Independent councillor GARY DONNELLY says a new neighborhood centre in Creggan - despite receiving no funding - is allowing under-resourced local groups to find space and develop a coordinated strategy for the benefit of the whole community.
It’s almost seven months since community activists, supported by the local community, took the initiative to secure derelict premises at Cromore Gardens in Creggan.
They implemented an extensive community clean-up to alleviate environmental, social, and health problems caused by neglect of the premises which had become a focus for underage substance abuse and anti social behaviour.
The site at Cromore was once an Irish Language school and was financed and run by the local community. Later, other groups moved in but they seem to have just abandoned the site once funding ran out.
Following this intervention, and encouraged by the local support, an informal consultation was carried out with the residents most affected by the anti-social activity previously taking place at the premises.
Residents felt very strongly that the building should be a local community asset and that a presence of local people should be maintained to ensure that it did not deteriorate further.
A number of residents agreed to be key-holders and to work with local community activists, including the Creggan Women's Group, in order to maintain a daily presence at the site.
Interest in what was happening grew immensely within the local community and a number of community organisations made approaches, expressing interest in availing of space in the complex.
Creggan Community Collective, which had applied to NIHE for a lease of the building, agreed with those who took stewardship of the building to act as the coordinating body.
Creggan Community Collective was set up over five years ago by residents of Creggan and is 100% volunteer based and managed. It relies principally on strong community buy-in and grassroots connectivity.
It was set up to tackle social problems and to provide support and assistance to those less well off within our community.
It was established in an area where there has been a lot of intracommunity tensions and breakdown of trust.
A section of our community felt marginalised and unwelcome in ‘mainstream’ statutory-funded organisations and believed that political parties were deliberately manipulating and controlling community resources for their own ends.
Some people felt that if a service user didn’t support the party they would suffer discrimination.
The work of the Creggan Community Collective epitomizes community development at its best with a bottom up approach giving voice to the most marginalized, regardless of what statutory bodies or other decision-makers might think.
Statutory funding in Creggan has been used by political parties to muzzle political opinions and introduce red-tape which obstructs genuine community activism in dealing with complex social issues. Very little funding reaches those who need it most.
This is important because areas like Creggan score high on the Noble Measures of Multiple Deprivation of most deprived wards in the Six Counties and also rank high in terms of Employment Deprivation.
In order to tackle such extreme long term deprivation, it is our view that a multi-faceted project, embracing a a wide spectrum of interests and offering a range of diverse services would, be an invaluable asset to this community.
No funding
Visitors to Cromore, some from as far away as Canada and Paris, are surprised that the busy community hub receives no funding, that the restoration and running of the premises is financed by local volunteers, who have the community’s interests at heart.
Today, Cromore is a vibrant hub that provides a welfare rights advice service and accommodates a number of user groups including a sewing group, men’s indoor bowls, Irish dancing, Irish language class, and a martial arts class.
A number of other community groups are expressing interest in using the facility.
Local children look after poultry including chickens, ducks and quails. Cromore operates an open door policy and many locals just call in for a chat or cup of tea.
Other activism carried out by CCC includes Christmas hampers for needy families, charity coffee mornings, bereavement support to wakes, bonfire issues mediation, community safety, suicide awareness, community clean-ups, community allotments, public meetings, Santa and Halloween youth programmes, and social justice youth initiatives.
With Brexit looming groups will find themselves competing against each other for crumbs of funding which will increase polarization. Radical projects like Cromore are quietly working to empower communities.
The pet projects sponsored by the political establishment are incapable of building a culture of equality and justice for all.
It is our view that the premises in Cromore, given its central location, ease of access provides an excellent opportunity for under-resourced local groups to find space and develop a coordinated strategy for the benefit of the whole community.
Cromore is a new opportunity to build an independent project that would be open to all residents, without discrimination on political or other pretexts.
Above - Independent Cllr Donnelly and Cllr Sean Carr (second and third left) pictured with members of the Creggan Community Collective outside the new Cromore hub.
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