Driven By Me...Helping People To Help ThemselvesThe Case and a Proposal for Person

Centred Community, Social and Economic Development or

‘Building Civic Enterprise’

Mike Chitty

http://realisedevelopment.net

07788 747954

So what does HE know?• Youth work• Biophysics degree• Post Grad Cert Ed (dist)• Science and Outdoor Ed Teacher (constructivist)• Special Ed – EBD 7-16 Leeds SS• Sub Saharan Africa – DFID - development work• YT and ET Trainer Training• Outward Bound – Head of Access and Inclusion• Enterprise and Entrepreneurship – DTI/SBS• Business Link University• Sirolli Institute – Community Development• Progresive Manager’s Network

agenda

Process

• Present some thinking

• Explore relevance

• Making it happen

• Next steps

“In my ethnographic work, with a head full of American methodologies and theory, I thought I knew a bit about

local government, urban and social policy and the theory of community and activism.

However, I knew as Betty was to tell me “Bugger all!”.

All I knew was learned, abstract and distant from reality.

Betty knew it from 60 years of lived experience.”Neil McInroy CEO, CLES, Manchester

Relationships make all the difference in the world

Old questions...

–What’s wrong with you?

–How do we fix you?

–What do we do with you if we can’t fix you?

New questions....

• How can we help you to discover and move towards a more desirable future?

• How can we offer wanted assistance in a way that promotes experiences that you value?

• How can we offer wanted assistance in ways that support and promote, rather than diminish, community capability and resilience?

Important questions…

• Is ANYONE really engaged in your life?

• Are there people who are imbued with the belief and hope for a brighter, better future for you?

• If not, how might such people be found or how might that sense of hope be instilled in those committed to walking with the you?

Many of the failures of the current system result from not knowing

the individuals we serve in a meaningful sense. We don’t know

people’s stories and we don’t even notice that we don’t know

them.

Progress?

• From passive consumption and acceptance to active participation

• It’s the me-conomy, stupid!

• Influence behaviour through relationships

Housing

Education and Skills Worklessness

Health Crime and Grime

Community Cohesion

Sustainability

Wellbeing

Supply Side

Demand Side

Demand Side Stimulation

• To significantly increase the number of residents who actively seek specialist services and support because of their relevance and potential to their own progress

• To communicate the effectiveness of specialist services in helping people make progress

Demand Side Stimulation

• To encourage specialist providers to deliver inclusive and person centred services

• To provide feedback on what works and what doesn’t

• To provide ‘oven ready’ opportunities for specialist service providers

Access

• Every resident who wants it can have access to a person centred coach/facilitator to– be honest– develop aspirations– make plans– acquire skills– take action, and– make progress

• Any project within the law

community coach

network gatekeeper/panel member

local people

It is all about the relationship

• Compassionate

• Credible

• Competent

• Accessible

• Visible

• Responsive – radical outreach

Facilitation

• Development of personal vision and self belief

• Brokerage to specialist service providers and support in using them effectively

• Facilitation of whole person – centred on aspirations and dreams – not needs and deficiencies

• Emergence of identity and well-being

Progress is Made on Two Legs

• We have an efficient and well managed strategic leg – top down

• We need a well managed and efficient responsive leg – enabling individuals to engage with strategic services and infrastructure – bottom up

community panel

LSP

health

employment

enterprise

crime

housing

education

etc

coaches

community

strategic responsive

Responsive Infrastructure

• Coach network – recruit and select from existing base - volunteers?

• Community Panels – to:– select, introduce, manage, supervise, support,

evaluate and contract with coaches– develop an inclusive panel and service provision– to measure and improve service impact – to secure independent investment – sustainability– manage web 2.0 networking and knowledge

management– provide monthly support for coaches

We need a parallel process of community development,

completely beyond the control of council workers, state employees

and elected representatives.

Perhaps?

Costs

• Each panel to serve 30-60 000 local people• Annual costs up to £50 000• Start – up costs circa £75 000 (100 days training

and support over 2 years)• Develop web infrastructure – web 2.0 based• Develop training and delivery infrastructure• No additional office or workspace requirement• Generate revenue from selling expertise to other

LAs• Project sustainability through subscriptions from

strategic beneficiaries of referrals

Impacts

• Each full time coach supports circa 250 residents each year – 660-700 sessions

• Cost per assist = circa £200• 10-20 business starts• 50-100 into education and skills• 50-100 into other projects, volunteering/activism• For some (perhaps) no measurable impact• Significantly increased well being• Buzz of optimism

Implementation

• Provide on the basis of want not need

• Competitive selection process

• 1-3 projects in year 1-2

• Expand by 2-3 projects per year

• Objective to cover the city (10 panels) within 7 years

• To provide a platform for national development

Other components

• Community Conversations (place based – cf Chapeltown Conversations)

• Personal peer support/group coaching – Progress School

• Civic/Community Enterprise Accelerators• Theme based civic engagement – dispov,

Leeds Empties, Cultural Conversations• Innovation Labs• Results Factories

What Is Required?

• Opportunity to develop and pilot prototypes

• Partners to co-create around the vision of a responsive infrastructure

• Circa £500 000 to run three pilot projects over 3 years (2 years in delivery)

what could we do over the next 30 days?

• help you to build the coalition and the vision

• explore reservations and concerns

• develop understanding of impact on specialist services

• develop fully costed proposals

• feasibility assessments in communities

• recruit and train panels

• recruit and train coaches

• develop monitoring and evaluation frameworks