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A Community can be defined as a group of people who don't just live in the same area, but also share the same interests, experiences and often concerns about the area in which they live. Often when individuals have lived in a street or area for a while they become familiar with each other and the issues surrounding them. Children often attend the same schools and in many cases grow up together, again sharing the similar experiences. In some instances adults may work together, and quite commonly all community members will share the same doctors, dentists, hospitals, health visitors and other public services and facilities.
Frequently however, issues arise amongst a community that need attention. In this essay I will outline and discuss some of these issues and the interventions, projects or programmes designed and used to tackle and combat them. The three models of intervention or, 'Community Development', I will discuss in this essay, 'Social Planning', 'Community Development', and. 'Social/Community Action', all have the same aim regardless of how it is accomplished and this is to improve and maintain the conditions which affect the lives of the community. 'Social Planning', is a model of development which can be described as, 'Doing For', the community. If it is perceived by government bodies that a community has sunk so low that is unable to be resolved by using alternative methods, (some of which will be discussed later in this essay), the government will intervene with methods deemed necessary. Initially a profile of a community will be drawn up using research methods, surveys and statistics that will highlight the issues faced by the community. Then a plan to tackle these issues will be decided upon and put into action. 'Sure Start', is a Social Planning initiative, which came into force as a government reaction to the levels of deprivation in Cornwall.
Of the six districts in the County Penwith came the highest, of the 60, 000 population, 26, 000 are aged 4 and under, 13 % of households are lone parent households and 19 % of the 201 lone parents are unemployed. The 'Treneere', area of Penzance showing as the highest area of deprivation, 13 % are unemployed, 46 % are in receipt of income support and 16. 8 % of adults are illiterate. During 1998 there were a total of 235 children referred to social services 98 of which were aged 0 - 4 years old. With regard to education, of the children attending the infant and primary schools in the area 33. 4 % are entitled to free school meals, the average in the county being 15. 4 %. 54 % of the pupils between the two schools are registered with special educational needs. Of the 244 primary schools in Cornwall the two schools ranked 1 s and 4 th in the deprivation rank. Along with these figures strong evidence shows high levels of violence, high levels of riots, high levels of drug abuse and a complete absence of community facilities.
Figures taken from the 'Sure Start Trailblazer', proposal As with all Social Planning the government specifies a time limit to achieve the projects aims, goals and ultimately to improve living conditions. The 'Sure Start', project has a specified time limit of 2 years, in this time limit the project aims to achieve the following: - - Improve social and emotional development - Reduce the number of primary school exclusions - Cut by 10 % the number of children on the child abuse register - Reduce the number of post-natal depression - 5 % reduction in the number of low weight birth babies - 10 % reduction in children admitted to hospital with gastroenteritis, respiratory problems and severe injuries - 90 % of children to reach normal speech and language milestones by 18 months and 3 years - 100 % under 4 's are to have good quality play and learning facilities - 75 % of families are to report they have had an improvement in the services provided by 2002 - Parent representation on the local board - Juveniles are to have less contact with the criminal justice system - Drug related crime on the decrease - 16 19 year olds involved with economic activity i. e. Training or work - Decrease in young people smoking - Decrease in teenage pregnancies - Finally long term outcomes. Although the project was initiated by the government agencies the problems were identified by government agencies, police and the Treneere residents and Community Association the project has tried to look at the problems and the aims from the point of view of the residents. The delivery of the projects intentions will com from local representatives, voluntary organisations, church representatives, health care providers, social services, education officials, the police, the district council and housing association, the probation service and the youth service most importantly the input of the community itself. 'Although immediate developments will focus on the needs of children under the age of four and their immediate families they clearly cannot be considered in isolation; through the umbrella of 'Family Support' a wide range of services will be developed which will provide healthcare, education, advice and support for a much wider population.
In this way it is anticipated that the project will have an almost immediate impact on the lives of some of the local residents, as well as the longer term benefits anticipated from early intervention and support for very young children. ' Cited in the Surestart Trailblazer proposal. Community development aims to improve a community's living conditions by encouraging the community members to help themselves, 'Doing With', and subsequently the community in which they live. Active Citizenship is an essential part of community development initiatives, creating committees, voluntary and charitable organisations, discussing problems, needs and ideas with neighbours, joining local councils and going to public meetings encourages empowerment and enables community members to have an active role in the conditions and factors which affect their lives individually and collectively as a community. Initially the government can provide some funding to help with start-up of community initiatives and programmes, after that is up to the community to provide their own funding which can be raised in a number of ways, fundraising events, charities and voluntary organisations.
The main emphasis of this model is on self-help, mutual support, (helping each other), building neighbourhood integration, developing the communities capacity to problem solve and represent themselves and promoting action as a collective increasing the attention of political decision makers. Community Development is concerned with Social and Economic development. Five years ago, 'The Beacon', and, 'Old Hill', estate in Falmouth were viewed by the police as an 'Open Prison', where families warred over drugs, mothers fought each other outside schools, pets were beaten and children as young as 6 years old were found drunk in parks and streets. A study by Bristol University found that a population of 6, 000 were living in 1, 500 homes and 8 - 10 men were unemployed.
The Penwerris electric ward showed that compared to the 132 electric wards in the South West the Beacon had the highest rate of poor households, the highest rate of child n living in poor households and the 2 nd highest number of lone parents. More than 50 & of homes lacked central heating; colds, asthma and other respiratory problems were high in children. Figures obtained from web 'The estate was sinking into ghetto status. The place was a virtual no go area for the police. Social services cutbacks meant there was no hands-on help for people. The number of child protection referrals just kept increasing.
More and more people were suffering from mental health problems, there was lots of domestic violence and lots of crime and harassment. My colleague and I felt if we did not try and reverse the spiral, we would have another Teeth on our hands'. Hazel Stanley, health Visitor, Cited in The Society Guardian November 15, 2000 What happened next were a series of events instigated by a handful of residents, 2 health visitors, local teachers, police and housing officers who saw something needed to be done: - 1. A meeting was held bet...
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