`Tragic bargains' and a constant struggle for survival, claims new research on voluntary organisations working with young black people (23/06/09)
Voluntary and community organisations working with black young people affected by crime face making `tragic bargains in their constant struggle for sustainability,' according to new research from the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies at King's College London (1). Funding arrangements characterised by `bland, generic provision' with a questionable ability to address young people's needs too often appear to be the result, the research concludes.
The research, based on detailed interviews in four cities in England, includes extensive first-hand accounts from representatives of voluntary and community organisations. It found that their ability to provide quality support for black young people affected by crime was undermined by contradictory governmental agendas and a constant competition for limited resources within a conservative funding environment.
Government support for voluntary and community organisations playing an important role in addressing the over-representation of black young people in the criminal justice system (2) is contradicted by the `community cohesion' agenda, which discourages funding for groups providing services to specific ethnic groups (3). The organisations interviewed for this research pointed to the reality of short-term inadequate funding for ill-thought-out, narrowly circumscribed interventions with little scope for innovation or flexibility. The `constant struggle to survive' was `one issue where there was considerable consensus amongst those interviewed,' the report notes.
Among the key findings of the research are:
- With a few notable exceptions, providers consider ethnicity an inappropriate and stigmatising way to define their activities. Voluntary and community organisations specifically targeting black people appear to have been displaced by generic young people organisations.
- Voluntary and community organisations are making significant compromises in seeking sustainability for their work. A competitive funding environment places them in a position of promising to be `all things to all people', extending their work in sometimes contradictory ways and leading providers to accept funds which offer circumscribed and under-funded opportunities to meet young people's needs.
- Concerns that the growing prospect of statutory commissioning may increase the distance between providers and users.
Report author Helen Mills, research associate at the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies at King's College London said,
`Providers advocate holistic, relationship-based ways of supporting young people. However, the current environment for their work may mean that these approaches are being diluted at a time when criminal justice strategies increasingly call for the sector's involvement.'
Richard Garside, director of the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies at King's College London said,
`The Centre for Crime and Justice Studies at King's College London has a keen interest in the challenges facing voluntary and community organisations working with those affected by crime. We would like to thank The Barrow Cadbury Trust for funding this important new research.
`The picture drawn by the research is of a sector under intense pressure to deliver services they consider to be inadequate, if not counterproductive, against the background of contradictory governmental agendas and an overly bureaucratic, inflexible and inadequate funding environment.'
ends
Notes to editors
- `Policy, purpose and pragmatism: dilemmas for voluntary and community organisations working with black young people affected by crime' is published by the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies on Monday, June 22, 2009. It is available to download from here. The research was funded by The Barrow Cadbury Trust.
- In 2007 the House of Commons Home Affairs Committee report on black young people in the criminal justice system endorsed the view that VCOs had a vital role to play in addressing the over-representation of black young people in the criminal justice system. The report is available here.
- At around the same time of the publication of the Home Affairs Committee report, the Commission on Integration and Cohesion (CIC) published its recommendations on `building cohesion and integration at a local level'. The CIC's recommendations included that local authorities should make single-group funding (funding for VCOs on the basis of providing a service to people of one ethnicity, religion or culture) the exception rather than the norm. The report is available here.
- The Centre for Crime and Justice Studies at King's College London is an independent charity that informs and educates about all aspects of crime and criminal justice. It provides information, produces research and carries out policy analysis to encourage and facilitate an understanding of the complex nature of issues concerning crime. It is a membership organisation working with practitioners, policy makers, academics and students, the media and voluntary sector, offering a programme of events, publications and online resources.
| [Previous] | [Next] |