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

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contentsExecutive summaryi1 Introduction 12 What do we mean by 'neighbourhood'? 43 What do we know about neighbourliness? 6Proximity 6Timeliness 6Physical environment 6Length of residence 7Social polarisation 7Personal circumstances 7Normative assumptions about neighbouring 8The nature and role of social capital 94 Neighbourhood policy and practice 11National government programmes 12National non-statutory sector programmes 15Time banks 16Pledgebanks 16Lifetime neighbourhoods 17Local programmes 18Local Area Coordination (LAC) 18Connected Care 18Derby Neighbourhood and Social Care Strategy 19Sheffield Community Portraits 19Southwark Circle 20The Asset Approach 205 Workforce implications 21Neighbourhood napping and data analysis 21Community engagement and involvement 23Developing neighbourhood leaders 26Informal neighbourhood leaders 26Formal neighbourhood leaders 266 Conclusions & next steps 28References 32
executive summary1. This paper is a background discussiondocument produced for Skills for Care. Itscopes the meaning and understanding ofneighbours and neighbourhoods andconsiders how this might inform strategicdevelopment on neighbourhood workforceplanning and skills development. The paperalso locates the discussion within thecontext of the emerging debate around themeaning of social capital, the concept of the‘Big Society’ and empowerment of peopleand communities as a platform for thedelivery of fairness and opportunity.2. We have explored the literature acrossa range of disciplines to consider thetheoretical, conceptual and empiricalunderstandings of ‘neighbourhood’. Wehave not confined our analysis to informaland voluntary care between neighbours (i.e.care by the neighbourhood), but have alsolooked at the scope for services andsupport to be configured on aneighbourhood basis (care in theneighbourhood). As well as broadening thefocus to encompass formal, semi-formaland informal sources of support, we havealso moved beyond social care to considerthe wider health and well-being agenda.3. It is evident that there is considerableambiguity and lack of consensus in themeaning and understanding of terms suchas ‘neighbour’ and ‘neighbourhood’. Somedefinitions concentrate on spatial andgeographical boundaries, and otherobjective measures. However, people’s ownunderstanding of their neighbourhood istypically expressed in terms of socialnetworks and relationships.4. Neighbouring can be understood interms of a continuum which ranges frompractical activity through to emotionalsupport; or from latent to manifestneighbourliness. We identify the themes thatrecur as factors which shape theneighbourhood experience. These include:proximity; timeliness; physical environment;length of residence; social polarisation, andpersonal circumstances.5. It would be unwise to equate theconcept of neighbourhood with emotionaland normative assumptions about thecapacity of the neighbourhood to act as arich source of ‘social capital’. Theincreasingly popular notion of social capitalis often poorly defined and used in nonspecificways. A recent review of theliterature in this area identified eight keydimensions of social capital in terms of:family ties; friendship ties; participation inlocal organised groups; integration into thewider community; trust; attachment to theneighbourhood; tolerance; being able to relyon others for practical help. Others havedistinguished between social capital as‘bonding capital’ (networks withincommunities), and ‘bridging capital’(networks between communities).6. Some conceptualisations of socialcapital focus on the importance ofreciprocity, and the exchange of goods andservices for mutual benefit. Somecommentators have suggested that arequirement for all citizens to contribute agiven number of hours of voluntary work in ayear or over a lifetime might be a fruitful wayof developing a culture in which reciprocityis the norm and where transactions can beused to meet practical needs such assupporting older relatives. While suchpositions are likely to be controversial, somepoliticians are eager to adopt at leastelements of this model.7. Much of the focus of neighbourhoodpolicy development over the past decade orso has been concerned with strategies thatattempt to integrate bonding and bridging‘Only a footstep away’? i
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Page 23 and 24: collective (‘I pledge to do X if
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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
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