The ambition
Throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, Leeds City Council and a group of locally trusted organisations have provided emergency support to local people in neighbourhoods across Leeds. This has covered a range of activities, including food parcels, welfare calls, and signposting. Through this work, these organisations have built partnerships with other local organisations to provide a wider package of support to vulnerable families and individuals in different neighbourhoods. These organisations are called Community Care Hubs and aim to work in a citizen-led way, involving local people in the design and delivery of services. The council are keen to support the continuation of this work and new ways of collaborative working.
The action
Following a pilot project, a number of these organisations have formed a movement which aims to continue to build on citizen-led activities and partnerships. This movement is called the Leeds Community Anchor Network or LCAN.
The partnerships forged through the Covid response have accelerated connectedness – in the words of one Community Care Hub, “it took us 6 months to make partnerships it would otherwise have taken 6 years to establish”.
Many of the 19 anchor organisations are involved in different initiatives which are established features of the landscape in Leeds. This include ABCD Pathfinder sites (organisations that use Asset Based Community Development practice to connect communities and develop community owned solutions); Local Care Partnership boards, and Neighbourhood Networks specialising in working with older people. The diverse nature of the network will ensure that its activities work well with what is already established in the city.
The result
The network uses the term ‘locally-trusted’ to refer to the place-based work done by member organisations. Each member brings different strengths and is best placed to know the strengths and the needs of local communities. We know that solutions are not always ‘one size fits all’ and the trust must extend not only from communities but from key decision makers too.
Leeds Community Anchors are a “gateway” not a “gatekeeper” to services and groups in their area. The network is already seeing the benefits of constructive conversation between partners and believes in ‘collaboration not competition’. Joint approaches to securing funding, service delivery and working with other agencies means so much more can be achieved as collectives than would be as individual organisations.
The learning
The network is developing a mechanism for the experiences and voices of community members to be heard at the ‘top table’. LCAN will not reach these aims in a short space of time and much of the work will be long-term, but it is important that we hold as an ‘end game’ a fairer more just society of thriving communities and equal access to services.
A list of Community Anchor Organisations can be found here and is regularly updated.