Talking to Families in Leeds and Sheffield

Helen Bowman reports on interviews with 100 families in two low-income cityneighbourhoods, one in Sheffield and one in Leeds. Kirkside East is a large,mainly white, council estate in Leeds. The Valley is a mixed tenure, mixedincome, ethnically diverse area, stretching out of Sheffield city centre.Three-quarters of the families in both areas felt that community spirit mattered.It made the areas better places to live in and it brought people together to fightproblems. The large majority of families wanted to know that they could relyon their local community in times of need.All families shared worries about their children, but most families valued theirlocal community.[...]