Help and Connect

Authors: Kate Fulton and Kellie Woodley

Help and Connect is a new form of community-brokerage: a model that is being piloted by Skills for People in Newcastle.

When a new idea like brokerage is promoted we often make the mistake of ignoring all the people and organisations that we already have. Instead we rush into imagining some new professional person who will swoop in like Superman to save the day. But in the end this will always be an illusion and we will be left disappointed.

We need to think about recycling and sustainability - to make better use of the most important resource we always have - each other. This is what makes Help and Connect, the model being piloted by Skills for People, so exciting. Instead of seeing brokerage as some new kind of profession they have seen it as a challenge to refocus, to connect and to strengthen their existing resources. They are creating a hub that offers people the help and support they need to be in control - but for just a fraction of the cost of professional brokerage.

It's early days and hopefully we will be able to share learning from the pilot in the months ahead. But this is an exciting project and Skills for People are to be commended for their thoughtfulness and creativity.

Read and download the free pdf in your browser here.

The publisher is the Centre for Welfare Reform.

Help and Connect © Kate Fulton and Kellie Woodley 2011.

All Rights Reserved. No part of this paper may be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher except for the quotation of brief passages in reviews.