Category: community

I want to touch briefly in this week’s Blog upon how we can collaborate with arts and creativity to make our communities safer and a more interesting place to live. I have been working  with Camelon Arts to plan how creativity can contribute to making camelon and Tamfourhill a safer, happier, and more attractive place to live.(https://opcamelontamfourhill.co.uk/safetystrategy/) And in this respect, there will be further collaboration and project developments in early 2022 which focus upon environmental improvement, community empowerment and encouraging greater community cohesion.

 I am going  to highlight some distinct ways that Arts Projects can contribute to improving our local communities, and also demonstrate how aspects  of our local community safety projects are aligned to these key features:

• Bringing communities together in public places:

Dr. Felton Earls, a Harvard professor of public health, conducted an extensive, fifteen-year study in neighbourhoods across Chicago. His research found that the single-most important factor differentiating levels of health from one neighbourhood to the next was what he called “collective efficacy.” He was surprised to find that it wasn’t wealth, access to healthcare, crime, or some more tangible factor that topped the list. A more elusive ingredient–the capacity of people to act together on matters of common interest–made a greater difference in the health and well-being of individuals and neighbourhoods.

This is an important feature of the recent activities at the CJFC car park and its surrounding area , not only are we interested in changing the reputation of that location and making it more of a community asset we are also wanting to bring people together to share experiences, fun and aspirations. We want to create an atmosphere of a positive community where we are  coming together in common cause to develop  and enjoy our public spaces. The pop-up park and gather and play programme were all examples of bringing a community together in a public place.

• Increasing community participation :

An essential part of the proposed community mural at the Juniors Ground perimeter wall will be ensuring there is community ownership and full involvement in the planning , developing the themes and the implementation of the mural. There are various stakeholders that will be required to have control and ownership of the process and the product, including : The football club, CJFC social club , local tenants, young people  and various community groups and organisations. The success of this venture will be reliant upon facilitating collective involvement and ownership and creating  a forum where everybody feels able to take part and make their contribution.

• Engage Youth in the Community:

Including young people as meaningful contributors in the social and economic aspects of community development must not be overlookedand we should acknowledge the potential contributions they can make by their own actions and creativity in making our local community a safer place to live.

There are distinct community benefits of engaging young people especially those that are more marginalised and disconnected from  the wider community with creativity and giving them a voice through artistic expression and participation. There is evidence that through involving young people  with community arts projects that this process often brings adults into the picture. The voices of young people can have a significant impact upon  the behaviours and attitude  of adults within the community. The Tidy, Clean & Green group were recently successful in securing funds from Falkirk Councils Environmental Improvement Fund. This will involve another close collaboration with the arts and the commissioning of community artists to work in the main with local schools, early years centres and youth groups and support them to create positive messaging that will encourage the wider community to  reduce the incidence of littering ,fly-tipping and dog pooh. This is about creating nudge activities that will change behaviour and is to be led by the children and young people of Camelon and Tamfourhill. The hope is that their parents, family, and carers will acknowledge their creations around the community and will therefore take ownership of the messages and various creations  and that this will change behaviour in a positive way and reinforce the message that we should keep Camelon and Tamfourhill: Tidy, Clean and Green,

• Promote the Power and Preservation of Place:

In relation to both the community  mural and the planned Tidy, Clean & Green  messaging and design projects It will be important that everybody feels that they can contribute as much or as little as is practically possible for that individual or group to both the process and the product, underpinning all of this  is the notion of collective ownership and responsibility. The creativity must begin at where the community is at and what their experiences and aspirations of the place they live actually are, the process will flow and evolve from that starting point. When people become involved in the design, creation, and upkeep of places, they develop a vested interest in using and maintaining these spaces. When they have a true sense of “ownership” or connection to the places they frequent, the community becomes a better place to live, work, and visit. The residents’ feelings of respect and responsibility for the place bonds them to that place and to each other. (5 ways arts projects can improve struggling communities Tom Borrup)

There will be various opportunities to get involved with these community safety projects which are being supported and developed by the Tidy, Clean and Green Community Group and I will keep the website and our social media updated. I hope to be able to bring some more detailed information about a further community safety engagement day at CJFC car park area scheduled for Sunday 30^th January 2022 and which will also involve some outdoor activities for families and the launch of the creative messaging project early in the new year

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I felt it was appropriate to revisit a community safety blog from this time last year when I was very recently collating the responses to the local youth survey. The results suggest that young people feel safe using social media, 81% saying they either always or usually felt safe using various platforms. Many respondents should have been too young to use social media and parental supervision and no access were mentioned on several occasions. The results here may present complacency in terms of community safety especially when some of  the comments left by young people are read and the picture becomes less clear: “Social media is horrible as there is lots of negativity and bullying online , social media is very bad for mental health issues”, ” With Instagram I watch videos of people enjoying their life and when I turn off my life feels incomplete, but I usually feel safe” , ” There is cyber bullying but there is also good stuff about social media”, ” I don’t talk to strangers and block the ones who try to talk to me”, “My parents monitor my online activity quite strictly” & ” I don’t go on anything weird and I work in technology a lot so I am used to knowing what’s safe and what’s not.”   Having spoken to a few local young people last week about this very issue has convinced me that Social Media should be a local community safety concern  and that it can badly affect young people’s mental wellbeing and their physical health. This issue requires further discussions and I therefore  intend to meet with the NHS Health promotions team and other agencies involved in this area so expect some activity in the  future that is focussed upon young people’s safety and wellbeing within the context of Social media, for now let’s revisit some of my blog from December 2020. The difficult choices that we ask our young people to make

Social media, just how social is it? and how is it changing our lives and that of the communities? It is quite difficult to get a balanced view about the pros and cons, the benefits and the drawbacks, the uses, and abuses. It is an issue that is particularly relevant to community safety and I am hoping that I will be able to identify some of the main issues that affect young people through the recently launched youth survey. There is however so much misinformation out there and anybody can become confused and stressed by opinions and attitudes which we find difficult to evaluate or identify fact from fiction. The clear positives are the communications and the connectedness that the likes of Facebook and twitter can provide for us, social media for example is an important strand to the current work of the Our Place Camelon and Tamfourhill project. The different platforms are extremely effective at getting messages out to the community, highlighting local developments, and involving people directly with current issues. The downside to all this is the potential for bullying and intimidation, spreading nastiness and falsity and undermining positive community activities. Social media is democratic, that is everybody and anybody can contribute to the narrative, however this can open us all up to danger and risk, Have a look at his short film:

You couldn’t imagine that a modern teenagers life could  get any more complicated , but in many respects their lives have become ever more reliant upon  instant gratification with the constant pressures for peer acceptance and once you add in social media, this must become an ongoing stressful experience. Unfortunately for some young people their anxiety levels must go through the roof, their Image, friends and being popular, all accentuated and raised to previously unknown levels through the intense immediacy of social media platforms.  Now I don’t wont to sound over dramatic or cause concern where it is not appropriate , social media is more often than not a good thing , hey rock n Roll had its critics back in the day and I still have my collection of hard core punk vinyl , however young people have always required support and guidance and social media can place an additional burden  on them , their family and the wider community.  The local community safety strategy will be required to have empathy and understanding of these issues, in young people’s terms and as they experience these issues in their language. Local community safety will need to encourage relevant inputs and activities which can reassure parents and family about the welfare of their children when using social media whilst  also  equipping our young people with the confidence and self esteem to make the right decisions in often difficult and contradictory circumstances. I hope that through the youth survey and various focus groups to listen to young people explaining their experiences and concerns about using social media, how might they develop appropriate support, resources and information that would be useful to them and their peers and potentially also their families. I have had recent discussions with Neighbourhood Watch about how they might  make their services and provisions more relevant to young people and how we could better equip young people to deal with the risks that they may face online. This could be a strand of the local community safety strategy where we develop a young people’s scheme which is about them looking out for each other, whether that is online or generally out and about in the community. The key is to empower young people to have responsibility for finding their own solutions to tackle the relevant issues, that way any safety strategy is more likely to be effective. I have indicated in the past the possibility of setting up a Young Community Safety Volunteers Project which would develop and deliver peer information inputs and social media would be one of the key themes that I would like to explore with such a Group. 

Here are some online safety links:

https://young.scot/get-informed/national/four-tips-for-being-safe-on-social-media

https://tutorful.co.uk/guides/how-to-keep-kids-safe-online/social-media-safety

https://www.saferinternet.org.uk/advice-centre/young-people

Top tips for 11-19s

Protect your online reputation: use the services provided to manage your digital footprints and ‘think before you post.’ Content posted online can last forever and could be shared publicly by anyone.

Know where to find help: understand how to report to service providers and use blocking and deleting tools. If something happens that upsets you online, it’s never too late to tell someone.

Do not give in to pressure: if you lose your inhibitions you’ve lost control; once you’ve pressed send you can’t take it back.

Respect the law: use reliable services and know how to legally access the music, film and TV you want.

Acknowledge your sources: use trustworthy content and remember to give credit when using others’ work/ideas.

A review of the canal clear up programme and some considerations for moving forward in the long term:

The Projects central aim was to deliver monthly Canal Clear ups and Conservation sessions and to be targeted and made available to local community organisations, groups of young people, schools and youth groups, and local families.  The Project was to be a collaboration and implemented as part of the wider community safety strategy for Camelon and Tamfourhill. The Project was developed and coordinated  by Our Place  through funding provided by the Great Places Falkirk Heritage Lottery Project.  

This was an activity-based Project with a community development ethos, the focus was to clear up the canal, but it was also a means of encouraging involvement and to contribute to the  process of putting the canal at the centre of the community: socially, culturally, and educationally. Additionally, the Project was facilitating a  community education approach with a focus upon environmental awareness and encouraging the local community to have a sense of ownership and responsibility for this historical and culturally significant resource. 

The Project was run for a fixed term period from April – October 2021, and is evaluated in terms of its wider community and environmental  impact and in relation to the learning experiences of the participants. A longer-term consideration is to establish this Programme as a sustainable activity which provides ongoing learning and development  opportunities for local people  and also continues to make a significant contribution to keeping Camelon and Tamfourhill: Tidy, Clean and Green.  

It was good fun in the canoe although it was hard work-my arms were very tired by the end. We could spot the litter but working out how to get to it in the canoe was tricky! I enjoyed people on the tow path saying Hi and thank you to us as we cleaned up the litter. It’s sad how much rubbish had been thrown in but glad I could help to clear it up.  (Hannah Rous: young volunteer)

The Programme and its  outputs: April -October 2021:

Each day was split into 3 distinct stages: Paddle pick up on the water, canal towpath litter pick & Learning evaluation workshops. Certificates of achievement and community volunteering awards were an important aspect of the Project. 76 people took part and everyone received a certificate of achievement, 20 Scottish Government Group challenge Saltire Awards were made and 98 hours of saltire volunteering credits were earned.

The school pupils responded well to the workshops when they often do not respond positively in classroom learning contexts, they had got a lot out of these sessions and participated really well ( Ankale Denovan: CLD Worker St Mungo’s High School)

Scottish Canals’ Activities Manager Matt Skilling:

“I have delivered many Paddle Pickups across the Lowlands Canals network since 2017 however this focussed community effort has been outstanding. The group have successfully created a programme of events over the 2021 season.  The group have engaged and involved a variety of local people which has brought a positive environmental impact particularly on the stretch of canal from TFW to Lock 16”Scottish Canals’ Activities Manager Matt Skilling:

The Canal project learning workshop brought a conclusion of activity and educational learning around plastics and the impact litter in waterways can have on the environment. Pupils were engaged with discussion about plastics, their uses, why we produce so much of it and how it’s a huge aspect of life (e.g. packaging). Pupils also thought about their own consumption and how they can reduce plastic litter and also plastic waste with some small changes that can be used within their everyday habits. With great discussion and learning about plastic facts with a interactive quiz, pupils gained insight to the consequences of plastic while also relating it to habits and behaviour. The project was a worthwhile experience that brought together a practical activity that benefited the community (canoe litter pick) but also the educational workshop that bridged the activity with the why. The project was well received by the pupils with many asking to do it again.’ Ella Gorman Education Enforcement officer, Waste Management, Falkirk Council

The opportunity to be participants within the canal clear up has given our youth groups the opportunity to engage in a fantastic outdoor learning experience in their own  community.

Some of our young people had never been on the canal before even though it is on their doorstep.

They were able to express their feelings on community issues and put forward their ideas whilst learning new skills  and engaging with other local children.

The wider community has enjoyed seeing the local youth participate in litter picks, providing great links for intergenerational work within the community going forward. Lynne Boslem Youth Worker: Tamfourhill Community Hub

An interesting and refreshingly positive aspect of the Canal Clear ups has been the young people’s workshops which have concluded the days clean-up work on both the canal and the towpath. The group who took part on Wednesday 21st July were tasked with thinking about where they lived and the places they played with their friends and to then consider some of the environmental issues at these places and to come up with their own plans and ideas for keeping these special places #tidycleangreen. I was really privileged to hear about all the locations the youngsters went to and were important to them, from the Roman Park in Tamfourhill, the places with the special named stones in Rowen Crescent and the skatepark in Falkirk. The group who were aged 8 -11 years old worked in groups of three or four and  a taste of their ideas  for improving and keeping their special places #tidycleangreen, can be found at this link: .

The Young Voices of the Future: We must save our Environment !!!

64 individual participant evaluation forms were completed , they were all asked what they had learnt form taking part, here is a brief sample of the responses:

• How stable the canoes are
• How many beer cans people throw into the canal
• The amount of people that smoke
• Canoeing is not dangerous
• Putting all he boats together as one
• Not to be afraid of the water
• Micro plastics get into the crops on our farms
• The amount of rubbish me and my partner found
• The amount of micro plastics in the world
• It was cleaner than we expected
• My Xbox has plastic

What was the part they had enjoyed the most?

• The canoeing or learning how to canoe x 40
• The Camaraderie
• Having a McDonalds for lunch
• The Litter Picking
• Helping the environment
• Climbing trees
• Family time and being part of cleaning up the area
• The Banter
• My parents helping out with the clear up
• Sitting on the canoe collecting plastics
• Making new friends

90 % of respondents said they would take part in these activities again , and when asked to rate the days activities on a scale of 1-10 the average score was 8

There Is no doubt in my mind that this was a very successful Project, it was an enjoyable learning experience for everyone who took part and community volunteering was recognised  through the Scottish Government’s Saltire Awards and also with certificates of achievement  being awarded to all participants. The positive impact upon the  canal  between lock 16 and The Falkirk Wheel has been notable, and this has been acknowledged by the wider community encouraging many to take an interest in this project. Local people made positive comments from the tow path during the sessions and this support was also expressed through social media.  The canal is a key aspect to the local community and to see local people connecting with it positively in this way and within the context of the local community safety strategy has been a rewarding and very worthwhile experience. The climate emergency and the requirement to move towards  Net Zero should accentuate the  significant role that can be played by the canal and that this needs to  involve the local community. Community safety is integrally linked with environmental improvement,  and  it is therefore advisable that the existing partners and other stakeholders  meet in the coming weeks to examine how they can resource and support a longer term #tidycleangreen project based around the canal network

This Programme was supported by the following agencies & organisations :

• Tamfourhill Community Hub
• Scottish Canals
• Carmuirs Primary School
• St. Mungo’s High School
• Forth Valley Recovery Community
• The Conservation Volunteers
• Tidy, Clean & Green Community Group
• Falkirk Council Waste Management
• Great Place Falkirk
• Our Place Camelon & Tamfourhill

A key outcome of the Community Safety Strategy is that  Young people will have increased opportunities to have their voices heard about the issues that affect their safety within the community, and within this I gave an undertaking that there will be ongoing consultation and engagement with young people through  streetwork contact, youth surveys and through the formation of a Young Peoples Community Safety Focus Group. I have therefore spent time over the spring and  into autumn being out and about pounding the  highways and byways of Camelon and Tamfourhill. You may have read some of my earlier blogs highlighting the Cookouts in the Parks  and the street-based sessions and some of the details about those conversations  that I have had with young people at Nailer Road Park, Easter Carmuirs Park, at lock 16 and at the MUGA on Mariner Street.

Although I haven’t yet been able to establish a young people’s focus group, I have begun to analyse the youth survey responses and similarly collated the  detailed recordings from  the streetwork sessions. I am now able to summarise the many voices of local young people  and highlight  the main  issues that have so far been confirmed through these engagement activities.

Let’s briefly look at the Youth Survey responses: I received 77 completed and partially completed surveys, 73% of respondents were between the ages of 12-18 years old, 51% were females, 47% Male and 2% stated they were neither. The important data showed that 73% of young people felt either always or  usually safe when they were out and about in the local area, of concern however are the 27% who only either feel safe sometimes or unfortunately rarely or never.  The important considerations for young people if they are outside and using facilities like MUGAS or the park are that there should be no bullying , 65% considered this to be either very or quite important , the locations should be light up and the facilities themselves required to be of a good standard with little mess or littering. The top five community safety concerns for young people were , and in this order of significance: 1: Gangs and violence, 2. Bullying, 3 Their Personal Safety , 4 Drug and substance use and 5. Alcohol. Young people sited three methods or places where they would want to learn more about these community safety concerns, and in this order, they were: 1: School, 2: In workshops with their friends and 3: In a youth group or club or 4: online through accessing websites.

A key consideration derived from the survey results for young people’s safety in the community is that outdoor activities or places where they meet up should be at light up locations and where there is no bullying and with these places having  little mess or litter. Young people felt most safe when they were with friends they knew and trusted , thus strong peer relationships are  a significant factor in young people’s perceptions and experiences of being and feeling safe throughout Camelon and Tamfourhill.

My period of street engagement was interesting and insightful and involved a wide and diverse range of discussions , I very much appreciated young people’s willingness to discuss issue openly and honestly and to give myself and colleagues respect and trust through these engagements.   Some topics were of a very sensitive nature and some issues should be of  concern to the wider community and other agencies. I noted on several occasions that young people lacked knowledge of certain issues like alcohol and substance use and were unaware of risk taking and the  consequences of taking or consuming different substances for themselves and their families. There was no obvious source of support, advice, or places where they would feel they could access such services or support. A recurring concern highlighted in several discussions was mental health and wellbeing and a need for appropriate  local support and advice  Taking these discussions and survey findings I am proposing some areas of youth development. These provisional proposals are concerned  with  improving young people’s  safety through  reducing risk taking by  providing new opportunities for young people to engage  with positive and healthy  activities, provide community development opportunities  and enable young people to access appropriate  support, information, and advice.

This is a provisional or draft set  of proposals, and the details will need to be worked through, but its safe to say that future youth activity will be couched in a community development context and that community involvement will be underpinning any youth strategy. This approach will ensure that new  youth activities are going to be  driven by local community safety priorities and the aspirations of  young people.

• There needs to be safe outdoor activity programmes operating throughout Camelon & Tamfourhill, the activities will need to be based upon young people’s existing interests and they will  require  to be supported locally so that they are long term and sustainable. In the first instance, through a  grant awarded by the Camelon Sports Hub we will be piloting a Programme of Twilight Sports sessions which will operate on a Friday evening , after school and run into the early evening, will be targeted at 10-16 years old and will take place at MUGAS and parks in Camelon & Tamfourhill, the Pilot Programme will run from December to March 2022.
• Linked to the above proposal is the need to negotiate the involvement of young people at key locations with  programmes of outdoor learning and personal development opportunities.
• Its critically important that we support young people with planned community development projects at Camelon Juniors Car park, Easter Carmuirs  MUGA situation and other initiatives , they require an input and sense of ownership of emerging or developing community development projects.
• Establish youth information resources, support, information, and advice services for young people with a particular focus upon mental wellbeing and providing reliable information about personal risk taking. There may be potential opportunities to progress this with the support of NHS Health Promotions.
• Implement a programme of detached youth work throughout Camelon and Tamfourhill and to be focused on locations where young people are at risk of getting involved with anti-social behaviour and risk-taking behaviour, it should be targeted at 14+ years and be linked to support around substance and alcohol issues and the negotiation of activity programmes as described above.
• A young people’s Focus Group should be established which utilises youth friendly versions of the Place Standard Tool in order to carry out peer research and make recommendations for the development of local facilities and youth provisions. This will also provide valuable insight into young people’s aspiration for the development of their local community.   
• Look for opportunities to establish a supported pathway for young people to get into employment and training and target those young people furthest away form the employment pipeline.

At this stage this is a direction of travel rather than a detailed  plan, it is in part aspirational but is in the main deliverable. I would welcome comments and contributions and off course the involvement of  local volunteers will be essential as will a buy in from statutory agencies and services in order to realise the different aspects of this youth focused community safety initiative.
 I will provide details about the Twilight Sports sessions when we are ready to kick off the pilot project, hopefully early next month.