How an entrepreneurial approach helps families tackle poverty
Emily Rogers
Monday, September 14, 2015
Project reduces the number of children living in or at risk of poverty and improves their life chances.
Project
Improving Futures
Funding
£900,000 from May 2012 over three years from the Big Lottery Fund's Improving Futures programme, which has provided £180,000 of sustainability funding to help the project become schools-funded from May 2017
Background
Tyne Gateway's "barefoot professional" model was developed between 2009 and 2011 as a collaboration between North and South Tyneside councils, with funding from the government's child poverty unit. This saw local people trained as "community entrepreneurs" in disadvantaged areas, based on the principle that those who have experienced poverty themselves are the biggest experts on what people need to move out of it. Tyne Gateway Trust was formed as a charity in 2011. And by May 2012, it had created the new role of "family entrepreneur".
Action
The charity gathered individuals in deprived areas who had experienced challenges such as severe poverty, being in care from toddlerhood, homelessness, significant debt, mental health issues, and parenting difficulties, but had striven to overcome them and help others. Potential recruits were often nominated by schools or social workers and the charity had an initial discussion with them to ensure they had fully overcome their issues.
Recruits went through an eight-week training course to increase their knowledge of safeguarding and all aspects of family support. The course built their confidence "by validating their experience as knowledge", explains director Pauline Wonders. Participants also identified gaps in services and worked together to develop new community-led initiatives.
Fourteen of the 17 trainees finished the course and six were employed as family entrepreneurs in November 2012. Each employee takes on a caseload of about 25 to 30 families per year. Primary schools refer children with poor attendance or achievement, whose difficulties they suspect are caused by home issues. "They tend to be children for whom schools do what they can, but their families aren't helping," says Wonders. "They often have a fear of working with services. They don't answer the door or attend parents' evenings."
Family entrepreneurs are assigned to families based on their location, knowledge of the family's community and specialist knowledge. After an initial meeting between the referral agency and the entrepreneur, one of them will gain consent from the family to work with them. Wonders says the charity's 100 per cent engagement rate is down to the fact entrepreneurs "never give up".
The initial meetings are focused on building trust and relationships with family members. "They succeed because they are local people who can genuinely say 'I've been where you've been'," says Wonders.
Entrepreneurs carry out a "whole family assessment" to establish the issues family members are struggling with and draw up a bespoke action plan. They mentor trained volunteers, who help with practical tasks such as getting children to school, housework and establishing routines.
"Cases are not closed until we are sure school attendance and achievement has been improved, underlying issues have been resolved and that families can sustain all changes," says Wonders.
Outcome: Of 162 families whose cases have been closed and all data gathered, 98 per cent of children improved their school attendance, achievement or both.
Fifty-four per cent of 28 children who were on child protection or child in need registers at the start of the intervention had been removed from these registers by the time their case was closed. At least 70 more were reported to have been prevented from getting to this point.
Ninety-six per cent of children reported improvements in their lives, including having more friends and feeling safer. They also said their enjoyment of family time and school had increased, as well as feeling they were being listened to.
School attendance and achievement improved in 98 per cent of families, while their ability to access services improved by 90 per cent on average. They also reported improvements in their ability to cope, health and wellbeing, money management, family relationships, goals and aspirations, as well as involvement in employment, education and training.
The programme is being evaluated by Ecorys UK.
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