Cohesion Counts

Engagement Through Sports and Dance

This is a Cohesion Counts overview of the project. Click here for the project leader’s report.

Background
Project Objectives
What the Project Did
Did it Work?
Recommendations

Background

Alt is an estate of approximately 500 homes, mainly council housing with some private, which is due for large scale regeneration within the next 10 years. Unemployment, teenage pregnancies and Anti Social behaviour are very high. In Oldham’s Place survey Alt was highlighted as an area where people had a very low sense of belonging in their neighbourhood.

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Project Objectives

We did not tender this project, but instead commissioned Groundwork, who had a good track record of working in the area and an established relationship with community groups and some young people. Our brief contained the following objectives:

1. Build cohesion by creating opportunities for interaction, in particular between young people and older people and people from different ethnic groups
2. To evaluate the longer term impact of this activity on cohesion.

Groundwork’s project objectives were:

1. To deliver 56 sessions over an eight-month period.
2. To use the influence of sport and dance to target previously disengaged young people and residents.
3. To encourage participants in the project to attend local meetings allowing them to take part in local decision-making.
4. To help build a stronger sense of community by involving local people in volunteering.
5. To promote respect and a greater understanding between different ethnic backgrounds.

In addition, in common with the other intervention projects, the project had five overarching objectives:

1. To improve residents’ satisfaction with the neighbourhood in which they live.
2. To improve residents’ sense of belonging to their street, neighbourhood and Borough.
3. To improve residents’ perceptions of living in communities mixed by age, tenure, property types, areas of the neighbourhood and social and ethnic backgrounds.
4. To improve relationships within neighbourhoods between residents mixed by age, tenure, property types, areas of the neighbourhood and social and ethnic backgrounds.
5. To encourage residents to build relationships with people from different backgrounds through meeting and talking in a variety of places.

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What the Project Did

Two sessions were delivered once a week over an 8 month period. “Dance Uni” on Monday evenings, intergenerational dance sessions using a range of different dance styles delivered by Total Dance, and a Multi Sports session on Thursday evenings delivered by Groundwork Oldham & Rochdale’s Youth Works team.

“Dance Uni” mainly attracted children and their parents who participated in a dance and movement session. Street dance and gentle exercises allowed participants to dance to chart and dance music. Fresh fruit was provided and enjoyed during breaks that allowed participants to talk about common interests and concerns. The sessions were supported by volunteers who signed people in, prepared refreshments and supported participants filling in evaluation questionnaires.

Multi Sports – A range of team games were played including football, basketball and cricket, with football proving the most popular. Staff encouraged older young people to lead on organising the games, setting the rules and picking the teams. In between games staff spent time talking informally to young people about what they liked and disliked about their community.

Staff were concerned that the project was only attracting boys, so in summer arts and craft equipment was taken to sessions. This attracted more girls aged 8 – 12 yrs and their parents. The parents took on more responsibility for the arts and craft activities and we supplied them with the materials and arts books (for ideas).

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Did it Work?

Pre and post project the evaluation showed an increase in how satisfied young people were with their area from 52.5% to 90%. The project enabled young people in Alt to engage with local facilities (the Arc community centre for dance sessions and the kick-pitch through multi-sports) which young people felt increased their happiness with their local area. The dance sessions widened interaction between young and older residents.

There was an increased sense of being part of the Oldham Borough, but young people in particular felt that Alt had everything they needed. There was also an increase in the number of volunteers and young people who felt that their neighbourhoods were places where people could get along well together. Through informal discussion, Groundwork challenged the young people about their perceptions of different ethnic groups.

Attendance was an issue, both for Dance Uni when the dance tutor changed and attendance dropped off, and for the Sports sessions when the weather deteriorated in the autumn. Groundwork worked hard to keep up attendance by seeking young people who gathered elsewhere and by increasing publicity for the dance sessions.

Staff were accepted by the community and developed positive relationships with children, young people and their parents. Groundwork’s presence in the community had a positive impact on the confidence levels of the young people and volunteers they engaged.

The majority of people who attended the activities were white British although young people from different backgrounds were also targeted.

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Recommendations

If we had tendered this project rather than using an existing provider we might have achieved a different outcome. However, using a provider who had already gained the trust of the local young people and community groups was an advantage.

The project broadly achieved its aims and our overarching objectives, with the exception of the targeting of people from different ethnic backgrounds. An attempt was made to run a cricket tournament in Glodwick, an adjacent area with a predominantly Asian population, but the young people could not be persuaded to participate.

Residents were in agreement that Groundwork’s consistent presence had helped create stability for young people and had provided them with positive role models. They also developed a vehicle by which to address and challenge behaviours and views about individuals, using scenario testing activities at both the Sports and Dance sessions.

Having sessions on the same evenings and times for an eight-month period was a plus. Sports sessions continued beyond the life of the project, and there are still line-dancing sessions held at the community centre.

In common with other projects, the use of an activity which residents can enjoy for its own sake proved an effective way to engage people, to encourage them to interact, boost their confidence and challenge their perceptions of those people who appear different from themselves.

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