32 years ago, I became the project coordinator of one of Leicester’s playgrounds. Then, the city council wanted to withdraw its funding due to concerns about quality and service delivery. In 18 months, we turned around the centre’s fortunes through a combination of partnership working, service reform, community engagement, and lots of hard work. It is where I earned my stripes and learned my craft. I saw for the first time the profound and long-lasting outcomes that can be achieved by such services, for children and families in the least advantaged communities. It fuelled my mission then and that remains in my blood.
Now all nine Leicester playgrounds face an uncertain future, due to budget demands CYP Now – Leicester playgrounds’ future uncertain amid £1mn funding cuts As a result, centres are being asked by the local authority to build self-funding plans for 2025, after a period of advice offered via the council to build alternative funding models.
Not only has this event brought back memories, but it has also raised all sorts of thoughts and feelings. Not least, when I saw parents, children and young people protesting outside the council offices. That was emotional.
Of course, no single service has a right to exist. All of us, whatever we do, and however invaluable and impactful we are, must demonstrate our worth, be willing and able to change, and build sustainable business models. And that is true in all areas, and in all delivery across the public, voluntary, and charitable sectors. Quite simply, there are lots of needs for what we all do, and a multitude of competing demands, with an ever decreasing and finite resource.
In 1992, we only had one funder and that was the local authority. All our eggs were certainly in one basket. That was a significant risk, and every February we held our collective breath, always with the threat of part or full budget cuts. It didn’t help our feeling of worth or sustainability. If we did fundraise, there were challenges for how we did that, what overlaps were created, hoops to be jumped through, and I have to say it sparked the interest of the council who started to think they could reduce their funding as a result. Hardly an incentive.
There is no doubt that multiple funding strands build stronger financial foundations. But it takes a lot of effort to develop and sustain the juggling required to make a success of that. That’s where capacity building comes in. Fundraising, sales, or income generation is not a skill everyone has, or indeed wants. One thing we have seen in the early years sector is how they have federated, or in other words brought smaller providers together by growing small, medium, and large (and super) chains that are better able to fulfil all the functions required and benefit from more efficient overheads and pooled resources and capacity. Often with external investment. That is easier said than done in the voluntary play sector, but it is not impossible.
For the people of Leicester, the council, and partner services, playgrounds are an essential part of the early identification, early intervention, and prevention continuum. No one should doubt that. That means they should be strategically and operationally connected to other services. Yet, it can be hard to connect and to be afforded the respect you need to do that. I remember doors being closed, invitations not being extended, being asked to leave meetings even, and the challenges of getting people to realise all that could be achieved. On that note, we are seeing the emergence of a vibrant new policy landscape that is entirely within the remit of playgrounds. Those including food poverty, the Holiday and Activities and Food programme (HAF), free breakfasts or clubs in primary schools, school attendance, wraparound childcare after school, expansion of early years education, and families’ routes into employment and engagement in childcare. That means we all need to be thinking about these services in coordinated, long term, and sustainable ways that are diverse, engaging for communities, and play their part in delivering the outcomes we all need.
This blog was originally published by Children and Young People Now.
Find Joy in the Middle 