Keeping people safe & well

 

Implementation Guide

Overview of the No Community Left Behind Process

 

Goals and Objectives

The purpose of the No Community Left Behind approach is to put a strategy development process in place to improve quality of life in designated neighbourhoods.

The primary objectives at each No Community Left Behind process site are to:

• Develop a comprehensive community-based strategy for consistent community engagement;
• Coordinate existing and new government and private-sector initiatives for local development;
• Mobilize community members and service providers to collaborate in identifying and prioritizing the key issues of concern in their neighbourhoods, and assist service agencies in responding to social/community/health service needs, and participate more fully in neighbourhood planning and decision making processes.

Four Components
The No Community Left Behind strategy is a multilevel strategic plan that includes four basic components:

1. Social,
2. Physical,
3. Service, and
4. Economic.

Since social mobilization and community engagement is the key to effecting changes to any of the four identified areas, it is recognized as the encompassing component of the NCLB approach.

1. Social
The well-known concept of “social capital” is key to understanding how the social environment can affect a community’s health. Weak social and political networks make it difficult for communities to organize and work for the collective good. A community with strong social networks is better able to advocate for itself with residents better able to control their individual and collective futures.

Following are the key factors of the social environment for thorough assessment in the phase 1 of the NCLB implementation. A close look at the following protective and risk factor make it easy for the NCLB coordinators to frame their social mobilization approach.

Cultural characteristics: In most of the multi-cultural communities in Ottawa it is easy to note the dominant values, attitudes, and standards of behavior connected to race, ethnicity, gender, religion, or nationality, as well as from other types of social and cultural groupings.

Protective factors: Cohesion, a sense of community, and access to key cultural institutions. Focus on these factors facilitates the social mobilization process.

Risk factors: Racism, language barriers, acceptance of unhealthy behaviors, and absence of expectations that promote healthy behavior and community safety are the factors which indicate the challenges to social mobilization in any community.

Social support and networks: There are two types of social capital: bonding capital, which deepens social relationships within an immediate community, and bridging capital, which strengthens the links between one group and the people and institutions in the larger neighbourhood.

Social support networks include friends, family, colleagues, and neighbourhood acquaintances. These networks exist within the community and beyond it, such as churches and clubs. Yet in some communities with mostly new immigrants, these networks are lacking and become a hurdle to effective social mobilization.

Protective factors: Social capital that can provide access to social supports and economic opportunities, as well as to certain health services and resources. Pro-social adult role models and peer networks for young people.

Risk factors: Lack of social supports and positive role models. Residents do not have access to networks outside the neighbourhood that can link them to employment and other key opportunities (sometimes referred to as an absence of “bridging” social capital).

Community leadership and organization: Level of capacity for mobilization, civic engagement, and political power.

Protective factors: Community leaders and organizations provide needed supports and services. Political power allows needed resources to be leveraged into the neighbourhood.

Risk factors: Lack of leadership, organization, and political power impedes the flow of resources needed for neighbourhood problem-solving and hampers community leadership development.

2. Physical
The physical features, infrastructure, facilities, and housing conditions of a community influence the health of residents in many ways. The link between health and the “built environment”—streets, housing, businesses, schools, parks, and patterns of regional growth and change—has become a new focus for public health and planning officials. Hence it is one of the core components of the NCLB strategy.

The key factors for neighbourhood assessment from the physical environment perspective are:

Built Environment and Infrastructure: Housing, parks, recreation facilities, utilities, housing under or near power lines.

Protective factors:

• Access to affordable, high-quality housing,
• local parks, community and recreation centres, libraries, etc.
• practical opportunities to walk, run, and bicycle,
• Community design that supports physical activity as well as community safety from the perspective of Crime Prevention through Environmental Design (CPTED).

Risk factors:

• Poor maintenance,
• inadequate garbage collection,
• improper garbage management,
• problems with inadequate sanitation and pest infestation,
• absence of recreational and leisure space for kids, and
• urban design that inhibits physical activity.

Geographic Access to services/facilities: Access to roads or transit connecting to resources within the neighbourhood as well as the broader area.

Protective factors:

• OC Transpo facilitates access to services, employment, and cultural and recreational resources in the city.

Risk factors:

• Isolation from job centres,
• particularly areas without OC Transpo access,
• Distance from recreational facilities or safe parks.

Environmental Quality:

Protective factors:

• Policies and practices related to air, water and land that maintain a clean, healthy environment in the neighbourhood and in the surrounding areas.

Risk factors:

• Excessive or mismanaged garbage,
• presence of and exposure to toxics, and
• pollution in the neighbourhood.

3. Service
The inequitable distribution of health, education, law enforcement, sanitation and recreation opportunities and services in some neighbourhoods can negatively affect the health of a community. The community assessment phase of the NCLB process focuses on identifying risk and protective factors regarding service provision in the designated communities. Lack of access to necessary healthcare services, culturally inappropriate and of poor quality services, prevalence of violence, isolation, and a reluctance to seek needed services, and unavailability of some basic services are all different types of risk factors the NCLB planning process takes into account.

Public Safety: Police and other emergency services.

Protective factors:

• Desired and necessary amount of police presence,
• Mutual trust between the community and OPS,
• Little crime, fear of crime and
• Lots of community ownership activity and social interaction.

Risk factors:

• Prevalence of criminal activities breeds fear, isolation, and a reluctance to benefit even from the available and needed services, as residents avoid leaving their homes and spending time outside or to visit community houses in the vicinity.

Housing and Health Services: Accessibility, affordability, and quality of care for individuals and families. Responsive Social Housing service for the low income communities.

Protective factors:

• Housing authorities responsive and provide timely and  inclusive services,
• Necessary, accessible care delivered in a culturally sensitive manner in satisfactory health facilities with well-trained and culturally appropriate practitioners.

Risk factors:

• Lack of access to necessary healthcare services,
• Poor response to maintenance calls,
• Culturally inappropriate or poor quality services. 

Community and Public Support Services: Neighbourhood-level public services, including schools, parks and recreation, transit, sanitation, and community and childcare centres. Community institutions include faith-based institutions, social clubs, and Tenants’ Associations.

Protective factors:

• Quality support services act as important neighbourhood institutions providing needed services as well as venues for neighbourhood meetings and leadership development.

Risk factors:

• No meeting place,
• Needed services are not available while those located in the neighbourhood are undependable and of poor quality.

4. Economic
The economic environment and economic status of residents - employment opportunities and working conditions of a community - have a critical impact on health. Independent of the impact of each individual’s income on his or her health, the economic environment of a neighbourhood has its own physical and psychological impact.

Community economic development is the key to neighbourhood revitalization. That’s why the NCLB approach considers working on this aspect of the community life as one of the core areas of the overall strategy. For additional details, see the neighbourhood restoration component in the following section that addresses the economic health of the community.

Employment, income, wealth, and assets: Looking at the community from the health determinants perspective tells us that the quality and quantity of employment opportunities available to residents and the amount of collective wealth and assets in the community can influence residents’ health.

Protective factors:

• Community economic development opportunities;
• Access to micro-credit;
• Living-wage jobs with health benefits;
• Safe workplaces;
• Savings, retirement, and homeownership provide economic stability.

Risk factors:

• Large numbers of community residents with low-wage jobs with no benefits and unsafe working conditions.
• Racial and economic segregation and concentrated poverty lead to higher stress, youth engagement in negative activities, and less focus on child development.

In some communities where fear of crime is the uppermost concern, the above four factors can be creatively addressed in classifying the approach to community development in two broad categories: crime prevention and social development. This covers the service, as well as the social, physical and economic aspects of the NCLB strategy.

Correction and prevention become the two vital components in such circumstances. Law enforcement and community policing represent the correctional aspect of the strategy. Intervention, and empowerment and neighbourhood restoration represent the preventive phase. Community policing is involved in both corrective and preventive activities and serves as a bridge between the two components.

Law Enforcement (Service)
This aspect of the NCLB approach focuses on both collaborative problem-solving processes and enforcement tactics to reduce and suppress crime at the neighbourhood level. The law enforcement component is designed to remove crime and violence. Efforts are directed mainly at identifying, apprehending and prosecuting the most serious and visible criminal activities and the perpetrators in the neighbourhood.

Reducing both crime and citizen fear give back hope to community members living in distressed neighbourhoods and set the stage for effective implementation of other social development projects and community revitalization.

Community Policing (Service and social)
Community policing supports intensive law enforcement operations and serves as a bridge to the correctional component. Community policing embraces two key concepts — community engagement and problem solving. Under this model of policing, officers establish an ongoing dialog with community members to solve crime problems through a systematic process to address the underlying causes of crime.

This continued interaction (as opposed to situational/issues meetings) fosters a sense of responsibility within the community to contribute to solutions, focus on increasing police visibility and develop cooperative relationships between the police and community members. Some community-policing activities could include informal meetings with the community members, foot patrols, victim referrals to support services, presentation of crime stoppers, and interaction with youth in the neighourhood and community support in gathering evidence about criminal activities.

Community mobilization is also crucial to community policing for crime prevention purposes. Programs that encourage community participation and help prevent crime include neighbourhood watches, citizen marches and rallies, initiatives led by various faith communities and graffiti removal.

Prevention and Empowerment (Social)
Studies show that risk factors such as economic deprivation, lack of meaningful support to families at risk, and early academic failure increase the likelihood that a child will develop health and behavior problems in adolescence. Similarly, protective factors such as positive individual characteristics, bonding, healthy beliefs and clear standards set by parents and society reduce the impact of risk factors on children.

The prevention, intervention and empowerment component, therefore, concentrate on an array of human services in the designated neighbourhood to create an environment in which crime and violence cannot thrive. Links among law enforcement, Ottawa Community Housing, social service organizations, other agencies, the private sector and the community are strengthened to improve the overall quality of services to community members.

Neighbourhood Restoration (Economic)
This component focuses on improving and revitalizing the economic and social conditions of distressed neighbourhoods through neighbourhood restoration strategies. This component addresses and seeks to expand the economic vitality of the community so that crime and disorder will not thrive. As with the other components, neighbourhood restoration is achieved through the coordinated use of provincial, local and private-sector resources. Strategies focus on economic development, employment opportunities for community members and improvements to the housing stock and physical environment of the neighbourhood. Restoration activities include renovating and refurbishing housing, improving public spaces such as parks and recreational facilities, and creating opportunities for job readiness and employment training, including entrepreneurship and job creation.

Developing the neighbourhood-level Strategic Plans
The process for developing a No Community Left Behind process strategy requires a significant commitment from the community to engage in strategic planning process, collaborate with key service providers and coordinate programs and services. Strategic planning involves a specific process that assists the community with identifying a future vision, managing change and creating the best possible future for community members. The end result of the strategic planning process is a detailed Community Action Plan for implementation and change. The basic characteristics of the strategic planning process are:

• A focused process of community assessment for concentrating on selected, priority issues;
• An inventory of resources and explicit consideration of resource availability;
• An action orientation, with a strong emphasis on practical results;
• An emphasis on innovative and collaborative approaches to problem solving.

There are eight basic planning stages involved in putting the No Community Left Behind process in place in any neighbourhood. Although the strategic plans vary from neighourhood to neighbourhood, the planning stages are common across all NCLB sites:

• Phase 1: Organizing and convening a local, site-specific Steering Committee;
• Phase 2: Selecting or confirming the designated neighbourhood;
• Phase 3: Conducting a participatory community needs assessment of the designated neighbourhood;
• Phase 4: Developing neighbourhood level plans;
• Phase 5: Implementation process;
• Phase 6: Evaluation.

Working through these phases and planning steps is not a neat, consecutive process with some pre-defined length of time. Work on more than one phase and steps usually occur simultaneously. For example, selection of the Steering Committee may be in process while a community survey is administered in the designated neighbourhood to assess the situation in black and white for clarity and planning. The implementation plan explained here is viewed in terms of each community’s context, character and environment.

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© 2005-15 South - East Ottawa Community Health Centre
Centre de Sante Communautaire du Sud Est D'Ottawa

Contact: Abid Jan Tel./ Tél: (613) 737-5115 Ext. 2403  Fax/Télé: (613) 739-8199

NCLB matters because neighbourhoods matter