Youth workers and volunteers are invited to sign up for a 5-day working with gangs programme developed to train youth workers to work with gangs and to explore the internal dynamics of groups and the relationships they have with the groups they are in conflict with.

The calendar of events will also include Sports Leader Training, First Aid, Introduction to Streetwork, Child Protection and Diversity and Activate – an Introduction to Community Development.

The LEAP Gang Violence course will run for 5 days – from 6th to 8th June and 28th and 29th June 2012 at the Streetlinks office in Clydebank. Cost of the training is £705 + VAT but there are 10 places available that will be subsidised by Streetlinks at £415 + VAT.

Other courses provided by Streetlinks in the upcoming months:

Introduction to Streetwork – Monday 28th May 2012
Cost: £75 + VAT/Free for volunteers
This one day training course explores streetwork aims and objectives, working with young people through a streetwork ethos, experience of contact with young people and a variety of methodologies that are utilised when working with young people

Glasgow University Activate Course: Introduction to Community Development – June 2012
40 hours + 10 hours conducting a community investigation
Cost: £300 + VAT/£75 + VAT for organisations/Free for volunteers (ILA can be accepted)
This is a foundation course which explores key concepts, values and principles of community development. It helps build on the experience of participating volunteers and staff working within a community setting.

Streetlinks Street Games – 18th June 2012
Cost: £75 + VAT/Free for volunteers
Streetlinks street games session will teach volunteers and staff to play various street games utilising various resources. The course will include game delivery and purpose of games that target specific audiences.

Please contact Janette on 0141 952 4382 or janette@comlinks.org.uk for more information or to sign up for any training courses.

Streetlinks will become an accredited SQA centre in August this year and will continue to develop the training programme providing opportunities for volunteers and community groups and organisations.

This pictures below are simply a snapshot of the work that was undertaken over a four month period – November  2011 to  February 2012. A lot of the work involved lifting and replacing paving slabs, cleaning up all the boundary walls and revitalising all the metalwork.

A big thank you to the supervisors from The Trust – John, Henry & Davy – who, despite the weather – always seemed in high spirits, Allan from In-Work – with his invaluable planting input – and of course all the trainees!

Before:	After:

Community Links Scotland (CLS) has come a long way since 2002. The organisation was initially established by West Dunbartonshire Voluntary Housing Forum in 2002. Community Links West Dunbartonshire was set up to work with eight West Dunbartonshire Registered Social Landlords (RSLs) on their community regeneration agenda and in particular on projects supported by the then new, Wider Role fund. Ongoing success and expansion of activities to RSLs in other geographical areas led to a change of name in 2005. Hello Community Links Scotland!

In the early years our main objective was to assist those RSLs unable to support an in house regeneration officer due to restrictions in size, budgets or time but our client base has extended to include community groups, community associations, development trusts and voluntary organisations on an eclectic range of regeneration projects all over Scotland. Despite the variety, we continue to focus on projects that make life better for vulnerable individuals and that strengthen local communities both urban and rural.

Over the past ten years we have worked on over 600 regeneration projects that have included funding procurement, community capacity building, feasibility studies, business plans, evaluations, community asset procurement, employability projects community landscaping and community arts projects. We have travelled many miles, literally and metaphorically, and met many wonderful, energetic, kind hearted people working for the good of their communities. In total we have secured more than £14m of funding from a wide range of funders without whose support our work to help realise community aspirations would not have come to fruition.

Where to now?

Who knows the new roads we will travel, but we are sure that with our staff now very experienced in developing, promoting and delivering projects, the only way is up. Community Links Scotland is positive about our future in working with both our existing clients and clients we have yet to meet on new ideas to retain and regenerate Scotland’s communities.

As part of Streetlinks Volunteer Participation Programme being delivered in partnership with Linstone Housing Association, Streetlinks staff offered to provide their mobile climbing wall for the Linwood summer gala day if Linwood Community Group provided some volunteers to help out on the day.  Along came local resident Robert.

Robert enjoyed his experience on the day so much that he agreed to become an ongoing participant in the Streetlinks programme which aims to provide youth work experience and qualifications to local volunteers from the areas they are working in.  Between July and February Robert provided 112 hours of volunteering with Streetlinks and also managed to complete his introduction to youth work training, climbing wall training and the Glasgow University Activate Course but most important of all Robert gained a great deal of self confidence and willingness to take up opportunities when they are presented and lucky for him, with the current Streetlinks programme nearing its end, just such an opportunity arose.

Throughout this time Community Links Scotland had also been working with Linstone Housing Association, two other FLAIR RSLs and SHARE to establish a Modern Apprentice Programme in Housing Management, under the newly approved framework.  When the posts were advertised in February Robert knew this was the opportunity for him!  He was successful at interview and recently started work with Linstone Housing Association.  Now 18, Robert will gain a year’s paid work experience through this apprenticeship as well as completing a CIH Level II Certificate in Housing Practice and SVQ Level II in Housing Management.

With this in mind Community Links Scotland has been working with Hillhead Housing Association 2000, Antonine Housing Association and the local Strathkelvin Credit Union to arrange a series of ‘Let’s Talk About Money’ drop-in and workshop events giving tenants the opportunity to access and find out more about a variety of local financial inclusion and support services all at the same time.  In addition to the Housing Associations and the Credit Union organisations that took part in this recent initiative included Citizens Advice Bureau, East Dunbartonshire Volunteer Centre and CVS, The Energy Savings Trust as well as East Dunbartonshire Council’s Learning & Skills Team and Trading Standards Team.

The Associations’ partnership work with the Strathkelvin Credit Union doesn’t stop there.  With the assistance of Community Links Scotland they have also prepared and distributed an eight page financial inclusion information booklet  to every tenant to raise awareness of  ways to save money, maximise income and access affordable credit as well as details of where to get help and advice.  Volunteers from the Credit Union are also providing training to relevant staff from both of the Associations to sign up members for the credit union on their behalf so tenants can join the credit union out with their collection hours and at the time of being encouraged to do so by RSL staff. Furthermore, as an incentive to join Strathkelvin Credit Union Hillhead Housing Association are looking to offer to cover the credit union membership fee for tenants when they sign up and they will also change their prize giveaways in future offering prizes to tenants (for example for good behaviour) in the form of credit union savings instead of high street vouchers.

On 13 December 2011 Alex Neil, Secretary for Infrastructure & Capital Investment officially opened The Bank and enthusiastically spoke of the day before when at the launch of the new regeneration strategy for Scotland he had heralded Neilston Development Trust as an exemplar of community led regeneration; kind and very well deserved words that reflect over six years of hard work by the Neilston community.

When the local bank branch closed in Neilston, the community took action and in 2006 successfully achieved a community buy out of the main street building.  An initial temporary refit was completed and the building was opened up for community. But Neilston Development Trust knew that if the facilities were to be a true benefit to the local residents then a major redesign and refurbishment programme was required.  That’s when Community Links Scotland became involved.  We have successfully worked with the Trust to help them secure approximately £550,000 for their refurbishment programme and £200,000 for their operational costs from a total of eight different funders.  Of course, having that many funders can make for a very complicated programme of spend; making sure that you claim the right cash from the right people at the right time with the right paperwork! So we also assisted the Trust throughout the construction phase managing their grants claims, keeping the spending on track, liaising with the design team and contractors and importantly making the funders happy.

The new Bank building is now able to offer the local Neilston community a variety of services, activities, volunteering and employment opportunities as well as rooms for hire and a community cafe.

The project is being run for an initial 6 month pilot and will ensure that RSL tenants within selected areas have access to appropriate and easy to understand energy efficiency advice and advocacy to assist them in tackling the effects of fuel poverty. The project aims to:

• address rising levels of fuel poverty
• extend the availability of practical home energy advocacy and support
• help the most vulnerable people, face to face, with their home energy challenges
• add value to existing local and national services

Fuel poverty figures within South West Greenock & East/Central Greenock are noticeably higher than the Inverclyde average, with 27% of RSL (Registered Social Landlords) households being fuel poor and 5% being extremely fuel poor.

Tenants participating within the project will also benefit from Good Egg Energy, an energy charity organisation which has been set up with the sole purpose of helping domestic energy users get the best deal possible.

Community Links Scotland are currently developing further applications to expand the delivery of the service to greater number of RSL tenants within Inverclyde.

Since the establishment of the project in 2010, 50 unemployed residents of Greenock and Port Glasgow have gained training in environmental and construction work, bringing life and colour back to some of the most deprived and neglected areas within Greenock.

The most recent phase of the project is on-going on three challenging sites, which have provided unique training opportunities to the project participants.

Heather, Rowan & Thistle Courts, Port Glasgow

The environments around these high-rise flats, which are home to predominantly elderly tenants, have been improved by ICDT, through footpath enhancements to repair and replace existing paving flags, install a ramp, repaint all metalwork and the creation of new planting beds

Woodhall Park, Port Glasgow

Once an overgrown, neglected park, this area has seen a transformation over the last 18 months alongside RCH’s new build programme. In-Works have been undertaking planting works on challenging site conditions and have created avenue tree planting along the two main footpaths, together with over 1,500 whips planted across the site.

Community Links Scotland are also working as part of the Woodhall Park Regeneration Group and have secured one of the first Big Lottery’s Community Spaces Grants towards the creation of entrance features and outdoor environmental education spaces.

Monkton Place, Port Glasgow

The grounds of this sheltered housing complex are being improved through new fencing works to the perimeter to reduce local residents using the grounds as a short cut, creation of a feature seating area that will incorporate raised planters, seating, pergola and sensory planting, together with new planting across the site.

The residents have been engaged in a number of consultation exercises and have chosen the new featured tree planting that is going around the seating area. It is anticipated the works will be completed by April 2012.

Inverclyde Community Development Trust (ICDT) is a local community training provider

In-Works provide training, support and skills development to people of all ages throughout the Inverclyde area, suffering from mental ill health.

The Working with Communities HNC and PDA in Housing Law delivered by Clydebank College were inspired by Easthall Park Housing Cooperative’s well established course at John Wheatley College in the east end of Glasgow. Offering similar opportunities in the West Dunbartonshire area we developed the 30 week Clydebank College course to target individuals who were out of work and who may be facing some barriers to employment.

The course has a strong emphasis on group work and students benefit from a 1.5 day a week work placement with community based organisations including local housing associations, community centres, addiction support agencies and youth organisations. Both CLS and Streetlinks have offered placements and our students have been keen to learn and fitted in well to our lively office atmosphere whilst working on a community environmental and youth outreach projects.

Mentoring has been provided to all students on placement in order to try and ensure that doubts, personal barriers and the stresses of academic work are overcome; students also receive an attendance based training allowance for the duration of their course.

CLS Project Manager Christine Menhennet said, “Seventeen students started the course and eleven are likely to qualify in April 2012. This is a real achievement not only for them but also for all the partners who pulled together to get the course up and running at short notice. All of the students who were accepted were either out of work or sessional at the time and most had no academic experience beyond secondary school. They have been hugely supportive of each other in getting through this challenging course and their hard work will be rewarded by gaining a nationally recognised qualification backed by some valuable work experience.”

Graduation will qualify students to apply for the full time Community, Learning and Development at Glasgow University and at least three of the students are considering this option. After a successful pilot, Clydebank College are now considering mainstreaming the course and could begin to invite students to apply for the ‘Working with Communities’ 2012/13 course soon.

The Centre opened to the public on 2^nd March 2011 and has now firmly established itself in the local community with well-used facilities such as a gym, IT suite, cafe and youth hub.  There are also facilities for outdoor education, activities and residential stays, including a climbing wall, kayaking and canoeing on the Gare Loch with direct access from the rear of the Centre, and climbing, abseiling, hill-walking and orienteering in the surrounding local area.

Community Links Scotland continues to work with Centre 81 to source additional revenue funding.  Staff attended their first birthday celebrations on 2^nd March which were well attended by the local community, local councillors and members of other community development trusts in the Argyll area.