GOL staff amongst first recipients of the new Scarman Awards

The Scarman Awards are made to people who have made a big difference in extending opportunities for community action – these may be grassroots volunteers or people working in the public, private and voluntary sectors. The Awards illustrate an important focus of GOL's work in promoting stronger, more active communities.
Helen's award recognised her work in GOL's Community Participation Team and in particular her skilful co-ordination of the Community Champions programme. This programme, worth around £500,000 a year in London, encourages and supports people from all sorts of backgrounds to be leaders in their own communities, by delivering projects based in the area where they live or involving communities of interest such as refugee groups.
Mike's award recognised his overall responsibility for community engagement issues in GOL, and in particular his work in setting up and promoting Community Empowerment Networks in some of London's most deprived boroughs. This involved Mike's team delivering around £38 million of Government investment in the Voluntary and Community Sector over the last 5 years under the Single Community Programme – an often challenging process that demanded a mixture of diplomacy, patience and creativity.
These two GOL programmes have in their different ways helped to realise the Government's increasing focus on action at the neighbourhood level, on strengthening the relationship between people, communities, and those that deliver key public services.
The Community Champions programme will continue at least for the next two years. The Single Community Programme, which helped to set up the Community Empowerment Networks, ended in March 2006, but the work of CENs will continue to be supported under Local Area Agreements (LAAs) and the Safer and Stronger Communities Fund.

For more information on the Scarman Trust or Community Champions please contact Sue Halstead on 020 7217 3711.