Help requested in Hampshire and Isle of Wight

I received a message from an organisation called ‘One Community’ over the weekend asking for my assistance to promote some work they are doing to support Neighbourhood Watch (NHW) in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.

There are over 10,000 schemes in Hampshire and the IOW at the moment and One Community is working with the Police and Crime Commissioner to see how residents of Hampshire can access and engage in their local NHW, how these existing schemes can be sustainable in the future and how NHW can increase the number of schemes and engage groups that are underrepresented.

One Community will be:

• Researching examples of good practice within NHW schemes
• Consulting with communities about their involvement with NHW or lack of involvement if this is the case
• Working with organisation that aim to increase active citizenship
• Working with young people, ethnic minority groups and other underrepresented groups to encourage  and increase engagement
• Compiling a report showing findings from the initial research
• Creating a toolkit to help local groups broaden engagement

As part of this work One Community is conducting a series of surveys.

Firstly there is one for professionals working with young people in the community and in engagement, which can be found here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/7WMCXB5  

Secondly there is a public survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/9ZKZJGS This Is being sent to community groups and individuals to gauge public perception of neighbourhood watch and what such groups feel is needed to improve participation rates

If you would like to support this work you are encouraged to complete the survey (s) and forward them to others. Obviously they would like to hear from people in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, but I‘ve no doubt they would be interested to receive views from all those people and organisations that have some engagement with NHW.

The contact for this work is Kylie Barton, the Neighbourhood Watch Engagement Project Adviser who can be contacted Mon - Fri 8:30 – 4:30 on 023 8090 2462 or 07751 754 951 and kbarton@1community.org.uk