Community is alive and well - policy makers take note!
I’ve been involved in the COVID-19 response on three different levels over the last couple of weeks: my local church, the charity I lead and the borough response in Barking & Dagenham through BD_Collective. There is a similar theme across all planning – making sure the most vulnerable and isolated are covered in a systematic way.
On the church and local charity level we’re confident that there are already strong support networks in place. There is a central point of co-ordination just in case but, as we check on those most isolated or vulnerable, we find that someone has already dropped in their shopping, called them and is generally making sure they are ok. This confidence comes because we have built relationally: people know that they are vital to others. Our strengths-based approach encourages everyone to recognise they have something to offer to someone else – mainly their friendship. It’s amazing to see it working so well in this current crisis.
With my BD_Collective hat on it looks a little different but has similar threads.
The BD_Collective was established just eight months ago, as an exploration of how to build a relational network of organisations to develop a strong, vibrant community across Barking & Dagenham. There are amazing organisations across the borough doing incredible things yet have tended to work in isolation. We were just starting to develop our activities: establishing relationships between people and teams across the sectors, bringing them together to tackle issues around adult social care, debt and early help.
Yet, suddenly, there is something much more pressing on our doorstep.
Thankfully, we had started this new foundation and seen local organisations starting to explore what working together could look like. We certainly get to practise it now! Within a week, the BDCAN response has been established. In close partnership with the council, we have been able to build a network that covers every locality in Barking & Dagenham. Organisations and faith groups coming together to ensure those most isolated and vulnerable have the support they need.
As I look at the last two weeks when we faced that a plan was needed for COVID 19, it seems there was one essential key, relationship. This essential piece has enabled us to respond quickly, effectively and with confidence. An intentional approach to building with people to do things together, person to person, organisation to organisation.
I believe this has been happening in our communities across the country for years, yet the focus – before COVID-19 – was services! Perhaps in the face of this current crisis, government on every level will recognise that the key to resilient communities is to invest in those organisations who build the networks, develop trust and grow informal points of connection. Pandemics of this size probably – hopefully – will only happen once in our lifetime, but we will all face crisis in our own lives. Yet when we have a community to turn to – it makes a huge difference.
Don’t get me wrong – services are vital for people most in need: it’s not one or the other. But never imagine they can meet all the needs of local residents, even those most vulnerable, on a normal day, never mind during a pandemic.
I’m trusting that after COVID-19, policy makers and funders will start to really invest in community-led models that build with people and agencies to grow an effective web of support, embedded in relational hubs. Here, people will receive the right support at the right time – whether through their community, local authority, health service or other providers. It’s not rocket science, but it does take a different mindset.
Let’s learn through this crisis how to build tomorrow’s world, investing in relationally focused support, not the service-led approach we lived in yesterday.
Avril McIntyre leads the team at Community Resources, a charity based in Barking and Dagenham which mobilises people to find solutions to the problems faced in their community, and has recently established the BD-Collective in her area of civil society organisations.
