Community Development

Community Development is about creating communities where people want to live, both now and in the future. This means that we have to create communities where everyone feels safe, secure, happy and content. Our communities need to provide a sense of belonging for everyone, regardless of their age, race, culture or social background.

Local communities should have their needs, opportunities, rights and responsibilities identified. Once this has been done in detail, those communities can then plan, organise and take action to ensure that those issues are met and/or dealt with appropriately. The people that make up each community need to be supported to get involved and to address the issues that affect their lives.

Community Development work to bring together people to deal with common concerns. These concerns may be influenced by a common interest ie gardening or a geographical area (this could be a small road or a whole ward area or larger). Individuals, groups and organisations that are supported get involved and address the issues that affect their lives.

We can support people to get involved in community activities and provide the opportunities to learn the necessary skills to enable them to ‘grow’ within their communities.

We can support both new and existing communities to develop and network with others to ensure that Poole is a place with positive feeling for its people, its environment and its future.

We can challenge, encourage, influence, promote, develop and prioritise social change. By working closely with our communities, we can support them to do the same as well, thereby tackling the problems within their communities and improving their quality of life.

We can work with community groups and organisations to help them access funding. We can advise, offer information and lend our support to any application you may wish to make. We can ensure that your application will not fall at the first hurdle because your group is not properly set up ie banking details, constitution, terms of reference, committee structure etc.