Community development work: The approach in Cornwall Council

[Introduction]

This is a Research in Practice podcast, supporting evidence-informed practice with children and families, young people and adults.

Julie: Hello, and welcome to this Research in Practice podcast on the community development worker project of Cornwall Council. I'm Julie, the research and development associate at Research in Practice, and today I'm talking to Becky Higgins, who is employed by Volunteer Cornwall and working in partnership with Cornwall Council as the early help hub VCS engagement co-ordinator. And also, lead for the community development worker project in Cornwall. So, welcome, Becky. It's lovely to have you here.

Becky: Hello, Julie, nice to be here.

[Background to the Community Development Worker project]

Julie: So, the community development worker project in Cornwall, can you tell me a little bit about that particular project and your role in this?

Becky: I will. I'll give you a bit of background first so it helps to make sense of how the community development worker role began and has evolved. So, plans for the voluntary and community sector, working together with children's services, has been discussed quite a lot over the year with key senior people, discussing how this can happen. This resulted in the One Vision Partnership plan, which was developed in Cornwall to change the way all services work together and improve support for children in the area. Where I came in, there was a pilot project, which was trialled in Cornwall's Early Help Hub. The Early Help Hub is the first point of contact for all enquires, parents, children, carers and practitioners working with children, they contact the early help hub to seek advice and information about resources for support. It consists of a multidisciplinary team as early help, health, CAMHS (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services) professionals, and they all triage and process requests for help, and direct people to the appropriate support. This could be voluntary and community sector, it could be local authority. So, it's looking at what's best for those people. So, the Early Help VCS (Voluntary and Community Sector) Engagement Coordinator role was trialled to look at how the voluntary and community sector could work together with this team to help to signpost families to support from groups and organisations, but keeping that support in their own communities. So, my role through that was gathering information initially, so that information could be cascaded out to the contact workers. So, investigating new groups that are out and about in Cornwall, building relationships for those organisations, so they would feed in updates and just that general conversation that you can have with those different people that are offering support.

And then you've got the richness of that information to feed into the contact workers or the parents, or the professionals if you're discussing it with them. And then it might not be that they need local authority support, it could be that, actually, they could have that support just from something round the corner or something in their local area. So, the role became more established but then it was very, very clear that the vast area of Cornwall was more than just me on my own was able to cover, to find out the smaller groups that were there. And more depth of knowledge was needed to knuckle down and find the real little groups, the ones that are known by word of mouth. So, through that, the six community development workers role was developed and they were employed through Volunteer Cornwall. So, the structure of how the community development workers are is they're employed by volunteer Cornwall but they're also part of the local authority's Together for Families early help teams. So, early help in Cornwall is structured into six different geographical localities. There's an early help team in each and the community development workers form part of those teams. So, they're managed both by myself, as the lead in the project, and the early help locality managers in each area. It gives them a really good balance between both the local authority and the voluntary community sector ways of working. So, I find that a really, really important point because you're bringing equality from both sectors and using both of those things to support children and young people. But being part of the early help locality teams, it enables community development workers to access those links within the local authority systems, to the wider services to support children and families.

The ways of working in both sectors are different but the CDW (Community Development Worker), as I already said, they're able to use the strengths from both of those sectors, and to get the right support for young people, and for the families, rather than trying to fit them into the support that we've got to offer, it's looking at what will actually help them.

Julie: That sounds really interesting and quite innovative as well, especially in terms of the community development workers being employed by Volunteer Cornwall but being placed within the early help team. So, that seems to be quite innovative. And I just wondered, what do you think has been key in getting that role up and running and successfully into the communities?

Becky: I think the actual going physically into the communities. I mean, it's been a culture change for people in both sectors but it's also given people the opportunities to recognise the skills and strengths. So, going out into the voluntary sector, speaking to people in communities that are running small groups, don't realise they're volunteers, don't realise what they're doing. But also, larger voluntary sector organisations. It's having them merging together with the skills and the processes from the local authority as well. Actually, going out and looking at other projects within Volunteer Cornwall and in other voluntary sector organisations, becoming part of their wider teams and working in partnership with them, building these networks, that's been really key in making the project more successful.

[Building community networks]

Julie: And how do they go about building these networks? Is it a case of them just, kind of, going around their locality and speaking to people? Or is it more than that?

Becky: I mean, that's part of it, but then it's bringing the people together, it's bringing information, it's passing that information in between it, showing the value of their role. I think when they initially started, they weren't wasn't sure what they are actually doing, you know, to go out and do that. But the initial part of their role was to find out what was out there. We're all often saying there's gaps in services, there's gaps in communities, but actually-, that's our perceived gap, is there actually a gap there? So, going out and seeing what is there was the key part at the beginning of the two-year pilot project, because this is a short-term pilot project at the moment. So, they would go out, they would find out what was there, what it was, what they did, and who the people were involved. So, they would record that information, they would map that information initially, and that was on a live map, which they shared that map with anybody and everybody, professional-wise that are front-line workers, that would be coming into contact with children, young people and families. So, then that information is able-, it's evidencing what's in each area, so then they would bring different organisations within the same area together, to make sure work isn't being duplicated. That was a really important part of it, there was an example of that, really, within the first few months of one of the CDWs working. She went to an organisation who wanted to use some funding they had to set up a young women's group because they felt it was needed in the area. Previously, the worker had been at a group, not far away from that, within the same town, that actually had a young women's group but they were looking for more members, more people to come, more people to support.

So, the CDW linked those people together, so then they were able to provide the support for the young people and use their funding for something else. So, the work wasn't duplicated. It helped to form a relationship between those two organisations. So, from that, some of the team have-, everybody works in different ways, they're flexible to the needs of the individual communities. So, in some areas, there are already groups running that allow those networks. So, the CDW's have helped people come into those networks and meet other people in their area through that, you know, mutual support, that working together for the same aim. And then, in other areas, they've set up groups where people, given the opportunities for people to get together and meet, and share ideas.

[Community development workers’ ethos and role]

Julie: So, is there a particular ethos behind the approach, Becky?

Becky: Yes, I think the ethos behind this project is really not to go into communities being the expert on each and every community. Where we see a gap, as I said previously, the community as a whole might be perfectly happy with the support and facilities, and their own community strengths. So, it's listening to what the communities have to say, it's not going in there with a Superman cape on, saying, 'We can change everything,' because we can't do that. So, it's about consulting with those people to find out what it actually is that we can do to help them, support them but not do for them, because those are the ones that need to be empowered to do that.

Julie: So, you've talked about bringing the organisations together and about the mapping of the different voluntary and community services in different localities, and about how that was initially what the community development workers were doing. How has that role evolved, I think I'm talking now prior to the pandemic, because I think there will probably be a lot to talk about there, but how did that role develop as they started to build those links within the community?

Becky: Through the information they gather, they have their networks, their mailing lists, they mail out information, they send out to the groups that are already running, they can send out funding information they might come across, they send out any information that could be supporting people that are already successfully running groups and other things. They are also, through that, people from groups could sometimes contact them about information, perhaps information from the local authority, because it's a two-way information sharing. Because they're part of the early help team and part of that Together for Families service, as well as working with the voluntary sector, the information to support children and families can come out of the local authority, into the voluntary and community sector, as well as information from the voluntary and community sector going back in to children's services. So, working through that, you know, that was a lot of work if you were thinking about all the little villages, you're talking about-, to find out exactly what's there. The importance of knowing their area because there could be a large area where there appears to be no support, or and then you go and you expect that it's an affluent area but the affluent areas are sometimes hiding pockets of poverty where people might need more support. So, it's about really taking that time to get to know the communities that are there and the support that's there.

Julie: And what kind of reception have you had from families and from the VCS organisations as well, as part of the work?

Becky: It has been a culture change for everybody concerned because, I think, in a lot of ways people work in certain ways, in certain methods, and procedures and protocols, and I think looking at the way other people work, if you look at it with an open mind, you can see the benefits of merging together the two ways of working. On the main, the reception has been really positive and people are now seeing the benefits of joining together and partnership working. That's more with the organisations. With families and people in the community, I think there's always suspicion at the beginning, because I think, historically, people have come to communities to try to make changes and do things to help them, which perhaps, sometimes, it isn't actually what the communities want. But as the community development workers are more about finding out what is actually going on in the community, finding out what the strengths are in those communities, rather than what they haven't got, it's what they are doing. And actually, they're finding there's a lot more going on than initially thought. And, you know, in other places, communities, they don't need anything, they're happy with what they've got, they're able to support their families, their children in those communities. So, it's about, again, taking that time to listen to what the community want. And what they can do to help to empower them to make changes if they want to, within their communities.

[Changing culture and relationships]

Julie: You talked about the culture change that was needed in the project, can you expand on that a little bit? What kinds of changes work when needed around that?

Becky: By culture change, I think within local authorities, there's a ways of working which are one way. Within voluntary and community sector, again, they are different ways of working. And that's more through members of staff, through an idea, a construct of how things are done. Whereas, actually, you know, it could be where previously somebody needs some help, they need a youth worker, and it's, 'Actually, do they need a youth worker or do they need to attend a youth club that's run in the voluntary sector, that has a trained youth worker running that organisation?' You know, they are skilled they are just as skilled as somebody that would work for a local authority, have the same qualifications and the same strengths, but they work for the voluntary sector, it's about recognising those skills and about the voluntary sector recognising the skills of the local authority teams. And, you know, that's about the culture change. It's about the recognition, it's about seeing how that works. When I first came into role, I ran some sessions which we used as speed dating sessions with voluntary and community sector organisations talking for three minutes about their organisation. And then going around the tables that people from local authority, different teams, social work, early help, and some from health, and the response following that was absolutely phenomenal. The comments I got were things like, 'They're really nice people,' coming from voluntary sector about local authority. And from local authority about voluntary sector, 'There's some really skilled people here, I didn't realise what was actually out there.' So, those sorts of comments show that there was preconceived ideas about how other people work, whereas actually, everybody who is in these, whatever sector, have their own skills and their own values to bring to the table.

Julie: It sounds really mutually beneficial and, I guess, one of the offshoots in that has been around the relationship between the voluntary community sector and the local authority. So, would you say there's been a shift in that?

Becky: Very much so, yes. I think it's been it's been a really positive shift. Like I alluded to earlier, there's been conversations for a lot of years through senior members of staff and senior leaders, about making the changes, and I do think that actually, that is happening. And I think there's a lot more conversations going on, there's a lot more recognising the value and the strengths on both sides.

Julie: And what about in terms of children and families? What have been the main benefits for them?

Becky: For them, if it's known about, they've got access to other things that are happening, specifically in their local areas. Again, Cornwall is a vast area and, you know, you don't get the same provision across all areas. You do, obviously, from the early help and that type of thing, this provision is the same right across the board. But through the voluntary and community sector organisations, depending on who you have in the areas, the funding that's being drawn down from different areas, there's more provision in some areas than there are in others. Or there could be more provision due to the geographical settings. You know, there's a lot of coastal communities or very, very rural communities, as well as the larger villages and the towns. So, the voluntary and the community sector are everywhere, we're hoping. But if we're talking, for example, through the Early Help Hub, somebody contacts and needs some support, we're looking at something in their local area, we're trying to find something that they can engage with so that they don't have to have someone come and do a piece of work with them so that they can be involved in something in their area and that intervention comes, or that support comes at an earlier stage. So, if they are in the beginnings of difficulties, then hopefully, that early support through peers and their community will be enough to support them, to prevent any escalation.

[Addressing gaps in support]

Julie: And earlier you mentioned about identifying any gaps that there might be in support. If a gap is identified, how is that addressed, how do you go about filling that gap?

Becky: Well, I'm glad you brought up gaps because the question on that, that I always say, is how is a gap perceived? When we look at a geographical space on a map and it can show absolutely no provision at all, however that could be for a lot of reasons. As I previously said, the geographical areas, well, it could be moorlands, it could be vast areas of cliffs and that type of thing so that could be a reason why there's nothing there. It could be that it's an area that's predominantly elderly people. So, you know, the community development workers at this specific team are looking at children and families, and the elderly people are part of the family, but it's looking at the immediate families for now. So, that could be seen as a gap. But within those gaps, there could be small networks of support. But if we speak to the people that live there, so that has been the second part of the project. The first part is finding out what we know is there, finding out what is there. So, now where we might perceive there's a gap, then the CDW spends a bit of time finding out a bit more about-, they are concentrating on an area at a time because that's how it needs to be done to do this properly. And they're talking to parents and young people who live in those areas. They are holding fun events and things like that, for people to come along to in some areas. Again, everyone's working differently, depending on the area, and the people in the area, and what they're finding, but they're working in partnership with people that already work there. And they're also, one of the things that I like best is they're going-, they've built relationships with schools and areas anyway, and they're talking to headteachers and getting permission to talk to parents at school gates.

So, you know, we talk about hard-to-reach parents, hard-to-reach families, so most families come to school to pick up their children, so actually, if they're hard to reach, go and see them. That's how I look at it. So, the community development workers are going to see people, going to speak to people, listen to their ideas, listen to their thoughts and what they think about their area, what they would like to see. But also, keeping it real because I think, as I said earlier, there's a lot of projects over the years that have come in and said, 'We'll help, we'll do this,' and then they're gone because a lot of projects are short term. This is a two-year project. So, it's making no promises and it's working on the strengths that are coming from the community. So, it's asking, you know, 'What do you want? How can you do it? How can we help you? How can we all do this together?' So, if there is somebody that has an idea and wants to bring it forward, then the community development workers can help to do that, through looking at funding, looking at governance, and that type of support of how, you know, the actual practical support of how to get there. But not saying that they're going to run it, not saying that they're going to fund it and not saying that they're going to be there forever because that is honesty, that is being very clear with people that it's coming from their skills, and strengths and community.

Julie: And have you found that many families or parents have set up their own groups as a result of the community development workers facilitating that?

Becky: This is just the start of this, as I say, into the second part of the project. I've got a really good example of one that contacted-, this was through a Facebook page and messaging through there. Again, they've all got Facebook pages which they share information on and can accept messages through, it works really well in the communication. And a lady who had wanted to set up a group, she lived on the outskirts of the only city in Cornwall but transport links are quite poor for the whole of Cornwall, really. So, that's something she couldn't get in to the local groups that were in the city. There was nothing in her area but there were two brand new housing estates being built, with families predominantly occupying most of the houses. And she felt there was absolutely nothing for parents and toddlers, that was what she was looking, she didn't want a nursery, she just thought that they needed somewhere where people could gather with their children and have a chat, and talk about their children, let their children play. And that was a very simple idea that she wanted to do. She wasn't initially sure how to go about it, so that was something the community development worker got involved with. She helped her to have conversations with the local parish council, who owned the hall there. She facilitated those conversations with the parent that wanted to set that up. She helped the parent think about funding for the future. She helped to source initial setup money and, you know, the parent that wanted to set it up, she didn't want local authority input through that, she wanted it, she felt that might be a barrier to some families wanting to attend if it seemed too official. She wanted it to be welcoming to all parents.

So, that was set up and started to run successfully once a month and then, unfortunately, the COVID pandemic started, which has put a halt to that for now. But, you know, that's a really good example of how one message through a Facebook messenger has resulted in support for that lady, who probably would not have come forward and it wouldn't have developed if that opportunity hadn't been there for her.

[Response to COVID-19]

Julie: Yes, that's really interesting and, yes, you brought up the pandemic and, COVID-19, and obviously, things have moved on and no doubt changed since then. But having built these strong links within the community and the community development workers taking on this facilitator role, I would imagine that has helped in some ways, during the pandemic?

Becky: Oh, most definitely. The VCS response to COVID-19 in Cornwall has been absolutely phenomenal. The volunteers coming forward. The support was there from day one through volunteers and voluntary sector organisations. We found people who've never volunteered before in their lives, then found themselves as a vital part of day to day living for the individuals that they'd helped. The CDW's work, really well placed, by knowing what was already out there and they're working with part of the Volunteer Cornwall team, we have also community makers as part of that as well. And they were working in partnership in their geographical areas, linking into groups they knew that were already out there, that were still open, because unfortunately, a lot of face-to-face groups had to close. However, a lot of voluntary and community sector groups that the CDWs were already linked with have changed how they're supporting people at the moment, they've applied for funding for equipment, it could be baby equipment, it's what they're being asked for in the areas, changing to providing meals or providing food, or providing clothing. You know, they've looked at how they can support at this time and they are doing that and, like I say, the links for the CDWs between the voluntary sector, between the services that they're closely linked with now through the early help teams. They've got those family links. They have adapted, they've been working with the elderly as well. They've been working with who needs the support at the moment, through this. But, like I said, the knowledge of those groups and organisations, if they're contacted by somebody and they can't help, they don't know, they can usually find someone or know somebody that they can contact, who does know somebody who can support.

It's those key people that they now know in the communities that are the ones that are looking at supporting further. So, the work and relationships they've built up previously has been absolutely key in supporting people during this.

Julie: Yes, obviously, and also during this time, and also thinking about the future and maintaining those links, and sustaining this in the future. What are your thoughts around that?

Becky: About sustaining, what? The community development worker role and the links?

Julie: Not the role as such but around the work that's being done in the communities, that the communities have taken on for themselves and the increase in the numbers of volunteers coming forward, as you mentioned, how are you thinking about sustaining that going forward?

Becky: We're starting to look, because the initial crisis part of how we get the support in place is beginning to ease now but then there's more complex needs are coming forward since then. So, I think the partnerships between different sectors have shone through during this. Both in giving and receiving support. I think, in that way, looking at the future, there's different things. There's looking at retaining the volunteers, which that's one side of what we need to look at, that's looking at-, well, that some people who volunteered had gone back to work but they're still looking at how to volunteer in the future. Other people don't have that time and that's fine because they don't at the moment, they've given their time and they've had it. So, it is linking into looking at-, and the CDWs are doing this now and contacting back to the organisations they were working with, or they knew of, or they had relationships with before the COVID outbreak, and saying, 'What's happening now? What are you doing now?' It could be a parent and toddler group and obviously they can't meet at the moment, and for the foreseeable. However, it's what else, you know? Because they're a key point of support for parents with young children, so it could be are they going to take it forward with WhatsApp or Zoom, or something else? It's looking at how to support, you know, there's some groups that are doing it on their own and it's looking at what they are already doing and fantastic, and other groups that are not sure how to do this, let's look at how we can do it, and that's what the CDWs are starting to do now is contact and see. You know, are these groups going to be running in a different way? And if they're not sure, you know, doing a little bit of problems solving and seeing if together, they can work out a way of doing that or know someone that can.

[Advice and key learning from the project]

Julie: I'm coming towards the end now, Becky, but I just wondered what has been the key learning from you, from starting this project to its progression, to COVID-19, that whole journey? And, from that, what advice you would give to another local authority who might think about taking a similar approach?

Becky: Well, I mean, I would say I believe as strongly now as I did at the beginning of the project, that partnerships formed between the different sectors is the way forward, of creating and maintaining the community resilience. However, I do think as well, it's really important to retain the autonomy of their working practices but remain open to learning from other sectors is the strength of this approach and this really relies on mutual respect and understanding. The role hasn't been without challenges, as would be expected with culture changes, but strong leadership and clear expectations combined with that honest, and open conversations between management and staff, that has enabled successful working partnerships. So, you know, looking to the future, it's quite uncertain times at the moment, but even before COVID, it was very clear that there's a lot more time needed to continue to move the project forward. It takes a long time to build trust and relationships. It doesn't happen overnight. And we're also looking at communities within communities, the different needs and the ideas, the diversity of the geography, in Cornwall. As I mentioned before, we've got other areas we want to develop, so I know I've gone off track a little bit on this but I'm very, very passionate about this role and how I see it developing. And, you know, I think other local authorities, it would be key for them to take it forward, as to be supporting what they're already doing in both sectors. So, bringing it back to the piece of advice, I would say it's really important to ensure the entire teams understand the concept of partnership work is recognising and respecting the different and various ways of working towards the same goal. The importance of being open minded and trying new methods that don't always fit with your own current ways of thinking and working.

Also, to be mindful of-, the CDW work is fluid, it's led by the community need. It doesn't always correspond with the preconceived expectations or ideas you have before you go in. So, when you go in with a plan, that plan may change very quickly when you realise that you didn't actually have a clue about the community you've just gone into. So, a key point as well is targets for contracted services do not always fit neatly into a KPI performance indicator. So, flexibility around this ensures that progress and reporting are obviously monitored, but that the project and work is not driven by the need to record data but it's more, it needs to address the need. But, overall, I would say do it, but do it mindfully. The positives far outweigh any negatives. People in communities are being empowered to support each other, they're preventing escalation of need and helping to prevent isolation in society. Support at an early stage is key to moving forward in both social, emotional and physical wellbeing of society. People should not be reaching crisis to receive support from services when it could have been prevented or lessened just by being in their own communities and the support that's actually there. So, as I see it, community development workers are supporting people to grow within those communities, which can only help to change the way that new generations will perceive their communities and how they can be empowered to make the changes in the world around them.

Julie: Empowering people, I think that's a really nice message to end on, and I think your points around being adaptable, and flexible, and form partnerships, and having mutual respect, I think, again, they are all really, really important and key messages within the community. So, I'd like to thank you very much for taking part in this podcast, Becky, and I look forward to hearing how this project develops in the future, and how the current situation informs thinking going forward as well, and hoping that you can capitalise on the gains that you've already made there. So, once again, thank you very much, Becky Higgins.

Becky: Thank you, Julie.

[Outro]

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