Putting the Neighbourhood Back into Neighbourhood Health
New Local is delighted to partner with two leading thinkers and practitioners, Cormac Russell and Lisa McNally, to host their provocation paper, which we hope will spark much-needed debate on a potential future for neighbourhood health approaches.
Cormac Russell is the Founding Director of Nurture Development and a member of the Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) Institute at DePaul University, Chicago. Over the last 30 years, Cormac’s work has had an enduring impact in 38 countries worldwide. He has trained communities, agencies, NGOs and governments in ABCD and other community-based approaches in Africa, Asia, Australia/Oceania, Europe and North America.
Lisa McNally is a Director of Public Health in Worcestershire, UK, and an Honorary Professor at the University of Birmingham. Specialising in mental health, health improvement, smoking cessation and community development. In her academic role, she advises the National Institute for Health Research and leads research partnerships between academic and local government teams, with a particular focus on applied public health and behaviour change.
Why now?
There is real policy and practice momentum around the idea of organising services around neighbourhoods and strengthening networks, decision-making, resources and infrastructure in neighbourhoods to improve outcomes for people before they require services.
At New Local, we want to build on that momentum but also recognise that this agenda will not reach its full potential as a public service reform approach unless it is clearly aligned to a more relational approach to the delivery of services in place.
This paper has also prompted us to reflect on our own thinking about why neighbourhoods matter more broadly, and what they mean for the future of public service reform. You can read about it in our blog.
Why it matters
Cormac and Lisa contribute to the debate around neighbourhoods by drawing attention to a potential future for neighbourhood health approaches. In this paper, they remind us that the foundation of good health and good lives lies not in systems alone, but in the assets held by communities and neighbourhoods themselves.
We hope this provocation sparks a debate about how institutions and the services they deliver can become more open and collaborative — starting from an understanding of the health-generating value of communities and building the ability to both support and connect into community assets.
We’re looking forward to partnering with Cormac and Lisa in the coming months to convene colleagues from across health, local government and communities to continue this important conversation.
Join our mailing list