Our staff work with councillors to help Cumbria’s people to build stronger communities. We do this in five ways:

• Support for community engagement involving organising public events (including neighbourhood forums) through which communities are able to engage with each other, with councils and other service providers on issues including community action plans
• Managing community grants which build the capacity of community groups and support the development of volunteering, including Cumbria Community Awards
• Supporting the development of a thriving third sector
• Working locally  with colleagues to provide the most effective local management and partnership arrangements to help meet community needs and deliver Council priorities   and including the ‘together we can... (external link)’ pilot programme and local committee devolved decisions
• Support a diverse range of groups at risk of exclusion through a range of programmes including money advice, youth employment,  and rural communities.

The council has clear plans and priorities for this work and an explicit performance framework for securing success.