Fife groups urged to join alliance to promote power of community

It is urging that groups across the region to join the alliance as it prepares to present its blueprint for a healthier Scotland to the Scottish Government.

It aims to enable investment in communities and to improve the health and wellbeing of individuals, families and neighbourhoods.

John Cassidy, chairman, said: “Communities and their responses to the current crisis are at the centre of much thinking about the future.

"We must support and trust local delivery and community solutions and build on the foundations of community power.

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“We need to channel the surge of community spirit into a lasting framework of community power, and to put neighbourhoods and communities at the heart of a new wave of decentralisation.

“It is argued that state capacity has been drained by the current crisis, and that there is a certain economic recession to come with governments falling back on traditional levers.

“However, there is no shortage of sound advice for governments and decision makers to help ensure a positive journey out of the crisis, but not a lot of detail on how.”

John said measures that need to be taken to ensure a positive outcome to the ongoing pandemic.

“We need to invest to protect, and to strengthen and grow local organisations,” he added. “Strengthening local resilience will help to ensure that we centre our economic future around citizen’s wellbeing.

“Community led approaches do not just provide good social outcomes but are also proven to create stronger local economies – we must focus on the potential of neighbourhood as an organising unit for political power.

“In Scotland we have an amazing asset, our voluntary community and charitable organisations, we have organisations using community led approaches which make a fundamental difference to the lives of individuals, families and communities.

“The blueprint for a healthier Scotland is grounded in practice, supported by research, structured around common sense and will be presented formally to the Scottish Government in the near future, it’s an opportunity to do something differently, it's doable, let's do it!"

For more information please contact: John Cassidy; [email protected] or visit: Scottish Communities for Health and Wellbeing

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