we had worked there for less than a year). We can do this because we have spaces to do it in (community centres) and experienced staff to deliver (with a ratio of 1:2 staff to volunteers across the organisation). This costs money; money that each year we find hard to secure. At the moment our work is underpinned with a mix of public and independent funding. We know (and we’re working very hard to prove) that investing in this kind of community activity saves the state money further down the line.

So we’ve got two nagging doubts about the Big Society programme, published today.

Firstly, that this is all happening in the context of radical cuts to public-sector budgets. Whilst we agree that governments cannot change deep-seated social problems alone, neither can communities. For willing citizens to be effective, they need to be the partner of the state and not the alternative. It is essential, particularly in very poor communities, that public services are protected, not rolled back. They cannot be replaced by volunteers, no matter how enthusiastic.

And secondly, the paper we see today talks about supporting the creation of neighbourhood groups and the expansion of charities, social enterprises, mutuals and co-ops.  All good stuff – but let’s see your money!  Are we expecting this to come from increased charitable giving and philanthropy?

We’re pleased about some of the structural ideas in the paper, but at the end of the day, what will make the Big Society work, is good old-fashioned community development work.  We know that this is absolutely the hardest thing to raise money for.  So training up 5000 community organisers - good, requiring them to raise their own salaries - highly unrealistic.

Before he was elected David Cameron issued an invitation to “ …join the government of Great Britain”. We are not waiting to see what happens next, the practical experience of organisations like Community Links needs to shape this programme.

One final thought – please, please don’t waste a lot of time by setting up brand new stuff.  Britain isn’t broken, there’s lots of amazing work already going on in and by communities, families and local networks. Invest in what is already working, and help it to work bigger and better.

There are many ways to continue the conversation; the Community Links Chain Reaction network is encouraging community groups to hold self-organised meetings.  Our first ideas group in east London in early June. This gathering will be expressly cross-sector, and will focus on responding to the new Government’s proposals. Let us know if you want to be involved.