Priorities

The Partnership Group identified concerns and issues which mattered most to local people and through the planning process decided that our Big Local priorities would be:

1. Strengthening the community
2. Improving life skills
3. Creating opportunities for training and employment

Strengthening the community

We have three intended outcomes here:

1. Allenton Big Local  is a safe place to live and is not stigmatised by ASB crime or vandalism
2. People get on with each other and take pride in the Big local area and get involved with making it better
3. People take pride in themselves and the area because they are happy.

To achieve these outcomes, the Partnership Group felt that our activity should focus on three areas:

1. Increasing participation
2. Increasing happiness
3. Reducing crime

Improving life skills

Reflecting back on the consultation, the Partnership Group decided on three intended outcomes:

1. Children have the best start in life by being supported and enabled to develop their individual personality, talents and aspire to a successful life.
2. Young people fulfil their aspirations and dreams through being provided relevant opportunities.
3. Families are better equipped with skills to support their children through being empowered and supported.

To achieve these outcomes, the Partnership Group decided that our activity should focus on three groups:

1. Children aged 0-7 years
2. Young People aged 8-12 and 13-18 years
3. Families

Creating opportunities for training and employment

Reflecting back on the consultation, the Partnership Group decided on two intended outcomes:

1) Big Local residents will have improved work related skills

2) There will be improved opportunities for employment for Big Local residents

To achieve these outcomes, the Partnership Group decided that our activity should focus on two areas:

1. Reduce barriers for Big Local residents to enable them to develop employment skills & opportunities
2. Assist local employers to create opportunities for local residents to take up work experience, training and employment.

The Partnership Group felt that the focus should be on ‘Employability for life’ and not ‘Job for life’ as this was more realistic in the current job market.  It would be clear that work experience opportunities would not be a guarantee of employment at the end of the experience.

How did we arrive at these priorities?

Through our planning process, the following guiding principles, helped determine our priorities for action.

• Arising from community need
• Enhance the life changes across the community
• Added value – money, people-power
• Adding to ‘community glue’
• Keeping the money in the community
• The best we can
• Sharing our vision and commitment
• Across all ages
• Longer term benefit/legacy

These core values and guiding principles have helped to determine our priorities.

Our Big Local priorities were finally agreed through lengthy discussions reflecting on:

• Personal experience and knowledge as residents and workers in the area
• The profile report
• Consultation events
• The film: Allenton Big Local – Consultation to get people involved by Sam Jordan (below)