Together 4 All

ABOUT TOGETHER 4 ALL LIMITED

What is Together 4 All Family Support?

Together 4 All is a new local pilot project which aims to improve support for all children, young people and their families in the Lurgan, Brownlow, Aghagallon and Bleary areas being particularly sensitive to the needs of minority ethnic communities.

The project has received significant funding from Atlantic Philanthropies, an independent funding organisation, to plan and work with the local community to develop the possibility of a major Family Support Project which could run for the next 10 years.

The Together 4 All strategy was submitted to The Atlantic Philanthropies in June 2007 and implementation of the strategy is to commence in October 2008.

The outcomes that Together 4 All wants to achieve through the strategy are:

*        Improve mutual respect and understanding,
*        Improvement in behaviour and
*        Reduce bullying

Five new services will be developed, that will incorporate international models of ‘Good Practice’ and local expertise to meet this, in addition to parent and community capacity building.

This is an exciting new initiative in improving outcomes for children and young people that will provide a model of ‘Good Practice’ in innovation and locality planning. A major component of the strategy is to secure commitment from Government.

The strategy will show how proven good practice programmes can be transferred to common practice across Northern Ireland and beyond in order to achieve long term Government priorities and cost effectiveness.

Why is this project unique?

Together 4 All Limited is dependent on the community to take part and help plan future support services for our children, young people and families in this area. This is a project that can be shaped by the community to make a real difference to the lives of local families. A Planning Group was set up with most of its members coming from the community and voluntary sectors, representing parents and local communities. Other members were from local key statutory agencies, like the Southern Education and Library Board and Health Trusts. The Planning Group were instrumental in shaping the strategy. We will work with existing community initiatives like the Neighbourhood Renewal Partnership, SureStart and Extended Schools, to avoid duplicating services and achieve maximum benefit in the area.

An Expert Advisory Committee has been established, providing advice on the quality of the strategy, services and evaluation. It includes Mark Dynarski from Mathematica, Professor Ted Melhuish from Birbeck University and Professor Bob Slavin from the Institute of Effective Education, York, Professor Alan Smith from University of Ulster and the Chair Person of Together 4 All. In attendance, Chief Executive Officer of Together 4 All, Professor Michael Little from Dartington Social Research Unit, Roger Courtney and Gail Birbeck from The Atlantic Philanthropies. The primary role of the Expert Advisory Committee is to advise and support the development, implementation and review of the research/evaluation strand of activity within the project. In this context, it has the following roles: -

a) Provide advice and support in the commissioning and implementation of the evaluation strand of the programme
b) Provide commentary and perspectives on the design and coordination of the programme and services and their evaluation
c) Support oversight of the research/evaluation programme
d) Review emerging results from the research / evaluation programme
e) Support the integration of evaluation learning into practice
f) Advise on changes to, or augmentation of, the research/evaluation programme if the need arises
g) Promote adherence to agreed standards as services are implemented
h) Provide observations and advice on the overall systems/services strategy in light of emerging evaluation analysis and findings.

Reports of meetings of the Expert Advisory Committee and any reports prepared by them will be communicated to the Together 4 All Project Board that has ultimate responsibility for the project.

What is our vision ...

. . . for families?
We have some ambitious goals that we would like you to consider and discuss with us, so that we can see how best we can address issues and plan activities.

. . . for the future?
We will seek opportunities for new services and find new ways of working on behalf of our children, perhaps filling in gaps in existing services. We hope that this opportunity will be a way to shape and improve the type of services available for children in the future.