Reports and research

Learning in Company: Designing The U

1 December 2010 | Authors: Genevieve Maitland Hudson,

The U’s founding belief was that engaging training in a range of useful skills such as first aid, saving energy and intervening safely to defuse conflict will encourage more effective responses to social challenges by citizens who participate in The

Building resilient communities

1 December 2010 | Authors: Catherine Russell, Nicola Bacon, Nina Mguni, Vicki Sellick,

In Summer 2010, the Young Foundation worked with Wiltshire County Council to develop new approaches to improve wellbeing and transform service delivery by removing the duplication that can arise where citizens interact with multiple agencies. The Young Foundation worked with

Taking the temperature of local communities: The Wellbeing and Resilience Measure (WARM)

1 November 2010 | Authors: Nicola Bacon, Nina Mguni,

As public resources shrink it is more important than ever that local areas have ways to think clearly about their priorities and needs. WARM is a new tool that has been developed to make the most of existing data about

This is European Social Innovation

1 November 2010 | Authors: Louise Pulford,

The Euclid and SIX networks, with the support of the Social Innovation Park in Bilbao, Spain, and the European Commission published This is European Social Innovation – a call for inspiring stories. The financial and economic crisis after 2008 made

Social Impact Bonds in Health

1 October 2010 | Authors: John Loder,

Social Impact Bonds are a potentially very powerful instrument for creating change and improvement. This short paper describes the basic structure of social impact bonds, why they might be useful for the public sector, and some of the issues that

Innovations in Health: Approaches from the Regional Innovation Funds

1 October 2010 | Authors: Geoff Mulgan, John Loder, Simon Tucker,

The NHS has already recognised that alternative approaches and solutions are therefore necessary – radically different and innovative ways of identifying, creating and scaling solutions, delivering services and involving patients and users are needed. This paper sets out the case

Plugged in, untapped: Using digital technologies to help young people learn to lead

30 September 2010 | Authors: Maryanna Abdo, Sarah Hewes,

Digital technologies can be powerful tools for empowering young people to lead positive social change. But these new resources are no magic bullet, and young people aren’t always the ‘digital natives’ they’re made out to be. While young people are

Investing in Social Growth: Can the Big Society be more than a slogan?

1 September 2010 | Authors: Geoff Mulgan, Phoebe Griffith,

The Big Society’ was promoted by government as a framework for thinking about how this might happen. As an idea it has been much criticised both for vagueness and for diverting attention from spending cuts. This report sets out how

The Young Foundation and the Web: Digital Social Innovation

1 September 2010 | Authors:

In 2010, over 27 million Britons had a Facebook profile, 40 per cent of internet users uploaded self-created content to the web, and the same amount posted messages to chat sites, blogs and newsgroups. Digital technology was transforming our professional

Turning the Corner: Beyond incarceration and re-offending

1 August 2010 | Authors: Anton Shelupanov, Neil Reeder, Robert Patrick, Rushanara Ali,

Political and economic upheavals open up opportunities for more radical reform of the justice system. But reformers have struggled to come up with proven alternatives to incarceration which are cost effective, progressive and able to secure public confidence. Turning the

Why communities matter: What do people and places need from the Big Society?

1 August 2010 | Authors: Saffron Woodcraft,

In this briefing we put forward practical ideas about what communities need from the Big Society to support local engagement, social renewal and improve local quality of life. These ideas are drawn from four years of research at the Young

Why do some people get involved? How to encourage local activism and help communities to self-organise

1 August 2010 | Authors: Lucia Caistor-Arendar,

This paper was produced as part of the Neighbourhood Futures programme, a partnership with six local authorities exploring the impact of the economic downturn on community empowerment and neighbourhood engagement. The programme ran between 2009 and 2010 involving the London