Communities and Local Government

• Communities and neighbourhoods
• About communities and neighbourhoods
• About community empowerment

Communities and neighbourhoods

About community empowerment

Giving people and communities more of a say on the services they receive and where they live

Community empowerment means getting people more involved in the decisions that affect their lives.

Communities and Local Government wants to give people and communities more say on the services they receive and the places where they live. In the recent Local Government White Paper we set out a number of ways to do this.

This will include simplifying the process for setting up tenant management organisations. We have set up a review to look at how communities can play a bigger part by managing or owning community assets - such as buildings.

A key part of giving communities more say is to have local councillors from a more representative range of backgrounds. We will be looking at the factors which encourage or prevent people from serving on councils.

More people will be able to get their community concerns addressed with the support of their councillors through a new 'community call to action'.

Communities and Local Government is also involving communities in a wide range of issues. This includes getting Asian women involved in their community and supporting council tenants to develop their own tenant management organisations. We are leading on the Together We Can plan - a government action plan in which 12 departments have committed themselves to involving citizens in specific projects.

Empowerment means making sure people have the knowledge and skills they need to be able to influence public services. We aim to spread good practice within government and public services.

We are working with local government and community organisations to identify and promote good practice and are developing the Together We Can website www.togetherwecan.org.uk to provide information for people who work in this area or want to find out how they can go about improving life in their communities.

We have identified a number of Civic Pioneers - local authorities which lead the way on getting their local communities involved.  We have piloted training on adult citizenship and set up a Take Part learning network on adult citizenship which offers advice to trainers wanting to run adult citizenship courses. For more information visit www.takepart.org

There are also a number of Guide Neighbourhoods - successful communities and organisations which have turned around their local areas. These are inspiring examples of good practice and areas are acting as mentors for other areas.

Read more about the community empowerment work of Communities and Local Government or find out more about the Together We Can action plan, Civic Pioneers, Guide Neighbourhoods on our communities and neighbourhoods policy site.