THE PUBLIC POLICY OF REINTEGRATION Professor David Adams Social Inclusion Commissioner June 2010.

THE PUBLIC POLICY OF REINTEGRATION

Professor David Adams

Social Inclusion Commissioner

June 2010

WHAT IS SOCIAL INCLUSION ABOUT?Social inclusion is about being connected and being valued in society. Networks are the engine room of social inclusion. Supportive networks underpin access to the resources and experiences that make life meaningful.

• productive networks (where we develop skills and work in various roles);

• consumption networks (access to goods and services);• civic networks (where we can have a say on what

matters; and• personal networks (our links to family, friends and

community that helps shape identity, trust and belonging)

SOCIAL INCLUSION AND REINTEGRATIONKEY EQUATIONS:1. Supportive networks are a key to

reintegration..and can generate ‘community’

2. Networks can fragment and break during incarceration

3. Which is a form of institutional exclusion….4. And then to reintegrate ‘we’ have to put

supportive networks back together again….5. Much of the conference is about 4

NETWORKS CAN SHAPE/CREATE ‘COMMUNITY’

Communities have value because they can cause things to happen

They are places and spaces to:• make friends, have fun, be happy• feel safe, be safe• shape futures and sort out values• forge identity and belonging• make sense of things and judge what’s right• get access to resources – and be a resource• creativity and imagination• learn stuff….eg skills

NEW COMMUNITIES

• Myspace; YouTube; Twitter; Facebook; Avatars and Blogging

• Families being replaced by the ‘strength of multiple weak ties’…networks

• High speed broadband will accelerate this• (But can also be places and

spaces of risk and exclusion)• Still coming to grips with this...

6 THINGS THAT WORK?1. See the world through the lens of people

and places….not programs2. Investing in networks that matter not

institutions3. And investing in the spaces and places

where people live their lives4. Brokers between communities and

institutions ( the future for local government as stewards of social inclusion?)

5. Supported pathways over time ( generations not hours)

6. Begin with assets, aspirations and capabilities not just needs and services

OUR INTERNATIONAL PUBLIC POLICY REINTEGRATION PUZZLE = WE INCREASINGLY KNOW WHAT WORKS BUT…• Scale…nothing like a network platform

in place • Scope…can’t quite reach that far• Connectivity…’.welcome to my

program’• Sustainability…..’lets have another

pilot’… • So...we are primarily dealing with a

failure of public policy and public will

COMMUNITY GARDENS AS AN EXAMPLE OF NETWORK VALUE CREATION…. • Social capital – trust,

reciprocity, belonging, diversity

• Economic capital – trade produce

• Environmental capital – sustainability, food security•Human capital – up to 20

qualifications…Seems to add up to a source of prosperity and wellbeing….

SO…

How do we create reintegration networks ( productive; consumption; civic; personal) that look and feel like community gardens….about people not offenders…

We need more ‘hubs’ ‘intermediaries’ ‘third places’ ‘mens sheds’ ‘Agoras’ as the sites of weak ( but very important) community ties for transitioning and for brokering with institutions

SUMMARY

Supportive networks matter to reintegrationWe know a lot more than we did about how they

are constructed and maintained and the conditions

under which they will be accessed…The value(s) they can generate and…How public policy can shape enabling conditions

and…We have quite a few now but they are a patchwork quilt not a system