Most people have, at best, a patchy understanding of what services are available to help and how to access them, and often those that need them most use them the least. Huge value in both economic and social returns can be created from approaches to improving linkages between providers and users, and building people’s confidence to help them access the services they need . Working at the neighbourhood level can be a very effective way to distribute information through networks, to find out how people are using local services, and also to provide a natural way to ensure joint working.
In EC1, the NDC helped create the ‘EC1 Connect’ service. This innovative project acted as an outreach service for a range of other services. In practice, advisers would talk to residents about their situation and needs, and then put them in touch with any of their partner services (about 40-50 services available at any one time). They would go beyond this by following-up these ‘referrals’ to ensure the partners got in touch with residents, as well as to provide informal advocacy and mentoring to more disadvantaged residents. The service has been very successful and is being sustained in the form of a new charity: Help on your Doorstep. There is growing recognition about the value of these ‘intermediary’ services.
