Nottingham Community and Voluntary Service (NCVS) has been commissioned by the Nottinghamshire Violence Reduction Unit (VRU) which is working in partnership with the Nottinghamshire Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC), to undertake a joint strategic community assets assessment to build a comprehensive picture of assets in communities affected by serious violence.
The focus of this project will be to find out how communities feel about serious violence in their areas, what they believe the issues are, and how they feel they should be tackled. The assessment, which will be conducted in specific areas across Nottingham and Nottinghamshire, will not only enable a better understanding of the underlying issues and causes of serious violence but also the mechanisms within communities which can change the environment to reduce the risk of serious violence. Within the context of this piece of work, community assets are not just services and physical resources but can also be defined as individuals, community organisations and projects.
The VRU is a partnership which brings together specialists from local government, health education, policing and criminal justice to work with communities and the Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE) sector to reduce serious violence by tackling its underlying causes. The work of the VRU is underpinned by evidence of what works well, and a system-wide partnership approach.
As part of this work, NCVS will hold a series of events engaging and working in collaboration with community members, community providers and leaders throughout Nottinghamshire who are delivering services to communities in known designated hot spots affected by serious violence. More information on the Asset Assessment Programme will follow soon.