This section is about working with diverse groups within the vale to reduce the impact of crime and disorder

An important part of the way we engage will be to recognise diversity within the Vale and make an effort to engage with hard to reach groups. A hard to reach group is a group of people who share common characteristics. This makes it more difficult to engage with. Some of the characteristics could be language barriers, cultural barriers or even a small and dispersed population which make a group hard to engage find or contact.

Hard to reach groups are often not hard to reach in physical terms, we know of them and how to make contact, but not necessarily how to engage. They are in fact, hard to engage groups rather than hard to reach. Some groups which could be defined as hard to engage with are:

• Black minority ethnic

• Young/ older

• Disabled

• Homeless

• Drug and alcohol dependants 

• Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender 

• Faith/ religious

We know these groups exist and there are already individuals and organisations which successfully work with them. The challenge for the community safety partnership is to build connections with hard to reach groups. If we focus on characteristics we can start meeting their needs without actually focusing on specific groups. This approach will increase engagement opportunities and improve the quality of service.

Date Published: 10/07/08