Main activities
Local people established a community voice steering group to plan and take part in street and subway makeovers
Where
Luton
Key outcomes
- Improved social links and ties
- Improved sense of community
- Increased confidence, knowledge, skills and assets
- Collective action and control
When
Futures Community Voice is a group of local residents in Luton who come together to discuss issues and concerns about where they live and how they can improve the area. As a community-based, grass-roots organisation, it works with all members of the community, aiming to promote the regeneration of an area experiencing economic disadvantage through providing affordable well-managed facilities, improving education standards, supporting youth programmes and encouraging a healthy, confident community.
The Marsh Farm Makeover is a project that supported residents to improve the look and feel of the Marsh Farm Estate in Luton to bring back a sense of pride and community cohesion to the area.
The project used a local artist and residents to repaint the subways on the estate and makeover local streets to improve the appearance of the local area.
It encouraged people to work together towards a positive end goal, improving the physical environment of the Marsh Farm Estate and helping the community to feel safer.
The project was funded by people’s Health Trust with money raised through The Health Lottery in the South East.
This case study was carried out by Ecorys UK, who are conducting an independent evaluation of People's Health Trust's Active Communities programme. This case study formed part of the second year of this evaluation process.
