Leicester North West Community Forum
Aruna Bhagwan, Learning Manager
Leicester North West Community Forum
Alchemy House
90-92 Bishopdale Rd
Leicester
LE4 0SR
Contact: Aruna Bhagwan
Tel: 0116 229 3204
E-mail: Aruna.bhagwan@alchemyhouse.co.uk
Tel: O116 229 3200 (general)
Our Vision
Our vision is to enlist residents with experience and commitment to help us to realise the potential for social regeneration in Leicester North West, and also in other neighbouring communities. As valued consultants these residents will be an essential component in the regeneration process.
“Just as a stone thrown into water creates ever-widening ripples, the changes brought about by our joint efforts will become a blueprint for the inspiration and empowerment of other communities nationwide”
Leicester North West Community Forum is a resident run, not for profit, Regeneration Company committed to empowering local people.
It is committed to creating a ‘Doing’ – not a ‘done to’ community, in which residents are supported in their learning and personal development so they can reach their own potential and realise their personal and community goals.
We welcome the opportunity for other Guide Neighbourhoods and Residents, to come and visit Leicester North West Community, so that we can share and learn from each other.
We are committed to:
- A Good Neighbour Programme which supports the training and ongoing personal development of a network of over 125 Good Neighbours at street level.
- The promotion of community spirit and integration through the support and co-ordination of a number of community cohesion and integration activities.
- Making people feel welcome and valued by enabling communication through our Neighbourhood Intranet (one of the firsts if not the first in the UK), the Community Newspaper and the Resident Welcome Pack. We also support asylum seekers and refugees through weekly drop-ins, integration training and individual support and advice.
- The facilitation of personal motivation, learning and development through a wide range of capacity building and self development opportunities, including mentoring, positive thinking and action learning programmes.
Today in Leicester North West
Over the past five years many influences and ideas have been brought to bear on our community, with varying effects and degrees of success. These have included a large number of government-funded, well-meaning projects and initiatives. Today the funding allocated for these ventures has almost come to an end.
So what is left?
What is left is a neighbourhood that still cries out for the sort of regeneration successive governments have failed to achieve. There is so much still to play for, so much that still needs to be done.
So what do we do next?
We seize the initiative. We take it upon ourselves to make those changes that only we can appreciate and live with; that only we can feel confident in passing on to our children.
Who will help us to achieve this?
Leicester North West Community Forum is already at the heart of this new initiative. Along with other local agencies the Forum is supporting residents who are tackling key issues, setting up new social enterprises and generating a fresh community spirit: the ingredients for the creation of a healthy, vibrant and cohesive community. This extraordinary level of commitment has already attracted the attention of the Home Office, who have given us status as a Guide Neighbourhood.
What is a Department for Communities and Local
Government (DCLG) Guide Neighbourhood?
At present the Civil Renewal Unit is funding 15 Guide Neighbourhoods nationally. These are neighbourhoods that are recognised as having begun and made significant headway in the process of recovery and transformation.
Tragically, the Government’s Social Exclusion Unit
revealed that despite the injection of billions of pounds of
taxpayers’ money there are now more neighbourhoods in
urgent need of renewal; more than when policies for
community regeneration were initiated 30 or more years
ago. In short ? things have been going backwards!
The Guide Neighbourhood programme represents an
entirely new and vibrant concept in community
development, in that it looks to the residents themselves
to take the initiative and bring about the changes so badly
needed.
Resident Consultants
Residents with enthusiasm, experience, commitment and
know-how are transforming communities. These
residents are well on their way to self-empowerment.
Their task is to realise the potential and ability that lies
dormant in people and communities. Like the ripples of a
stone thrown into water they are committed to their own
growth and that of thousands of others, creating ripples
throughout neighbourhoods nationwide.
Contact
For more information regarding our Guide Neighbourhood Programme or to arrange a visit please contact:
Aruna Bhagwan, Learning Manager
Tel: 0116 2293204
E-mail: aruna.bhagwan@alchemyhouse.co.uk