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<p>For those of you who were able to attend the CMA’s <a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.commedia.org.uk/news/2016/03/community-media-conference-16/">Community
Media Conference</a> this year, you will know that one of the
principal discussions concerned the role of community media as
an essential partner in enabling and improving social change and
wellbeing.<br>
<br>
Although I don’t come from community media I believe strongly in
how it can enable social change and I was delighted when Lucinda
Guy and Bill Best invited me to join you. I had several
conversations at the conference about audience engagement, both
direct and in partnership with others such as housing
associations. I learnt a lot about how these two essential
national services are collaborating, with the common goals of
improving both social cohesion and community wellbeing. I was
also able to share my knowledge and experience of a current
national change programme within the NHS and how it could
provide additional, funded partnering opportunities; the
Sustainability & Transformation Plans (STPs).<br>
<br>
For context, 44 STPs have been established covering all counties
in England. Their purpose is to enable local delivery of the
national NHS Five Year Forward View through three core
activities being, closing the:<br>
<br>
1. Care and quality gap<br>
2. Health and wellbeing gap<br>
3. Funding and efficiency gap<br>
<br>
One of the principal tenets underpinning all actions taken by
the STPs is to “think about populations, not institutions or
organisational form”. What’s exciting about this, is that this
is what community media does!<br>
<br>
I think it’s important to state the obvious here in that you
help your neighbourhoods establish and develop community-based
conversations for empowerment, cultural expression, information
and entertainment. You do it through online radio and
television, free-to-air community and local television and
community film makers. It is a crucially important delivery
enabler for achieving local aspirations and improving wellbeing
and these outputs, are remarkably consistent with what social
housing aims for too.<br>
<br>
You may be saying “so what”? For me, the response to this is
that the ducks seem to be lining up!<br>
<br>
Two national organisations can demonstrate concrete examples of
collaborative working for the purpose of enabling/improving
local wellbeing. This is happening at a time when the NHS has
been allocated additional funding (circa £1.8bn) and instructed
to roll its’ sleeves up and find partners to enable the delivery
of the local STPs. An opportunity exists now (2016/17), through
collaboration, which could put CM at the heart of enabling and
improving health and wellbeing across the country.<br>
<br>
<b>What Next?</b><br>
</p>
<ul>
<li>We (CMA and me) would like you to tell us about any current
or recent collaborations; whether or not these have been with
social housing providers; which have focused on activities to
do with improving health and wellbeing in your communities</li>
<li>Please send your responses to me, Keith Hackett, <a
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href="mailto:keith@newhealtheconomics.com">keith@newhealtheconomics.com</a>
and I will collate your feedback as part of research I am
doing with the CMA on how community media facilitates the
development of community wellbeing</li>
<li>These examples will be used to:</li>
</ul>
<blockquote>
<ul>
<li> Make government departments, including DCMS, more
aware of the social impact of community media, for the
purpose of obtaining funding</li>
<li> At a local level, where community media<b> </b>and
social housing collaborations are currently active, build a
business case for local funding from the relevant STP</li>
<li> Show the BBC that community media is its essential
local partner and should be funded accordingly</li>
<li> Potentially, encourage other funded collaborations
with social housing providers and other partners</li>
</ul>
</blockquote>
<p>Best regards</p>
<p>Keith Hackett<br>
</p>
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