Stockton-on-Tees

Objectives

To work closely with the Darlington project to share meetings and consultants, both on the use of the Guide and on marketing. An initial joint meeting with Darlington and the consultant resulted in the planning both of work on the project, the development of a marketing strategy and evaluation of using the "Learning Town" concept in marketing, and the use of consultancy available through the project.

The marketing consultant used by the project participated in workshops on the issues in marketing learning in disadvantaged communities and produced a feedback report for the Learning Town's Board. This activity was followed by a seminar to develop strategy, which resulted in ten potential marketing projects being incorporated into a Marketing and Development Plan for Stockton's Learning Towns. Funding and support are being sought for the projects from both challenge funds available locally and national funding streams.

Outcomes

The lack of specific funding and need to diversify funding sources as a result has been one of the problems faced by this project. Further difficulties have been the commitment of some partner organisations and the maintenance of momentum.

Essential in the development of marketing initiatives and partnerships in connection with Learning Communities are keeping a sense of focus, employing consultants who are fit for the job to be undertaken, being prepared to modify projects as circumstances may demand and ensuring enough resources have been invested in the project from the start. This project benefited significantly from the shared work with Darlington and felt that sharing work with a similar project was essential to their progress.

So far as working in partnership is concerned the project leader felt a key skill was learning to listen to all partners and not just the most forceful and that consultation with residents was time consuming but highly rewarding. The partnership exercise had involved significant learning particularly so far as maintenance and motivation of partnerships were concerned.