Communities and neighbourhoods

The National Community Forum - an overview

The National Community Forum (NCF) is a group of 25 individuals - both residents and professionals - from some of England's most deprived communities.

NCF members have first hand experience of the effect, on the ground, of policies aimed at tackling deprivation and promoting community empowerment and engagement.

Whether as residents or paid workers, all of the NCF members are active within their communities and are able to reflect back their experiences and ideas to both civil servants and Ministers with the aim of influencing the development and implementation of government policies.

The NCF was established as an Advisory non departmental public body in 2002. Members are selected on merit through an open recruitment and all appointments to the body are ministerial appointments.

What does the NCF do?

The NCF brings community voices into Government. It acts as a valuable sounding board for Ministers and civil servants, providing them with a grass roots perspective on policies aimed at narrowing the gap between deprived areas and the rest of the country.

It has three overarching aims:

to give communities a voice that makes a difference
to promote equality, diversity and cohesion within communities
to highlight the impacts of poverty

The Forum's policy remit spans neighbourhood renewal, community participation and empowerment. It works on key priorities each year, identified in partnership with its sponsor division in the department.

The NCF has identified the following five priorities for 2007-2008:

Improving Communities and Local Government's way of working with the third sector.
Young people and serious crime - 'gangs, guns and knives'
White Poor - reflecting their stories and experiences
Cross-community interactions
Powering Up Communities

The NCF will also be contributing grass roots advice to policy development and implementation in the areas of housing, policing, councillors, education, mental health, benefits and race equality. The NCF meets every quarter, normally January, April, July and October.

The NCF contribution

The Forum has made significant contribution to the policies of its home department as well as others across Whitehall. For example, the NCF has been instrumental in developing the 'community allowance' (called CREATE), paid to individuals on benefits to make the transition into employment. A CREATE consortium has been established involving the NCF, together with British Urban Regeneration Association, Community Links, Development Trusts Association and 'Slivers-of-Time' which is working with government to pilot the community allowance.

Contact us

If you are interested in hearing more about the work of the NCF or would like to talk to us about how we can assist you. Email the NCF Chair Graham Brownlee at graham.brownlee@btinternet.com or the NCF Adviser at or the NCF Adviser at ncf@cdf.org.uk.