Bring parents together in your neighbourhood

As part of the wider Best Start programme, Croydon Voluntary Action is delivering a neighbourhood based programme for parents with children under the age of 5 and their communities called Asset Based Community Development (ABCD).

ABCD brings local people together to make their communities more interesting, healthy, safe and welcoming places to live. We will support and nurture passions and interests of local parents and carers, engaging them at their level, in what they feel passionate enough to act upon. We will bring them to the driving seat, nurturing them to be active rather than passive citizens across the three Planning areas.

The ABCD Community Builder represents the initiator, supporter and mentor who, after  finding a handful of local people who are known by and who know their neighbours (we call them Connectors), galvanizes curiosity, energy, loyalty and kindness to build strong foundations for an empowered neighbourhood.  This is done through:

• Hundreds of conversations with parents, carers, groups, informal clubs and other social networks to uncover people’s strengths, stories, ideas, hopes, skills, passions and resources to understand what it is that local people care enough about to work together to change.
• Activities, including asset mapping of the neighbourhood, bringing together people through community fun events, smaller meetings activists, supporting for local residents initiating new community and grass roots projects.

 Contact Victoria at Victoria.Kamara@cvalive.org.uk