The end of March marked the ending of our successful partnership project ‘Positive People’ and with it, the Community Insight Team. Funded since 2017 by the European Social Fund (ESF) and the National Lottery’s Community Fund as a Building Better Opportunities (BBO) programme, we worked with 4 other partners (originally 7) to help to build confidence, skills and give a sense of hope for the future with those furthest from employment.
Devon Community Foundation’s (DCF’s) contribution to the partnership was to provide expert advice and assistance to coaches seeking community solutions for the individuals they worked with.
This took the form of using our existing knowledge of community groups and offers across Devon and building on it by way of extensive research and outreach into both place-based communities and communities of interest. The information was then used to provide tailored suggestions for coaches to work through with participants on whatever skills, interests and connections they were aiming for. Examples of suggestions have included volunteering, funding, hobbies, friendship connections, and skills opportunities.
DCF was also asked to provide support for community organisations providing the offers and this often took the form of promotional activities, governance assistance, policy help and grant-funding assistance.
The Community Insight Team has left a lasting legacy of a knowledge bank that has been shared widely across the voluntary sector, with statutory providers, with social prescribers, and with other coaching programmes.
