Community Hubs are vital spaces for community members to access services, find out information about what’s happening within neighbourhoods and are places for innovation, creativity and having fun.
New research by LocalMotion Lincoln’s Researcher Wilf Wright highlights the importance of Community Hubs being open and accessible.
The Community Hubs report came about because of a request from Lincoln residents and representatives from charities and voluntary organisations to better understand hub provision in the city to highlight current service gaps and current needs of residents in different neighbourhoods.
LocalMotion Lincoln employed Wilf to lead the Community Hubs research, which involved:
- Mapping current provision of services
- Hosting engagement activities with charities and voluntary organisations and local residents
- In-depth interviews with community hub leaders (9 in total).
Findings from the research report include the following:
- Community Hubs are finding it difficult to cover running costs such as energy bills as well as staff costs relating to administration, governance and safeguarding
- Community Hubs have been hampered by there being no shared system of sharing safeguarding information
- Community Hubs have been struggling with meeting the increasingly complex needs of residents – volunteers don’t always have the knowledge and skills to respond quickly to urgent requests for advice, guidance and support
- Community Hubs have seen a reduction in volunteer numbers.
Wilf has highlighted a number of Key Actions and Recommendations following his research, which include:
- More funding for service provision in areas with the greatest need, including Birchwood, Moorland, Ermine and St Giles
- Community Hubs extending their opening hours to improve access to services, including offering more non-religious based activities on Sundays
- Less reactive and more responsive provision planning
- Funders and Commissioners providing more funding for core running costs
- Community Hubs looking for more opportunities for collaboration to deliver services and to be involved in more signposting.
At the same time as the research report was being compiled, community Hub representatives have been meeting together over the last year to establish a formal Community Hubs Network with the aims of:
- Improving knowledge sharing
- Providing more opportunities for learning together
- Increasing awareness of community hubs across Lincoln
Ticky Nadal, General Manager at Mint Lane Wellbeing Hub and a steering group member of the Community Hubs Network says “We’ve got a fantastic opportunity to work together to improve access to help and support across the city. Involve@Lincoln and Mint Lane Wellbeing Hub are delighted to be involved and we’re looking forward to seeing what happens next.”
Keep an eye out on our website stories and socials for updates from the Community Hubs Network!