Repository
A curated and searchable collection of community-related research reports, case studies and publications
Big Local Annual Learning Review 2012-13: Final report
Published: 2014
This report builds on the first annual learning review, Early Learning from Big Local, and examines further the steps that are being taken towards achieving the overall aim and these outcomes. We have looked at four main questions to help us understand how residents and others in Big Local areas are starting to get involved, getting suppor…
Influences on the development of Big Local areas
Published: 2014
To learn about what makes Big Local work, the Community Development Foundation was asked by Local Trust to explore how Big Local is developing in areas and what influences progress.
They visited 14 Big Local areas between June and October 2013. In each area they held a focus group with residents who were actively involved, and interviewed repr…
Big Local: What’s new and different?
Published: 2013
This paper sets out some of the deliberate choices that the Community Development Foundation-led consortium and then Local Trust and its partners made during the set-up phase that builds on the learning and experiences of area-based, community development models that preceded Big Local. It also outlines other approaches that Big Local draws on …
Getting People Involved (Round 2): Planned activities and early learning – Summary Report
Published: 2013
This summary has been prepared following a full report written by Community Development Foundation. The full report is based on an analysis of proposals which were submitted by 47 of the first 50 Big Local areas and locally trusted
organisations. As such it reflects what Big Local areas planned to do with their funding. The propo…
A Better Form of Business 2013: Community-owned village shops
Published: 2013
Community-owned village shops continue to be one of the leading success stories of the UK co-operative and community enterprise movement.
In 1993 there were just 23 community-owned shops trading in the UK;
20 years on there are 303, with a further 30 anticipated to open in 2013.
This report aims to give an overview of the development of the co…
Getting Started in Wave 2 Big Local areas
Published: 2013
Big Local was launched in 150 areas, in three waves of 50. The second wave was announced in February 2012. To support people in these areas in the early stages of Big Local, Getting Started funding of up to £20,000 was made available to these areas in 2012. To access the funding, each Big Local area with support from their Big Local rep, submi…
Early learning from Big Local: An overview of evidence from the first 50 areas, July 2011 to March 2012
Published: 2012
Produced by the Community Development Foundation the Big Local early learning report is based on information collected by Local Trust and delivery partners between July 2011 and March 2012, and as such is based on information from the first 50 Big Local areas.
In it, the Community Development Foundation and the Institute for Voluntary Action R…
What are community studies?
Published: 2012
A short presentation on the definition and evolution of community studies by Graham Crow, Emeritus Professor of Sociology and Methodology at the University of Edinburgh.
Championing Small But Vital Charities
Published: 2011
This leaflet makes the case for why local charities are important and what can be done to support them.
Small and local charities play a vital role in their community but they need help to not only survive, but thrive.
Places, people and politics: Learning to do things differently
Published: 2010
This “learning history” was commissioned by the Leadership Centre for Local Government to give those people who participated in the government’s Total Place pilots the space to consciously reflect on their experiences. The inductive research method adopted, with the deliberate use of an open research question, was intended to enable the hi…
Evaluation of the National Strategy for Neighbourhood Renewal: Final report
Published: 2010
The National Strategy for Neighbourhood Renewal (NSNR) was launched in 2001 with the vision that “within 10 to 20 years no-one should be seriously disadvantaged by where they live”.
In 2005 AMION Consulting was appointed by the (then) Office of the Deputy Prime Minister to undertake an evaluation of the implementation of the Strategy….
The New Deal for Communities Experience: A final assessment
Published: 2010
This report is a synthesis of evidence presented in a series of final reports from the national evaluation of the New Deal for Communities (NDC) Programme carried out between 2001-2010 by a consortium led by the Centre for Regional Economic and Social Research at Sheffield Hallam University.
The Programme, launched in 1998, is one of the most …