Keeping people safe & well

 

NCLB Strategy

contents and Overview

 

Overview
Acknowledgements
Fundamental principles
Key components of the NCLB strategy
Key elements of the NCLB strategy
NCLB in the context of the Community Development Framework (CDF)
The way to go

 

 

Overview

No Community Left Behind (NCLB) is a strategy development process for strategic action vis-à-vis community development, community partners engagement, exploring opportunities and adopting new ways to building stronger, healthier and safer communities.
This document presents a community-based, multi-agency approach to putting a neighbourhood level, strategy development process in place for both social development and neighbourhood restoration.

In the most disadvantaged neighbourhoods, usually, crime and fear of crime have been observed to be the predominant concerns. The NCLB addresses social determinants of health through a collaborative approach to integration of services. If crime is a matter of concern for residents in a given neighbourhood, the NCLB approach helps to work towards crime prevention as well.

The goal of the NCLB approach is to engage residents in neighbourhood assessment and local level planning, implementation and evaluation process.

The NCLB strategy brings together communities, community associations, community houses, local Health and Resource Centers, City, other service providers and concerned business owners around the shared goal of addressing neighbourhood level problems, ranging from installing play structures for children and beautification to preventing crime and gang activity through curative measures, depending on the needs and priorities of each  individual neighbourhoods.

In the neighbourhoods where crime prevention is not the primary concern, a normal process of setting up a local Steering Committee, followed by engaging the community in the rest of the planning and implementation phases, takes place.

If the community is at risk and fear of crime is a major hurdle in the way of effective community engagement, the NCLB strategy takes a two-pronged approach to crime control and prevention:

• Law enforcement agencies build trust relationships with residents and cooperate with other partners in removing criminals from the community.
• Program activities bring prevention, intervention and neighbourhood revitalization services to the area to restore a sense of safety.

By eliminating the fear factor, the two-pronged approach paves the way for maximum community participation in setting up broader community development priorities and plans.

The NCLB strategy is based on the key principles of collaboration, coordination, community participation and resources leveraging. NCLB sites (leading organizations implementing the NCLB approach in one or more neighbourhoods) maximize the impact of existing programs and resources by coordinating and integrating existing local, city, provincial, federal and private sector initiatives, criminal justice efforts and social services.
The NCLB strategy places heavy emphasis on resident engagement and community participation. The approach actually empowers ‘individuals’ to be involved in community development – i.e. they do not have to be part of an organization or group. Residents of the neighbourhoods are actively involved in local level planning and problem solving in their community. The vision of No Community Left Behind is to keep people well; to enable them to live, work, and raise their families in a safe and prosperous environment.
This vision is achieved through:

• Developing a comprehensive community-based strategy and neighbourhood plans to address social determinants of health, while working to address major risk factors that lead to fear, isolation and crime;
• Mobilizing community members and police services to assist one another in identifying and removing criminal elements from the neighbourhoods where crime is a prime issue;
• Assisting concerned service agencies to identify and respond to social/community/health service needs; and
• Engaging and supporting community members to participate more fully in neighbourhood planning and decision-making processes.

Determinants of health are addressed at the neighbourhood level.  The positive outcomes of this initiative highlight the impact of holistic community-based projects that include multiple partnerships and a balance between broad-based and neighbourhood-specific planning.

 

© 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