Formation | 1953 |
---|---|
Parent organization | The Young Foundation |
Website |
www |
The Institute for Community Studies at The Young Foundation is a community research and evidence centre based in Toynbee Hall, East London. [1] Originally founded in 1953 by Michael Young as the Institute of Community Studies, it is probably best known for the 1957 report by Young and his colleague Peter Willmott, Family and Kinship in East London, which argued for the continuing importance of community ties in the age of the welfare state. Described as a sociological "phenomenon", [2] the original Institute influenced a generation of sociologists and social historians.
The [Institute's] stated purpose was to examine the interaction of the family, the community and the social services. It promised to study the way in which ordinary people interacted with the newly expanded social service sector, and asked whether the organs of the state were in cooperation or conflict with established patterns of family support and mutual aid.
— Lise Butler, "Michael Young, the Institute of Community Studies, and the Politics of Kinship", Twentieth Century British History, 2015.
Other key publications from that period include:
The original Institute was also the main vehicle through which Young created over 60 organisations including the Open University and the Consumers' Association (aka Which?). In 2005, the Institute of Community Studies merged with the Mutual Aid Centre and was renamed The Young Foundation in honour of Lord Young. The current chief executive of The Young Foundation is Helen Goulden.
Under Helen Goulden's leadership the Institute for Community Studies was re-launched in 2019 as a part of The Young Foundation with support from the Power to Change Trust, Friends Provident Foundation and a large private donation, with a remit to promote positive social, economic and environmental outcomes by better understanding how government and philanthropic interventions affect – and are affected by – the individuals, families and businesses that make up our local communities. [3]
The Institute for Community Studies at The Young Foundation describes itself as 'a research and evidence centre, exploring what works for UK communities'. It places particular emphasis on the role of communities themselves in the research process, both in determining the research questions to be answered and through the use of peer researchers (also known as community-based participatory researchers) to collect evidence. In its first major publication, [4] based on a coordinated series of national surveys and regional focus groups across the United Kingdom, the Institute identified seven priority areas for further research.
Priority | Descriptive extract from Safety in Numbers? | |
1. | Safety | "reflects people's anxieties and feelings of insecurity, or fears for others, as much as ... personal lived experience of crime" |
2. | Public services | "related to the impact of cuts [and] whether those in power truly understand the impact of [their] decisions" |
3. | Local economy | "decline of the high street and [other] visible signs that stoke anxiety about the decline of the local community ... and how it can be reversed" |
4. | Social cohesion | "to be part of a community where people get on with each other, and respect each other and the place they live" |
5. | Community building | "an evident and vocal yearning for a sense of community ... now being powerfully reimagined through the [Covid-19] crisis" |
6. | Roads, transport and infrastructure | "cries of 'why are there so many potholes?' and 'why is there no (free) parking?' echoed from all four corners of the land" |
7. | Planning and the green belt | "the need to balance demand for new housing, the provision of affordable housing, and protection of green space" |
Formation | 1953 |
---|---|
Parent organization | The Young Foundation |
Website |
www |
The Institute for Community Studies at The Young Foundation is a community research and evidence centre based in Toynbee Hall, East London. [1] Originally founded in 1953 by Michael Young as the Institute of Community Studies, it is probably best known for the 1957 report by Young and his colleague Peter Willmott, Family and Kinship in East London, which argued for the continuing importance of community ties in the age of the welfare state. Described as a sociological "phenomenon", [2] the original Institute influenced a generation of sociologists and social historians.
The [Institute's] stated purpose was to examine the interaction of the family, the community and the social services. It promised to study the way in which ordinary people interacted with the newly expanded social service sector, and asked whether the organs of the state were in cooperation or conflict with established patterns of family support and mutual aid.
— Lise Butler, "Michael Young, the Institute of Community Studies, and the Politics of Kinship", Twentieth Century British History, 2015.
Other key publications from that period include:
The original Institute was also the main vehicle through which Young created over 60 organisations including the Open University and the Consumers' Association (aka Which?). In 2005, the Institute of Community Studies merged with the Mutual Aid Centre and was renamed The Young Foundation in honour of Lord Young. The current chief executive of The Young Foundation is Helen Goulden.
Under Helen Goulden's leadership the Institute for Community Studies was re-launched in 2019 as a part of The Young Foundation with support from the Power to Change Trust, Friends Provident Foundation and a large private donation, with a remit to promote positive social, economic and environmental outcomes by better understanding how government and philanthropic interventions affect – and are affected by – the individuals, families and businesses that make up our local communities. [3]
The Institute for Community Studies at The Young Foundation describes itself as 'a research and evidence centre, exploring what works for UK communities'. It places particular emphasis on the role of communities themselves in the research process, both in determining the research questions to be answered and through the use of peer researchers (also known as community-based participatory researchers) to collect evidence. In its first major publication, [4] based on a coordinated series of national surveys and regional focus groups across the United Kingdom, the Institute identified seven priority areas for further research.
Priority | Descriptive extract from Safety in Numbers? | |
1. | Safety | "reflects people's anxieties and feelings of insecurity, or fears for others, as much as ... personal lived experience of crime" |
2. | Public services | "related to the impact of cuts [and] whether those in power truly understand the impact of [their] decisions" |
3. | Local economy | "decline of the high street and [other] visible signs that stoke anxiety about the decline of the local community ... and how it can be reversed" |
4. | Social cohesion | "to be part of a community where people get on with each other, and respect each other and the place they live" |
5. | Community building | "an evident and vocal yearning for a sense of community ... now being powerfully reimagined through the [Covid-19] crisis" |
6. | Roads, transport and infrastructure | "cries of 'why are there so many potholes?' and 'why is there no (free) parking?' echoed from all four corners of the land" |
7. | Planning and the green belt | "the need to balance demand for new housing, the provision of affordable housing, and protection of green space" |