'Only a footstep away' - Skills for Care - Think Local Act Personal

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and disorder, under-performing healthservices and anti-social behaviour (DCLG2009c). This may tie in well with the pushtowards neighbourhood policing.programmes. Moreover, they are normallyvisible incumbents of central roles such asleaders of community associations, priests,publicans and postmasters.developing neighbourhood leaders5.19 Although recent years have seen aflurry of policy programmes aimed atneighbourhood level activity, there doesnot appear to have been much discussionabout the nature of neighbourhoodleadership. Guidance published by DCLGon ‘building cohesive communities’ doesidentify several aspects of effectivecommunity leadership:• in touch and able to listen to allsections of their community• able to involve others and work inpartnership• make things happen locally• make good use of resources• accountable to the community• committed to developing newleaders• gateways rather than gatekeepers.(DCLG 2009d)5.20 Precisely who should carry out suchroles, whether alone or in partnership, isless obvious, but it has to involve bothformal and informal neighbourhoodleaders.informal neighbourhood leaders5.21 The early studies by Abrams (Bulmer1986) and (in the USA) by Collins andPancoast (1976) both highlight the role ofthe ‘sociometric stars’ – or key individuals– at the heart of a dense local network ofhelp. These are precisely the people whoseposition and activities enable them to linkfamily-based informal care, widerneighbourhood involvement and formalneighbourhood practitioners and‘Only a footstep away’? 265.22 For Collins and Pancoast thishelping minority was not distinguishedfrom the inactive majority sociologically,but ‘psychologically’. They were ‘naturalneighbours’ who provided a centrethrough which help flowed to others,without any directly comparable reciprocalreturn. Workforce implications are rarelymentioned, and there are still someimportant lessons to be learned aboutengaging informal neighbourhood leadersas ‘community ambassadors’, communitymonitors and even paraprofessionals.There may be scope in this situation for anew aspect to the New Type of Workerinitiative.5.23 Similar observations can be madeabout the role of volunteers—an activitywhich may or may not be neighbourhoodfocused.In a study of volunteering on thepart of older people in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Lie (2009) found motivations to bestrongly shaped by notions of‘citizenship’—the satisfaction ofcontributing and feeling a part of thecommunity. They distinguish thismotivation from official attempts to temptyounger people into voluntary activity byportraying it as a route into paidemployment. However, they also warn thatvolunteering among older people is underthreat from several quarters: the pressureto continue in the labour market, childcareand social care gaps needing to be filledinformally by older people, and theincreased professionalisation andbureaucratisation of the voluntary sector.formal neighbourhood leaders5.24 One of the difficulties with thecurrent raft of professional ‘neighbourhoodpractice’ is that it is fragmented; although
many people may be operating at thislevel, they rarely do so in concert.Moreover there is no establishedleadership of the ‘neighbourhoodmission’—each group operates in its ownprofessional and organisational silo, withdifferent sources of funding and differentchannels of accountability. Hence there areacross the UK an estimated 230‘neighbourhood managementpartnerships’, alongside 500neighbourhood warden schemes and 250town centre management schemes. Thereare workforce issues here aroundcoordination and leadership.5.25 Alongside all of this is theneighbourhood level role played bymainstream professionals, such ascommunity police officers, communitypharmacists, GPs, teachers, socialworkers, housing officers, communitynurses, community development officersand others. With increasing numbers oflocalities expressing an aspiration for aneighbourhood-focused approach,questions will have to be asked about thefragmentation of current neighbourhoodpractice by separate professional groups,often visiting the same individuals andfamilies. A key task for a neighbourhoodworkforce development strategy will be toidentify the scope for synergy, efficiencyand better neighbourhood outcomesacross the entire informal and formalneighbourhood workforce.5.26 The suggestion in the Total Placestrategy that this new joined-up approachcould be applied at various levels, includingthat of a neighbourhood, may open upsome interesting new possibilities(HMT/DCLG 2010). It is suggested (p71),for example, that local authorities and theirpartners will be able to propose ‘singleoffers’ and ‘innovative policy offers’focused at neighbourhood level.‘Only a footstep away’? 27
Page 1 and 2: we identifynew andinnovativeways of
Page 3 and 4: acknowledgementsThis paper was comm
Page 5 and 6: executive summary1. This paper is a
Page 7 and 8: 1 introduction1.1 This report is a
Page 9 and 10: LD 2010). The agreement was intende
Page 11 and 12: Abrams notes that the placing of re
Page 13 and 14: neighbourhood.” (Blackman 2006, 2
Page 15 and 16: describe certain disadvantaged area
Page 17 and 18: 3.21 In this context, White (2002)
Page 19 and 20: “social responsibility, volunteer
Page 21 and 22: neighbourhood policing (HO 2010) wh
Page 23 and 24: collective (‘I pledge to do X if
Page 25 and 26: the province of the community rathe
Page 27 and 28: Deficit ApproachStarts with deficie
Page 30 and 31: communities may have different leve
Page 34 and 35: 6 conclusions and nextsteps6.1 It i
Page 36 and 37: any attempt to link these elements
Page 38 and 39: eferencesADASS 2010Bartnick, E and
Page 40 and 41: LD 2010Liberal Democrats (2010), Li

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