Heather Bellamy spoke with Debra Green, the executive director of Redeeming our Communities, about ROC Conversation, a community engagement event.

Debra: Yeah, it's quite surprising. We say as Redeeming our Communities we're people of good will working together towards safer, kinder communities. We've been quite surprised at how many, what we as Christians might call secular organisations, fire services, police, public services, councils, could share that agenda of transformation.

They might not be as excited about the spiritual transformation, but I think they are very keen to see the social transformation and safer, kinder places. And when they appreciate the Church has a part to play in that, it changes their perception of Church as well.

Heather: Where have they been held so far? Have you had a lot of them around the country?

Debra: We've had about a 165 of these ROC Conversations in the Midlands, the North, West, North-East, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales, South East, everywhere really. Everyone who wants one.

We're probably going to be planning one for Taunton next. Nuneaton wants a ROC conversation; we're going to be doing one in Leeds. Yorkshire are quite keen on the ROC Conversation model, I've been meeting with the police there. So it's really anywhere. Lincolnshire have asked for a ROC Conversation.

It's a tool really. We invest about six months of our time in planning, preparing and delivering these, including the follow up. If we set up a really good local action team, you start to see the fruits within six to 12 months, which is what we're hoping to see.

Heather: You've talked about homelessness being tackled with that young 16-year-old girl and that school, what other needs have been tackled out of these conversations, in other cities?

Debra: Things like setting up youth work. You probably know that a lot of statutory youth work has been cut in nearly all the cities and towns. We know, from our partnership with the police, that anti-social behaviour is caused by boredom. So with a lack of youth provision, there's going to be more boredom, and there's going to be more youth anti-social behaviour. Not in a sinister way, just because kids are bored, they haven't got anywhere to go, they're hanging around the streets and getting into trouble, or perceived to be getting into trouble and causing a noise nuisance or whatever it might be.

After school youth clubs, churches already do a little bit of that, but I think what we're bringing to the table here is our strategic conversations with the police and fire service. That means that we can target that youth work, as in what night of the week should it be? We need it to be on a Friday and Saturday because that's when most kids are going to be out on the streets.

Often our youth work is not aimed where it's really most needed. What type of youth work are we doing? Are we really attracting those kids who wouldn't traditionally attend a youth club? What sort of activities do we put on, behavioural management?

So those kinds of things, and elderly isolation, five million people over the age of 65 say they feel lonely most of the time and TV is their only company. Isolation has a big health impact as well. Loneliness is just as bad as smoking, the doctors are saying, in terms of health for older people. What is there going on? It's fine if you belong to a church or if you belong to a Christian community, or you're a member of a community club, but it's these lonely, isolated people who maybe struggle to get out. What can we do?

Heather: What's been your standout memory so far from all of these conversations?

Debra: Wow, there have been so many amazing conversations that we've had. I would say when we've been in one particular place in Oldham, actually, in Manchester, and we were told "This is not the type of community where people attend public meetings," and we had to work really hard. We had to do door-to-door canvassing and really encourage people to come.

We arrived at the venue and it was packed to capacity-standing room only. Young people were there, which was exciting for me because I don't like the way we sometimes talk about what young people need as adults without listening to their voice. We had loads of young people there and people were genuinely offering to support one another and help one another by the end of the evening. We could already see that people were arranging to have coffee and they were already making a plan of what they were going to do next. Those sort of things really excite me.