JRF launches £600k neighbourhood regeneration programme
The Joseph Rowntree Foundation has announced the start of its Neighbourhood Programme, a three-year, £600K programme of practical work with residents and local practitioners in 20 urban neighbourhoods in Britain.
A central aim of the programme is to create a learning network that will help the neighbourhoods gain better access to:
This will be achieved by offering them a range of services, designed to work alongside their other resources for regeneration work, including:
The community-based organisations participating in the programme have different profiles and are at varying stages of development in their regeneration work. For example, the Norfolk Park Community Forum in Sheffield has been working since 1993. Its focus is on how to build and maintain cohesion within a new mixed-tenure community of 4,000 residents.
In Scotland, the Empowering Community Group from the Levern Valley, East Renfrewshire, is trying to link together community and black and minority ethnic interests on an estate in Barrhead and neighbouring villages. While in South Wales, the Ty Sign Local Communities Partnership near Newport is working hard to tackle a range of issues on an isolated hillside estate. The barriers they have identified include a lack both of funding and of community buildings.
John Low, Neighbourhood Programme Co-ordinator at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, said: “The Foundation is privileged to have this opportunity to work in partnership with these neighbourhoods, who are all deeply committed to regeneration. We aim to work with them towards achieving concrete aims that they have chosen. We are hoping that many of the programme’s benefits will come about through networking, joint learning and mutual support. Central government in Scotland, Wales and England all have fairly recent regeneration policies in place; and the Neighbourhood Programme provides a great opportunity to see how these policies are working out in practice.”
Note to Editors
The community-based organisations participating in the JRF National Neighbourhood Programme are:
- Southside Housing Association, Pollokshields, Glasgow
- Empowering Community Group, Levern Valley, East Renfrewshire
- Skypoint Faifley, Faifley, Clydebank
- Pilton Partnership, Greater Pilton, Edinburgh
- Caia Park Partnership, Caia Park, Wrexham
- Llanharan Community Development Project Ltd, Llanharan, Rhondda Cynon Taff
- Gellideg Foundation Group, Gellideg Estate, Merthyr Tydfil
- Ty Sign & Risca East Community Partnership, Ty Sign, Risca East Ward, Newport
- Eastfield Neighbourhood Partnership, Eastfield, Scarborough
- Norfolk Park Community Forum, Norfolk Park Estate, Sheffield
- Boothtown Partnership, Boothtown, Halifax
- Integrate, Todmorden
- Lodge Farm Community Network, Lodge Farm, Dudley
- Canley Community Partnership, Canley, Coventry
- Langland Community Centre, Langland Ward, Malvern
- Castle Vale Housing Action Trust
- St Paul’s Unlimited Community Partnership, St Paul’s, Bristol
- Barne Barton Community Action Trust, Barne Barton, Plymouth
- Boscombe Working Community Partnership, Boscombe, Bournemouth
- Broad Street Area Community Council, Swindon
For further information contact:
John Low (JRF Neighbourhood Programme Co-ordinator) 01904 615936 / john.low@jrf.org.uk
Issued by Sue Everard, Press and Information Officer 01904 615958 / sue.everard@jrf.org.uk
