OPINION: Grassroots organisations can be leveraged to generate community intelligence: reflections on our community research with North Star Housing
Photo provided by The Chris Cave Foundation - a grassroots organisation that supports families and local communities affected by violent crime. The statue is created from 100,000 knives that have been used in crimes or handed in to police across the country during amnesty periods.
Summary
Grassroots organisations have an unparalleled understanding of community needs, which can be leveraged by non-frontline organisations. This is evident from the successful community research we conducted for North Star Housing Group;
We collected rich insights from eight areas identified as priority communities by North Star Housing Group. Each community has their own unique and nuanced combination of challenges that need targeted and informed solutions, despite being geographically close. This knowledge was quickly obtained by talking to the grassroots organisations working locally.
From our work delivering free support to grassroots organisations, we know that grassroots organisations have the dedication, capability, motivation and trust to drive the best community initiatives and services. But they lack vital funding and recognition. On the back of our community research with North Star, we see the potential synergy between non-frontline organisations wanting access to community intelligence, and grassroots organisations needing support. If you’re interested to explore the idea further, book a call with one of our Directors.
In addition to building and providing affordable housing, North Star Housing Group invests in its communities by supporting and empowering its local ‘community partners’. To do so, the group prioritises understanding the needs of (whilst establishing strong relationships with) its local communities in Tees Valley, North Yorkshire and County Durham. Therefore, in 2022, North Star commissioned Civil Society Consulting (CSC) to investigate the needs of eight local and ‘priority’ communities.
To develop a more strategic approach to community investment, North Star was looking to gain a thorough understanding of issues, opportunities and current initiatives, whilst also looking to develop stronger links with key ‘community partners’ in each community.
CSC provides free support to grassroots organisations through our flagship initiative Steps to Sustainability. From this, we recognised that the community-led organisations working at grassroots level in these socio-economically deprived areas would be the most effective way to gain knowledge on the structural issues facing each community - many of whom North Star has already connected with as a community partner. We proposed leveraging North Star’s existing network of grassroots charities and community groups, whilst making some new connections with new organisations North Star has not yet worked with.
And so it was. We interviewed 41 grassroots champions and, through mobilising them behind the research, we expanded and strengthened North Star’s network of grassroots community partners - many of whom the housing association has and continues to fund.
What did we learn?
North Star first approached CSC in early 2022. Over the next 2-3 months, CSC engaged around 21 community organisations and North Star housing officers across the eight communities via one-to-one interviews.
We asked organisations about:
Their community’s most urgent and persistent issues,
Root causes of the problems,
Assets and opportunities for change,
Current initiatives working well,
Initiatives that have worked well in the past, and
The obstacles that make their efforts more difficult.
Across each community, we found many similarities between the causes and consequences of social deprivation; they tended to be structural in nature and stemming from deep-rooted inequalities. Some overarching themes included:
Mental health is rock bottom and loneliness is at the heart of many other issues.
Crime and anti-social behaviour, having been prevalent for many years, is becoming embedded into local culture.
Generational poverty is widespread, manifesting as multi-generational dependence on benefits; however wages are too low to incentivise employment and there is a hard lack of employment opportunities.
Local public services are described as inactive, ineffective, generally overwhelmed.
Young people were seen as a priority across the board, with anti-social behaviour causing friction between generations (in part due to a lack of facilities for young people).
There is scant social integration in ethnically diverse areas, often due to discrimination and racism.
Weak transportation links severely limit what is possible in terms of solutions.
Whilst these communities are geographically close, the people we spoke to identified unique and nuanced combinations of challenges and solutions. A variety of projects and grassroots organisations are currently operating in these communities to tackle urgent needs. However, they lack vital funding, and seek partnerships to further mobilise initiatives.
“Without grassroots organisations [like us], I don’t see how the statutory sectors would meet people’s needs.”
The 30 grassroots organisations we spoke to provided rich qualitative data. But, CSC found a number of data gaps remaining on two key priority areas – Hartlepool and East Cleveland — due to insufficient engagement and contacts in each community. We agreed with North Star on the need for a second chapter of work, before consolidating a final report.
The ‘second’ chapter of the research
In this second chapter of work, we leveraged our strong local ties to identify and interview 11 additional community organisations - forging new relationships for North Star. From the new stories, opinions and priorities gathered, we were able to crystallise two new community profiles and further enrich our overarching recommendations.
As discovered in the previous communities, issues were largely structural in nature. However, we also witnessed the exacerbation of problems due to the rising cost of living and the energy crisis - which had worsened since earlier in the year. Broadly, top priority concerns across both communities included:
Increasing deprivation and poverty, including child, digital and food poverty: “more families are using foodbanks than ever before.”
High unemployment and rising homelessness
Deteriorating mental health and rising levels of loneliness across all generations
Health inequalities with many ‘giving up' on their health and engaging with the healthcare system, which is leading to worsening long-term health problems.
Rising energy bills ‘impacting everyone’ and forcing small businesses to shut down.
Conclusions from our research
North Star received from us eight detailed ‘community profiles’ on each priority community, as well as a wider report evaluating the broader trends and how North Star’s resources and attention could best be directed to support community development. We produced recommendations for maximising North Star’s impact and leveraging the housing group’s strengths.
In a nutshell - we found that whilst these eight communities were geographically close, each has its own unique and nuanced combination of challenges to address, and different local opportunities that can be leveraged to do so.
It came through loud and clear in all eight communities that grassroots organisations are filling the gaps left by public services after nearly 13 years of funding reductions - dealing with food poverty, the energy crisis and taking in the young people that ‘nobody wants.’ These organisations are directly addressing the community’s most urgent issues, and have the trust and intel to respond most effectively to new needs. They need recognition and investment.
Interested in doing something similar? Implications of the research
North Star is using the detailed community profiles and our analysis and recommendations to inform their decision making on how to invest in these communities. In fact, the intelligence is supporting the case that these eight priorities communities are worth investing in at all.
The success of this research - and the outcomes it’s producing - shows the value of community intelligence gathered from grassroots organisations. The research is in-depth and can be conducted at pace. Grassroots organisations be leveraged by non-frontline organisations - including for-profit companies - to generate community intelligence. What is more, doing so recognises the value of the knowledge they have.
If you’re a non-frontline organisation or company looking to develop some holistic research on communities and/or grassroots organisations, book a call with one of our Directors.
Contact: natasha@civilsocietyconsulting.co.uk francesca@civilsocietyconsulting.co.uk
