http://www.community-links.org/our-national-work/publications/ Community Links Publications en no-reply@community-links.org Copyright 2008 2008-10-21T13:07:58+00:00 http://www.community-links.org/our-national-work/publications/social-change-series/ http://www.community-links.org/our-national-work/publications/social-change-series/#When:13:07:58Z The Community Links Social Change Series draws together information from our existing research reports detailing our position and track record on significant, complex issues which we, as a multipurpose organisation, are engaged with on several levels. Regeneration SC1. The first in the Social Change series focuses on Physical Regeneration. Community Links has worked for over thirty years in Newham, east London. Our area is currently undergoing unprecedented regeneration as work gets underway to prepare the site for the London Olympics 2012. However we are concerned that the focus on buildings and infrastructure misses real opportunities for community regeneration. Download the full text in PDF format. Child Poverty SC2.  Our second booklet reports on the devestating impact that child poverty has on many of the young people we work with . We set out our practical work with families and young people and summarise several recent research reports including policy recommendations. Case studies illustrate the difficulties faced by many who are struggling to bring up children in difficult circumstances. Download the full text in PDF format.    2008-10-21T13:07:58+00:00 http://www.community-links.org/our-national-work/publications/self-employed-and-micro-entrepreneurs/ http://www.community-links.org/our-national-work/publications/self-employed-and-micro-entrepreneurs/#When:11:46:46Z Getting by, or getting ahead? Small businesses on a road to formalisation. Small cash-in-hand businesses could revitalise the economy in London’s most deprived communities if they were not penalised and instead encouraged to grow. Typically it takes two years to move a new small-business out of the informal and into the formal economy. This report, ‘Self-employed and Micro-entrepreneurs: informal trading and the journeys towards formalisation’, strengthens our understanding of the UK’s informal economy through its examination of the experiences and attitudes of self-employed traders. Insights into how real people start-up and run small businesses in some of the most deprived parts of London, the report reveal how attitudes and perceptions, cultural differences and expectations impact on encouraging informal economic activity and prohibiting formal participation in the ‘mainstream’ economy. The report categorises people who are either ‘getting by’ - engaged in economic informal activities but do not, or cannot expand their activity beyond finding ‘just enough’ work - and those who are ‘getting ahead’ - engaged in economic informal activities and taking active steps towards making the transition towards the formal economy. The findings of the report confirm that formalisation is a process, not an event, including moving from claiming benefits to paying tax. The journey along this path is not straightforward and there are no standardised routes. This is in line with recommendations made in the 2004 Community Links report, ‘Self-employed people in the informal economy: Cheats or Contributors?’, challenging the current formal registration process and calling for a new formalisation plan. Recommendations made in the new report include: harnessing the informal economy by embedding it within local and regional economic development strategies; increasing targeted marketing and advertising by government agencies; adjusting tax and benefit rules; and establishing formalisation business support and advice programmes, delivered by local organisations. Dr Marlen Llanes, co-author and linksUK Researcher said, “Until government starts to roll up its sleeves and understand how real people run micro- and small-businesses, then informal economic activity will continue in many parts of the UK, including some deprived areas in London. We need to further our understanding of why and how these businesses trade informally and develop effective ways of supporting them along the road to formalisation. This will help to reduce current barriers, unlock the potential in many local businesses, and help to invigorate local economies.” Download the report 2008-07-21T11:46:46+00:00 http://www.community-links.org/our-national-work/publications/self-employed-people-in-the-informal-economy/ http://www.community-links.org/our-national-work/publications/self-employed-people-in-the-informal-economy/#When:11:45:03Z Cheats Or Contributors? Government should encourage and support entrepreneurs out of the informal economy, not simply seek to penalise them. This is the message from a report produced by Street(UK) and Community Links, based on a survey of Street clients – all self-employed people hoping to become legitimate, bankable small businesses. In developing nations, ‘micro-entrepreneurs’ trading informally are praised for their initiative and enterprise. Significant international aid programmes are even designed to support their activities. In the UK, however, the focus is almost exclusively on examining their enterprises for evidence of criminal activity. The report, “Self-Employed People in the Informal Economy – Cheats or Contributors?” presents a grass-roots insight into the practical issues, based on the evidence of those currently trading informally. The report also contains wider conclusions and recommendations on a subject that that demands far more attention from mainstream organisations, particularly government policy-makers and regulators. This report provides an important starting point for understanding what is really happening at the grass roots. Self-Employed People in the Informal Economy – Cheats or Contributors?” is available for download in Acrobat PDF format. This report forms part of our ongoing investigation of the informal economy and its impact. 2008-07-21T11:45:03+00:00 http://www.community-links.org/our-national-work/publications/what-if/ http://www.community-links.org/our-national-work/publications/what-if/#When:11:40:07Z For our 21st Birthday Community Links invited some of our friends to consider their visions for our communities in the 21st Century. The resulting collection of essays ‘What If..?’ became a best seller in which leading writers, thinkers and politicians tackled issues which are increasingly relevant to everyone in Britain but which are rarely openly discussed in Westminster – poverty, deprivation, the potential for regeneration and the future for our children. What If…? is a manifesto for the millennium, not a whinge about how bad things are, but how good they would be if… The book has now sold out its print run but we are making the content available here, for free download in Acrobat PDF format. Contents Click chapter title to download 00 David Robinson Introduction 01 Will Hutton The Economics of Poverty 02 Bob Holman A Vision from Easterhouse 03 Will Hobson Newham in Facts and Stats 04 David Robinson Accounting for the Uncounted 05 Andrew O’Hagan The British Male at Sixteen 06 Matthew Smerdon As easy as 1»2»3 07 Gordon Brown In Conversation with Alya Din 08 Louse France Breaking the Silence 09 Stephen Jacobs In Celebration of Ordinariness 10 Jane Tewson A New Sort of Charity 11 Daniel Silverstone Revving-Up the Voluntary Sector 12 Steve Hilton Doing Good Business 13 David Robinson Beyond the Poverty Trap 14 David Grayson In Search of Community UK plc 15 William Boyd Newham: an A–Z   2008-07-21T11:40:07+00:00 http://www.community-links.org/our-national-work/publications/people-in-low-paid-informal-work/ http://www.community-links.org/our-national-work/publications/people-in-low-paid-informal-work/#When:11:34:09Z Our latest research report: People in low-paid informal work: Need not Greed, explores the experience of people on low incomes, doing informal paid work, including those working cash-in-hand and those undertaking undeclared work whilst claiming benefits. People in low-paid informal work: Need not Greed, explores the experience of people on low incomes, doing informal paid work, including those working cash-in-hand and those undertaking undeclared work whilst claiming benefits. The report demonstrates how informal work is often a response to poverty and to times of crisis such as family breakdown. It shows how low benefit rates, low wages and rules which limit the hours some groups can work are the drivers for most informal work for those who took part in the study. In addition, the research highlights how childcare or health problems can act as barriers to formal work. A Report Summary in PDF format is available alongside a launch Press Release For further information contact report authors - Aaron Barbour or Emma Neale at Community Links, 020 7473 9666 This research was supported by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and continues Community Links reseach into the informal economy. 2008-07-21T11:34:09+00:00 http://www.community-links.org/our-national-work/publications/enduring-change/ http://www.community-links.org/our-national-work/publications/enduring-change/#When:11:19:25Z ‘Regeneration’, ‘mainstreaming’, ‘community involvement’, ‘evidence-based policy’, ‘public service reform’ – all are terms central to the government’s policy programme for tackling social deprivation. But what do they mean in practice for people living in areas of multiple deprivation? EnduringChange describes how Community Links, through its Social Enterprise Zone project, has worked in Newham, East London over the past seven years to give these terms practical meaning . The Social Enterprise Zone aims involves service users and front-line workers in service reform, generates practical ideas for changing the way mainstream resources are delivered and governed, and ensures that these ideas are tested, evaluated and the lessons shared by all involved. The report revisits the original proposal for Social Enterprise Zones made in 1996 and reflects on how the idea has adapted to the policy environment under New Labour. It describes the setting up of a pilot Zone, started in 1999, and presents case studies of the ideas generated, how they have been tested and what their impact has been. Finally, the report explores how the project relates to wider debates about the role of communities in developing evidence-based policy and the desire to make more effective use of mainstream budgets to tackle deprivation. A new model of policy making and service delivery is proposed. Enduring change is essential reading for anyone interested in public services reform and how to achieve it, including policy makers in central and local government, managers and workers in public sector agencies, regeneration workers, community activists, academics with an interest in social policy and poverty, and politicians. Enduring Change was published by The Policy Press in association with the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and is available for  free download in PDF fomat here. Printed Copies may be obtained direct from The Policy Press Published in association with The Joseph Rowntree Foundation 2008-07-21T11:19:25+00:00 http://www.community-links.org/our-national-work/publications/create-a-community-allowance/ http://www.community-links.org/our-national-work/publications/create-a-community-allowance/#When:11:13:13Z This report details our proposal for a new Community Allowance: a simple and dynamic support package enabling local people to do valuable and preventative work in their local communities in partnership with community groups and public interest organisations who will provide training, work and personal support delivered very locally by trusted local organisations. The money is already committed, the people are already in place, the local organisations are already active, the need for the work is already proven but the benefit system prohibits, traps and actively discourages people from doing these jobs. The CREATE Consortium includes: British Urban Regeneration Association National Community Forum Community Links Slivers-of-Time Development Trusts Association Download a copy of the report and join in a discussion about the proposal on our blog site 2008-07-21T11:13:13+00:00 http://www.community-links.org/our-national-work/publications/living-values1/ http://www.community-links.org/our-national-work/publications/living-values1/#When:11:11:51Z Living Values: a pocket guide for Trustees has been published by Community Links in partnership with the Governance Hub. The Guide highlights the implications of this work for trustees and sets out a range of practical activities that trustees can use to make values come alive in their organisation To obtain a free printed copy of Living Values report, the Summary or the Guide for Trustees, please email Links UK or telephone on 020 7473 9664 2008-06-19T11:11:51+00:00 http://www.community-links.org/our-national-work/publications/living-values/ http://www.community-links.org/our-national-work/publications/living-values/#When:11:11:21Z "Living Values" reports the findings of our Collaborative Inquiry into the values of the third sector. The report is available to download in full. A short summary of the report is also available. The report uncovers the findings of our Collaborative Inquiry into the values of the third sector. It includes: inspiring examples of organisations putting their values into action thought-provoking comment from sector practitioners a toolkit of practical exercises to get people talking about values. 2008-06-19T11:11:21+00:00 http://www.community-links.org/our-national-work/publications/untie-your-tongue-and-get-life-licked/ http://www.community-links.org/our-national-work/publications/untie-your-tongue-and-get-life-licked/#When:11:10:22Z A practical public speaking guide for young activists. Packed with ideas for young people wanting to speak up and speak out with passion and with impact on behalf of themselves and the issues and causes they support. Published in partnership with SpeakersBank. £4.95 including postage 2008-06-19T11:10:22+00:00