New faces working to make Camelon and Tamfourhill a safer place

The Our Place Camelon and Tamfourhill project and its associated Kemlin Kin initiative recently welcomed John Hosie and Dan Rous to the fold to help steer the ship for the next three years.

Our Place was a place-based initiative from the Big Lottery Fund launched in 2014, which aimed to build stronger connections and relationships in communities, empowering local people and organisations to bring about positive and lasting changes in their neighbourhood.

In the last six years various projects have been developed, funded and delivered through the scheme, with £1.2 million being distributed locally.

The final successful application was for the Kemlin Kin project, established to support the community to create a legacy for the work that had taken place.

The project aimed to engage two development workers to lead two separate but linked initiatives – one around capacity-building to ensure community groups in Camelon and Tamfourhill continue to flourish past the end of the Our Place programme, and the other based around the theme of community safety, which has been repeatedly highlighted as a local priority.

John and Dan will work with the Tamfourhill Tenants and Residents Organisation and a steering group made up of local people and organisations to enhance community empowerment and ensure local people have a voice within the local area.

John, the new community safety engager, said: “A key feature is to involve local people at the heart of the projects through consultation work, volunteering and the establishment of a local Community Safety Forum.

“We want to encourage local people and others to come forward and take part in the development and delivery of these initiatives. I want to ensure community safety is put firmly onto the local agenda and my overarching aim will be to support the development of a community-led strategy.

“The intended outcomes will be to achieve a community that feels safe, keeps safe and one which builds mutual respect and greater community cohesion. The initial phase of this project will be concerned with highlighting and promoting both myself and my remit and to engage with an active listening exercise, where the

local community will be supported and encouraged to share their experiences and views about community safety.

“Priorities require to be identified and agreed, which are relevant and appropriate to all interests within the community. This approach will necessitate implementing a multi-faceted approach and a consultation process that is inclusive and dynamic.”

John, with his experience in detached youth work and community development work, will be carrying out a survey to assist with identifying the community safety priorities for Camelon and Tamfourhill and is encouraging all local residents to complete it – even going so far as entering completed surveys into a prize draw.

John said: “I would also like to speak to anybody who has a interest in contributing to the development of a local community safety strategy, please get in touch with myself as there will also be some volunteering opportunities with the project.”

Community coach Dan, who has a background in social enterprise and community development, said: “I will try to ensure people working with, or for, the communities of Camelon and Tamfourhill can be supported, developed and encouraged to make them stronger and resilient for the future.

“I will be providing training and support for things that will help them in their roles, including how and where to access funding, operational issues, property matters, marketing, development and much more.

“It’s an interesting time to start a new role but I will be using this time of lockdown to collate peoples needs and develop a programme of support that will be both individual and collective.

“Through this project we aim to ensure all local support will continue and grow in the future as well as encouraging new activities to take place as well. This is a great area with so much potential and I am eager to do my part to harness and develop the potential within.”

A spokesperson for Tamfourhill Tenants and Residents Organisation said: “We are delighted to be managing this project within our local area. It was a long time in the development, with a number of hurdles to overcome before the it could get off the ground.

“We are excited to be in the next steps of the project and look forward to the final piece of the jigsaw, which is to provide a capacity building support project within the area that will support local people to have more of a say in the delivery of future project activity and empower local people to be active in community saftey projects.”

Visit www.facebook.com/opcamelontamfourhill or www.opcamelontamfourhill.co.uk/Safety to take part in the survey and get more information on the project.