Strengthening communities vision

Essex has strong, resilient communities of active citizens who are willing and able to take responsibility for themselves, each other and the places they live.

We want every community in Essex to have an active network of ‘people helping people’ with the aim of;

• Supporting vulnerable people

• Preventing what the community agrees is damaging eg crime, loneliness

• Promoting what the community wishes to encourage eg safety, social cohesion

• Reducing demand on public services

We will achieve this through;

• Redefining the relationship between wider civil society, the voluntary, community, business/public sectors

• Better coordination of partners’ interventions and schemes

• Focusing on communities’ and individuals’ assets and strengths, not just needs

• Understanding and influencing public attitudes and behaviour around active citizenship and strong communities The Strengthening Communities Programme aims to help create and support the conditions for stronger, more resilient communities across Essex.