C.A.T.

Community Video.
Community groups in Dyke House ward in Hartlepool have banded together to form an umbrella organisation called Communities Acting Together (CAT). As one of the most deprived wards in Hartlepool the area is benefiting from Neighbourhood Renewal Fund. CAT has been working in partnership with various agencies to tackle issues such as community safety, housing conditions and support for parents and young children.

The group has engaged a local media company to help them put together a community video. The video will be filmed in two parts and will initially document local people's perceptions of their neighbourhood.

A follow up, to be filmed after six months, will gauge whether the various projects are improving the quality of life for local people. The video will also be used to promote the involvement of residents in the renewal process and hopefully inspire others, both in Hartlepool and beyond.

Communities Acting Together Spirit of Strenght is funded through Home Housing Association, Hartlepool Borough Council and the Neighbourhood Renewal Unit. Ranked as the 70th most deprived ward in the country the DyKe House area of Hartlepool has had more than its far share of problems. In the past umemployment, poverty and crime related issues have effected the quality of life and the morale of local residents.

But Dyke House is changing, real improvements are happening. This video film is about several groups of residents that have joined together, with help from Neighbourhood Renewal to make a huge difference, to make these changes happen. This is a story about harnessing the power of community spirit to change the lifes of those within.

Mick Thompson (Neighbourhood Services) explains, "that Neighbourhood Renewal is a national strategy, a government initiative, its main purpose is to tackle things like unemployment, poverty, crime and low educational attainment - tackle the sort of things found in deprived areas like Dyke House and Jackson Wards. Tackling these problems is obviously a big task, but the important thing is in our approach. The approach needs to ensure people that we will work with them. Its not about doing things for people, its about doing things with people".

In January 2002. the residents resource center in the heart of Dyke House opened its doors bringing together prevously individual residents associations under one roof.

Bernard Williams (Director of Neighbourhood Services) explained, "that the resource centre gives the residents a local base, somewhere that they can call their own, they can come and meet, swop ideas, bounce things of each other and get together and plan things. In the first three months since the centre has opened the residents have organised training courses. organised meetings with other resident groups to gather ideas and put together a local action plan".

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C.A.T. Communities Acting Together. 29 Chatham Road Hartlepool Dyke House Hartlepool TS24 8QG. tel: 01429 405596. Local contacts - Eddie Price tel: 07789 923565. Mick Thompson tel: 07786 126776. Muriel Boreland tel: 01429 291537. Webmaster Rolf Parvin Email: [email protected]

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