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To build confidence and raise the self-esteem of people living in the community;
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To increase the incomes of local people (including reducing costs of food, heat,
credit etc.);
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To improve health and well-being;
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To encourage and improve education and skills training for work;
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To create jobs;
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To make communities safe, secure and crime free;
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To ensure public services are delivered in ways which are more responsive and
more locally accountable;
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To improve housing and the quality of the environment;
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To encourage active citerzenship.
These objectives are the guiding principles for activities undertaken within the
Communities First Programme and are fundamental to the over-arching goal of
building strong and sustainable communities.
Attaining our objective will entail a lot of hard work and, crucially, will
require a collaborative, co-ordinated, multi-faceted and multi-sectoral
approach. Partnership working is vital since no community, no authority and no
agency will be able to bring about the scale of change envisaged by working in
isolation. The principle of partnership working must be upheld at the national,
local and community levels and function between all parties in all aspects of
activity.
The key building block in structure of Communities First is a local partnership,
set up at the community level. The ability of a community to come together and
work in a stable, inclusive and forward-looking partnership is an essential
first step to achieving the objectives of Communities First. Whatever the input
into an area from other organisations and agencies, without a functioning and
effective community partnership, no Communities First area is likely to achieve
a significant transformation in it's fortunes.