Advice Required - Community revival led by CofE?

[northerndad]

Hi all
I am a member of a small church in a rather run down deprived area, industries pulled out, high unemployment, crime etc.
A group meets tommorow to figure out what is needed and I am basically looking for ideas.
I am myself kind of ex-crim and am keen to help the youth who have few prospects and little direction. Also single parent and know that others need support at times.
Various ideas have been mentioned but mostly cosmetic, pick up rubbish, tidy gardens, paint shops etc. There is a residents association that seems obsessed with shrub tubs, benches etc.
See it as more of a social problem, need to get the community back together.
What would you expect from a group of people who are supposed to dedicate their lives to helping those in need?

Any comments, ideas would be appreciated as you seem pretty sound lot.

Would you be able to set up some sort of youth club? Is there anything for teenagers to do in the area?

no there isnt, its been done in church before with usual disasters will try it again hopefully

Sorry, my post sounded a bit terse - it sounds like a great initiative!

What were the disasters?

Could you get in touch with another, more established group with similar aims to pick their brains and see what has/hasn't worked for them?

disasters were before I joined, but can guess. will get ideas from others, new vicar is ex Birmingham inner city...say no more, has links with various organisations.

Have you asked the community and the kids themselves what they would like to be involved in ?

Activities centring on cars/music/sport seem to be successful with young men. I've read about quite a few such projects that have been successful with young offenders. There are certainly a number of formerly run-down, crime-riddled estates in London (and, I'm sure, elsewhere) where residents' associations have made a significant difference.

Would it be possible to call an open meeting to get some ideas from local people themselves? Or conduct some sort of survey?

good point, and the answer is no, the church has a rather bad reputation for being unapproachable. we do need a way to approach people without thinking we're after something. thinking about it..

I was wondering if the church connection might be offputting for some people - I'm not sure how you get over that though

spacedonkey, my thoughts exactly as theyre the sort of things that interest me . will think about survey

sahm, was thinking of opening skateboard/bmx park as lots of derelict land

Have you heard of the LETS scheme? It's a form of local "currency" where people exchange skills and services (and products) using a barter system instead of cash. There is a national network of these schemes. Might be a rubbish idea, just thinking off top of head here!

I was going to say something about skateboarding! Good idea

never heard of LETS but will look it up, certainly lots of spare 'man hours' around

this site looks interesting - has some links to LETS info as well

found LETS, will suggest it, could be introduced once somekind of community is established, or even as a way of getting people together

Where abouts are you northerndad?

Start an informal group with someone teaching the basics of car mechanics?

Building on Nevada's point - get hold of a run down / broken down car and get them to restore it?

Hi
lillibet, Teesside ish,
like the car resto idea, used to do some resto and rally prep in my youth, had an unhealthy interest in cars.

you really need some professional advice.

you will need to be police checked if you are going to work with young or vulnerable people.

you should ask your council if they have a funding officer and set up a meeting with them and ask what is available - at the very least most councils have a "community chest" of a grand that can help get the ball rolling.

once youhave your grand you can look for ANOTHER building to hold your activities - if there is one in the area - you will be seen as a god botherer - mind bending happy clappy christian type who wants to brain wash everyone. besides if you have any muslim members of your community its not inclusive to hold activities in a church and this should be remembered when you WILL be telling the council that you are including all sections of the community

re: the residents association - have they sett themselves up - are they all homeowners or tenants or mixed? this is important becuase if they are tenants or leaseholders of the council or HA then there may be a resorce in their TP officer.

The council will have a Tenant Participation officer - if you have council properties nt he area set up a meeting with them again asking about funding.

you should set up a community group - get people involved get a constitution ( set of rules the tp officer should have a "modle constitution" you can amend) call your self anything you want - make sure you have the backing of the community - ask everyone to a meeting have elestions for a chair secretary and so on then go to the bank or building society and ask them about setting up an account for your constituted group - they will require the chair person and the treasurer which you have elected and a copy of the constitution - this should be straight forward

once you have a bank account you can go seek funding - without this it is difficult to get funding becuase you cant even get hold of the community chest miney without begging the council to pay invoices for you and to be honest they most probably cant be arsed.

you need a goof filing system kept by your secretary and all reciepts to be kept safely

all of you should get police checked if you are working with children

you can then apply for other types of funding such as
The Big Lottery Fund
Awards for all
Future BUilders
LLoys TSb
Esmee Fairburn Trust
Cooperative do a small one
some other banks may do some

and the funding officer will be able to help you

wyou will need to demonstrate need so consider doing a survey of the area asking what people would like to see improved

if considering diong up cars - remember there will be shit loads - absolutley shit sloads of healtha nd safety stuff to consider - you cant just get a banger and teach some kids
you will need permission from the council for somewhere to hold the car in safe keeping - they will prolly want to charge you
you may need the consent of the residents in the surrounding area as noise from kids , cars being started etc if a major factor.

you need to find some good community projects not too far from you - any one of them worth their weight will be only too happy to set aside an hour or so and give you pointers

remember when demonstrating need in the applications the council are bound to have a shit load of stats you can steal.

hope that helps

ps we have a youth club "open to all" found the corner at the church - they say prayers beofre beginning!

My kids don't want to go. and its literally down the street AND were catholic and go to church(occasionally )

another thought - you could look into affiliating your group with an existing community project that way all policies and proceedures and some funding will be in place - if your lucky even a paid member of staff - sadly a dying breed

wow custardo, thanks
where to start, its not about pushing God, but serving the community. I have a radical view of Christianity that is not totally shared in the church but I'm getting through slowly.
I started an 'outreach' open morning last year with very minimal success. There has been enough people come in to make it clear theres a need but I was told by one of our old vicars - also a radical - to get it out of the church.
We are considering outside funding as a churh in London recently received £1m for community work. I also work with another voluntary group that is lottery funded and hope to get tresurers advice.
I have just been looking at credit unions, we were bequested £10000 recently to be given to people in extreme need, credit union may be good way to use it. I also want to use some of church reserves for credit union but may well run into opposition.

Thanks for your comments, will keep me thinking.

i am a member of Brighton credit union - i love the ethos i love it i love everything about it. my kids are members too.

my personal thoughts on credit unions are this.
they work well in big cities. they should have a paid manager.

however town ones weeeeeeeeeeeeeelll am not so sure.

Brighton credit union lets you borrow against the amount you save - which is fantastic - that means you dont have to regularly save for 3 months ( as will another CU i knew of in a town) before getting a loan.

as well as getting in contact wilt eh association of british credit unions (ABCUL) you need to speak to and visit credit unions - if you can get funding for a paid worker to do this and set it up that would be better as its a long process and hard work. you need very dedicated volunteers who will go on lots of brain frying training courses. obviously as you are acting as a savings cooperative the Financial services authority will have rules and proceedures it will need you to follow.

i still have concerns about a religeous group ( any religeous group) going out Jesus stylee to "help" the community

so i would strongly encourage the church to have ONE place on a management board or committee which had representatives from many sections of society.

and remember this - its very important this bit please dont forget it.

we often fall into the trap of thinking " oh this is a good idea" " ooooh the kids will love this"
" lets set up a coffee morning for the oldies"
"lets set up a mums n tots cos theres loads of kids round here"

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

those are your thoughts your ideas

please ask the community you are proporting to represent what they would like to see and what the major problems are in the area

you can get police state which will say something like " ASB is the major bad thing in the area"

whereas in reality that means that three old people bothered to report it and the rest of the community dont see it as a problem at all and what they would realy like to see is the Citizans advice beurau every friday afternoon for benefits advice.

however you may well get rants about bloody kids bleeding teenagers gangs of kids etc. which means you cant lock em up down the cellar and ignore them so then you have to pry deeper - so what shall we do about it?

also get a pool table if your having a youth club - pool competitions and buy a trophy handed out ( but kept at the youthy) every week. and FFS dont let youth services take over - becuase i invvariably find they BAN the kids who cause trouble ( ie the kids who need the youthy) which is kinds not the point.

First thing is meeting called off. Team vicar hospitalized last night, appendics. Definately a blessing in disguise as I need more time to prepare. Considering all of this put me in quite a bad depression for last few weeks as it reminded me of a lot of things that I would have rather left buried. However I'm out of it and as a researcher by nature, want to know all arguements as I know I will come up against a lot of opposition from within church. That said I do hear what youre saying, and accept a religious angle itself will hinder it. I am my own man will adapt accordingly.
Credit unions just came to me yesterday out of the blue. I've heard of them before and knew their principles were good. looked at those operating in northeast, closest is 10 miles away. All are smallish, average 200 members, with small reserves. There is definately a need for some kind of help, but small scale, as loan sharks are rife, the area I'm looking at has probably under 300 houses, council or HA. For many saving to borrow, simply isnt an option, but when single mothers turn to prostitution to pay loan sharks with a group of people close by who ignore them and sit on reserves in case the roof blows off then something has got to give.
For the record the council and RA are useless, they meet now and then to insult each other and thats it.
Dont know where this will lead but have time to look at lots of other schemes, secular and church led.
I have a friend (christian) who runs a resource centre, mainly used by asylum seekers (islamic), who when I asked why she didnt employ christians replied that they wouldnt do it, and you dont have to be religious to care about people...put me in my place.
Thanks again, and considering all your comments

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