Glasgow Girls Club
In the 2020-21 Annual Reporter – in the Article ‘Let’s Get Communities Connected – Utilising Tech for Good in Justice’ – Margaret from Community Justice Glasgow set out the context and ambition of the Community Justice Partnership around connecting and engaging people in the justice system with the services and supports they need. This ambition looks to improve their personal situation and outcomes and reduce the risk that they will re-offend. You can read that article by CLICKING ON THE PICTURE LINK BELOW OR SCANNING THE QR CODE:
In March 2022, the Let’s Get Communities Connected (LGCC) App was launched following around a year of research and development. The LGCC App is a digital directory which was developed with the aim of providing tailored, easily accessible information around services to help not only those with lived experience of the justice system, but also the service providers as a signposting tool. Following the launch of the App on 1st March 2022, the success has been evident in numerous ways.
In the first month alone, there was over 6600 views with this number rising to over 27,000 (by Sept 22 – time of writing). It is not simply high numbers of usage that indicates the success, but the activity of users. The services within the App are split out into different categories, and the ‘Community Justice’ and ‘Addictions’ categories have consistently been the highest viewed sections. This has been vitally important to show us just how much these services are needed by the demographic who are making use of the LGCC App. The uptake of App users and views grew steadily following the launch, an important insight for just how much this was needed.
You can hear about that impact from the people who use the App by CLICKING ON THE VIDEO LINK BELOW:
The App has proven to be vital in signposting services for organisations and workers within the sector, whether that be Statutory, Public Sector, 3rd Sector or at a Grass Roots level. One of the biggest indicators of this is the fact the App has been embedded as part of the Public Health Approach with Police Scotland’s Glasgow Campus Officers making use of this. Martin Tierney, Inspector and Public Health Co-ordinator, has expressed his support for the App highlighting the usefulness of being provided an:
‘Effective operational tool to use on the frontline to support vulnerable members of our communities. The LGCC App has bridged the gap between services putting out information and the information being accessed by the people who need it most”.
You can read more about the Public Health Approach to Policing in the article ‘Public Health Approach – Transforming Policing in Glasgow’
Furthermore, the App has provided the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) with a view of the services across the city prior to the opening of the Community Custodial Unit (CCU) in Maryhill. This decreased the workload of the SPS massively and allowed their focus to remain on the CCU with the confidence that the App will provide the necessary information to service users. You can read more about the new CCU in the article ‘Update on The Lilias Centre – Glasgow’s Community Custody Unit for Women.’
It is not only with statutory services that relationships have been built and benefits indicated, with the recovery communities strongly advocating the use of the Let’s Get Communities Connected. As aforementioned, the addictions section of the App is one of the highest viewed elements on the App, so it makes sense why it is used as a ‘go to’ for Recovery Orientated Systems of Care (ROSC) events.
You can CLICK THE PICTURE LINK BELOW TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT ROSC.
