Shorter summary of a lengthy and detailed report on the Ely Youth and Community Project arising from evaluation of its work during a two and a half year research study. The report aims to highlight the issues concerning policy, practice, provision and research which appear to be the most central messages to be shared with the wider field. It is hoped that this report will still provoke serious discussion and thought amongst policy makers, practitioners and students alike (and indeed anyone concerned with working with young people) from both within and outside the youth and community field. The research was prompted both by demands from fieldworkers in Ely and by a wider concern within Wales over a number of years about the need to develop more collaborative inter-agency approaches to working with young people and the community.