Who we are and what we do
Community Links is a not-for-profit, community-run organisation working with local communities across South Lanarkshire, focusing on its more deprived areas. We specialise in community engagement and empowerment.
We help bring communities and service providers together, offer a wide range of volunteering and training opportunities, produce a quarterly newspaper, Your Community Matters, and provide a free computer maintenance and advice service. We also support a local environmental task force.
Our work has been recognised nationally with several awards in recent years. We are particularly proud of our 2007 award from the British Urban Regeneration Association.
How we got going
Community Links began life in 2002. Community representatives from four neighbourhoods in the former Social Inclusion Partnership (SIP) area in Hamilton and Blantyre joined forces to set up their own support organisation. Funding was available from the Scottish Executive for empowerment and there was an opportunity to bring people together to start something new.
Anna Shanks, a resident of Whitehill and Hamilton, has been involved from the start.
"I got involved with the SIP and helped to set up Community Links as my neighbourhood was going downhill rapidly. I was voted onto the board by the Whitehill community to represent our area. We worked hard to turn things round, involve rarely heard groups in 'Open Mind' events and listen to what people wanted. We've worked closely with the council and it's paid off. Whitehill has been completely transformed, physically and socially. There is a new community spirit here; we've taken ownership of the area."
How we organise ourselves
We set ourselves up as a limited company, with charitable status. The majority of our 11 board members are community representatives and they hold the key positions of chair and deputy chair. Other places are taken by the local regeneration partnership, private sector organisations and the local council, in an advisory capacity. We employ a team of five people and currently work with more than 40 volunteers.
Where our funding comes from
It costs around £250,000 a year to run our organisation and employ the staff. Our main funding comes from the Government's Fairer Scotland Fund. We also get additional support from this fund for our ICT Buddy Project. Other funding sources at present include the Voluntary Action Fund, South Lanarkshire Key Fund, the Big Lottery and the Lloyds TSB Charitable Foundation.
What we've achieved so far
Most of our work involves engaging with communities in local regeneration areas. 24 volunteers help with this, as well as distributing Your Community Matters, our quarterly newspaper to 45,000 households.
Last year we engaged directly with nearly 2000 people across South Lanarkshire. Our open consultation events involve large numbers of residents. The four regeneration areas we have focused on since we started have benefited enormously from having stronger, more active communities. People are listened to now; they are more clued up and have a positive, practical approach to change. We have certainly contributed to that.
Kay MacIntosh manages the Changing Places Regeneration Partnership in Blantyre and Hamilton…
"Community Links works closely with us. Community representatives on our partnership board have each received personal development training and support, helping them play an active role in our work. Community Links is particularly good at engaging with rarely heard groups, using surveys, focus groups and events to improve the projects and services we and others provide."
16 volunteers are delivering an Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) Buddy project, providing recycled home computers, training and support for nearly 1000 people so far. It is a project that appeals particularly to young men, many of whom have faced difficulties finding a job or gaining a qualification, often due to ill health. Community Links provides the training and support
for these volunteers. Some of them have broadened their interest to become actively involved in their own communities.
Russell Bennett, one of our volunteers and a Community Links board member, is one of them. It has changed his life.
"I was out of work for three years on long-term sick and came to Community Links for ICT training. They helped build up my confidence over a couple of months, which helped me get a full-time job in the IT field, and I've now been voted onto its board as a community rep."
What we've achieved so far
Community Links works directly with Pride of Place, an environmental project covering all of South Lanarkshire's regeneration areas. It carries out environmental improvements, improves community safety and benefits priority groups. Decisions on which environmental improvement projects to support and how much money they each receive is made by a community-led committee - another example of community empowerment.
The problems we've overcome
One of the problems we've faced was building up our credibility with key agencies, particularly the local council, and getting them to support an independent, community-run organisation. We have had a lot of support from officers and the relationship is now extremely positive and supportive.
John McCafferty of South Lanarkshire Council has been working closely with the initiative since it started…
"Many communities are sceptical about the way the public sector consults with them. Community Links has built successful relationships based on trust, through its high-quality work and the commitment of its Community Directors."
The success of our volunteering programme has created its own problems - as people's skills and confidence have increased, many of them have found jobs, leaving us with the challenge of finding replacements.
Community representative Jack Ferguson recalls the difficulties in getting early local community support:
"Before we set up Community Links, all four communities were working against each other; we wouldn't even sit together in the same room; nobody trusted anyone. Then, having set up the company, some people thought we were in the council's pocket. We dealt with it by getting out onto the streets and talking to people. Now they are completely behind us."
What we've learned
No two communities are the same. We are always trying to find new ways of engaging with people, since the techniques we used last week in one community may not be appropriate next week in another.
We have also learned how important it is to engage with everyone in a community - not just those who come to meetings or respond to surveys; and how the way people see their communities can be transformed if they feel a sense of ownership over the changes that take place. Part of our job is to help make these sort of things real.
What we've learned
Bobby McKean is a local businessman and community representative. He currently chairs Community Links and has some clear views on what the organisation has learnt over the years.
"Trust, transparency, hard work and partnership are the main learning points for us. We have spent a lot of time building trust between ourselves and with our many partners; we have always been open about the work we do and we have worked very hard to make the organisation a success. I think we have achieved that, but we cannot rest on our laurels."
What's next for us?
Always conscious of our reliance on grants and the need for financial stability, we are now beginning to provide consultancy services to other sectors, particularly health. We want to increase the income we earn by selling our services more widely.
We are looking at turning our ICT Buddy project into a social enterprise. This should enable it to carry out commercial work alongside its continuing community role. We can then use any profits created to cross-subsidise our other activities.
We are also keen to extend our volunteering programme, expanding the numbers as well as the geographical areas we recruit from.
Want to find out more?
You can get in touch with us at:
Community Links (South Lanarkshire)
Unit 1A
Clydeview Shopping Centre
BLANTYRE
G72 0QD
Phone: 01698 827583 EmailWeb