SureStart first for Sparkbrook
By leading a SureStart partnership in
Sparkbrook, Birmingham, Friendship Care and Housing is both
transforming families’ lives and pioneering a new approach for the
housing sector.
In the 1990s, ‘housing plus’ was high on the
agenda – housing associations were urged to contribute to wider
communities, rather than just the bricks and mortar they developed
and managed.
At that time, there was much concern in the
Sparkbook area around the lack of childcare provision. This
was a real barrier to women accessing employment and training
opportunities, it often meant they couldn’t be economically active
after having a baby.
Friendship Care and Housing was determined to
change that. So the association applied for European funding,
ran child-minder training and organised 200 extra childcare places
– allowing women to get the formal skills to become
child-minders. In around five years, the association showed
it was possible to remove barrier to employment and training.
This work was the catalyst to getting involved in the
Government-led SureStart initiative, which aims to give young
people the best possible start in life.
SureStart provides childcare training, trains
people in parenting and makes sure that families have support
structures in place. In Sparkbrook, it was also important to
make sure that the project reflected the diverse needs of a
multi-cultural community.
Ten years on, Friendship Care and Housing is
believed to be the only housing specialist named as lead
organisation for a SureStart partnership. This role involves
employing outreach staff, overseeing pay and benefits and even
providing premises on a ‘peppercorn’ rent for 25 years.
Practical assistance available to families
includes a health drop-in centre, baby and toddler nurseries,
crèche, playgroup, school support clubs, library group, garden
playground and local community facility. All of these
services make a big difference to families needing support.
This work is set to continue. Whilst SureStart projects are
subject to the vagaries of Government funding, there’s no doubt the
Sparkbrook example has been very successful.
As Jonathan Driffill, Managing Director at
Friendship Care and Housing points out: “The Sparkbrook SureStart
work has engaged parents and helped them to gain employment and
training. It also provides a good-quality childcare in an
area where there wasn’t any before. So we’re proud to be
doing our bit to help the project move forward.”
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