'It was like my little acorn, and it's going to grow into a big tree': a qualitative study of a community support project

Abstract

Government initiatives aimed at reducing health inequalities and combating poverty amongst families increasingly take an area-based approach, and seek to involve local families in building community capacity. Sure Start is one such initiative, and was set up to develop services for pre-school children and their families, and improve child health and well-being. Based on a local evaluation of a Sure Start programme, the present paper describes the development of a community support project aimed at engaging local people in supporting the parents and carers of young children. This paper draws on qualitative data to explore stakeholders' experiences of the project. These are then described from two main perspectives: the personal and the wider community. It also explores the organisational conditions necessary to encourage lay involvement in such initiatives. The paper concludes that policies aimed at involving local people in delivering services to families need to take account of long-standing structural problems in disadvantaged communities if they are not to be perpetuated.