Nottinghamshire Cares was launched in October 2002 and to celebrate its first birthday, the leadership and operations team decided to take on a team challenge of their own. For this they went to The Centre Place, Worksop in the Bassetlaw District of North Nottinghamshire.
Example of a Nottinghamshire Cares project: The Centre Place, Worksop Community Group
The Centre Place is a ‘one stop shop’ which provides information and support to vulnerable 16-25 year olds. Its range of services stretch from practical advice, laundry services, to getting a bite to eat. The area faces particular challenges around drug misuse - especially heroin - and young homeless and vulnerably housed people.
Challenge
The Centre was in need of a ‘makeover’ e.g. painting and decorating, new carpet and replacement of vital equipment (a new washing machine and drier).
Activity was concentrated on two periods. The Prep Day allowed a team from Experian to carry out important preparatory work and were fed generously by Hazelwood Sandwiches. The actual Birthday Challenge Day saw many of the Nottinghamshire Cares Leadership and Operations Team members abandoning their organisations for a day, rolling-up their shirt sleeves and getting stuck-in to their allocated duties.
Team Leader Chris Netherwood (HSBC Regional Director) had the unenviable task of organising some of Nottinghamshire’s top business people into gangs of painters and decorators, plasterers and labourers. John Kelly (Chairman, Gala Group) roller in one hand, mobile phone in the other certainly led by example!
Wilkinson, the locally based national D.I.Y chain, provided paint and materials free of charge. HSBC contributed a new washing machine, Gala Group a drier. United Carpets and Beds offered carpets and fitting. Special thanks must go to United who are a local firm.
Strategic context
This series of case studies has been produced to exemplify some of the ways that local businesses in Nottinghamshire have engaged with their local communities to tackle poverty and disadvantage.
In addition to demonstrating some very practical examples of business engagement, the case studies illustrate how this activity links to strategic objectives of the various LSPs across Nottinghamshire. It is hoped that, in reading the case studies, businesses, Local Stategic Partnerships (LSPs) and community groups alike, will better understand the mutual value to be gained from such activity.
Bassetlaw’s Crime and Disorder Partnership put together a Community Safety Strategy. In consultation with Bassetlaw residents, tackling drugs misuse was viewed as the most important issue to engage with as a priority. Reducing the extent of this problem is likely to have a significant impact on other types of crime – especially burglary and thefts from vehicles which are often committed in order to support drug dependency.
Specific objectives of the Partnership include “Reducing the proportion of people under 25 reporting use of illegal drugs and to reduce the proportion of young people using drugs which cause the greatest harm (heroin and cocaine) by March 2005”.
Whilst on one level, The Centre Place benefited from ‘a lick of paint’.
Annie Fletcher, Centre Manager believes the benefits are more wide-reaching:
“Thanks to Nottinghamshire Cares, The Centre Place is now an environment where people can feel safe, get advice and counselling, wash their clothes and get a hot meal in comfortable surroundings. Nottinghamshire Cares has helped to raise our profile in the local community which has meant more young people are using our services."
"Now that we have an improved facility, we are also able to let the space to other community groups which is generating an additional income stream to support our work. On the day of the team challenge, the Centre users themselves gained confidence from chatting to business people who had taken the time and trouble to come to them in their local community.”
Strategic benefits of this project are:
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improved facilities have attracted more service users
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better services will help reduce drug misuse
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reduced drug misuse will help reduce local crime
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improved understanding by employers of local needs and opportunities
The production of this case study has been kindly sponsored by the Government Office for the East Midlands (GO-EM)
