There’s an established link between grime and crime, which is why Kingstanding Neighbourhood Forum is using public money to crack crime one fridge at a time. This podcast and the youtube video you can see here or here explain how the forum has been using £10,000 from an experiment called the Neighbourhood Performance Reward Grant.
Run by the Birmingham Community Safety Partnership and the Digbeth Trust, this pilot has just come to an end. The reward is that meeting targets wil release a further £15,000 grant. Sustainable? Credible? Well listen and see what Les Smith and Rita Griffiths make of six months of the experiment.
Also see what’s happening in Sparkbrook.
[...] In addition to technical competences, softer ‘people and communication skills’, particularly the art of listening, were considered most important. These skills were needed to motivate others, resolve conflict and bring together disparate groups. Recently I’ve been reporting for the Grassroots Channel on the Neighbourhood Performance Reward Grant (the following links are to related video and podcast audio from Sparkbrook, Kingstanding, Washwood Heath and Bordesley Green). The NPRG is an experiment which provides resident groups with £10,000 to solve (or make reasonable agreed progress on) a local problem which has not responded consistently or well to government (local,national etc) efforts. Meet agreed targets and a further £15,000 is available to achieve more. Now clearly I’d love to hear your thoughts on this in principal, but what interests me is what effect it might have on leadership and residnets getting involved in local governance. [...]
[...] This short introductory film was made for a conference in The Hague in January 2008. Click here for a podcast giving more details. [...]