Local Programmes Strategy
Read about why we have decided to work in partnership with communities to help people thrive, and how we will do this.
Why Local Programmes?
Turn2us can help people achieve financial security after a life event, but to do this, we must go where the people are, work with local organisations that have reach into and the trust of communities they serve and work to embed our contribution into local place-based strategies.
We know that people who experience financial hardship after a life event are more likely to be women, young people, and people from racially minoritised communities. We also know stigma, lack of knowledge and mental health issues prevent people from seeking help in the face of a life event.
Local Programmes is a new programme for Turn2us to explore:
- How we can reach people our national programmes do not reach, at the right time for them, after a life event.
- How we ensure our contribution of grants and information is linked to local ongoing support to tackle the causes and symptoms of financial insecurity.
- How we can use our resources as a national charity to shift power to people and communities experiencing financial hardship to tackle the causes of financial insecurity.
The Turn2us purpose is:
So everyone has the opportunity to build financial sustainability and thrive. Turn2us offers the information and support people need in the face of life changing events and collaborates to tackle the causes and symptoms of poverty.
Local Programmes contributes to this purpose by:
Working locally in partnership, providing personally tailored support to, and shifting power to people closest to the problem of financial insecurity after a life event.
Together, we can challenge the systems that cause financial hardship, build financial security and support people to thrive.
What success will look like
Each Local Programme will have its own co-designed evaluation framework, but all will:
Increase people’s awareness of their right to access social security; reduce the shame and stigma around doing this; deliver high-quality, integrated programmes that include information and financial support; so that people can build their own financial sustainability and thrive.
Deepen our collective action with partners' direction of travel so we strengthen each others roles and actions and our impact together is deeper, stronger, and more responsive.
Gain and share greater insight into:
- How different inequalities intersect to cause financial insecurity
- How life events exacerbate and are exacerbated by financial insecurity
- How effective different models are for supporting people to move to financial security and to thrive
- How to support or create sustainable system wide change in a local area.
Our long term impact will shift power to local communities so they can change the systems that cause financial hardship.
Get in touch
To access our full strategy, or explore how we can work together, please contact us.
Local Programmes Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
We anticipate running a programme in an area for ten years. Our engagement may continue after that, for instance we may continue to give grants or provide information or other support.
- An understanding of the complexity of financial insecurity.
- Practical support including financial and high-quality information.
- Policy and influencing skills.
- Connections and influence with other grant makers.
- A commitment to learning – from and with our partners.
- A national presence to use local experiences to change national policy.
We want to be responsive to the needs identified by local residents of each local area. This means we don’t know exactly what our contribution might look like yet. But we might...
1. Provide practical support
- Work with local partners to ensure all residents can access information about financial support
- Use participatory grant-making processes to develop cash grants that provide space for people to thrive
- Work with community organisations who can provide holistic support, such as mental health support, debt advice, employment or training.
- Co-produce information about how to access available financial support, including social security benefits, grants and bursaries.
- Fund accredited training in benefits advice to workers and volunteers in community organisations.
2. Shift power
- Work with community organisations to reach those who are least likely to have access to support, including those with No Recourse to Public Funds status, those with English as a Second Language, who are digitally excluded, and those who experience poor health.
- Use co-production to ensure that people living in financial insecurity have influence over decisions that affect them.
- Invest in local voluntary and community sector (VCS) organisations to take a collaborative and strategic approach to ending financial insecurity in the area.
- Bring the stories and experiences of local systems change to national decision makers.
We recognise that community organisations have reach into and trust from the communities they serve, but also that they often face the scarcity of resources, including power.
We will resource any additional work that we can for our partners.
We want to work in partnership with community organisations and the people they serve to:
- Understand the issues they are facing as individuals and organisations.
- Understand the available support and gaps in that support.
- Understand the systems that cause financial insecurity.
We recognise the contribution that infrastructure organisations like Councils for Voluntary Services, Community Development Trusts and Healthwatch make to a local place and we will work with them to understand:
- Where we can best add value to the work that is already happening.
- Whose voices are missing.
- Where decisions are made and how we can support the people we serve to influence them.
