Community Organising Stories - Community Organisers

Stories of
Community
Organising

1

Community Organising
a fundamental shift in power

Locality and our partners people who have been ‘done to’, according to
have been running the an agenda set elsewhere, are finding that they
Community Organisers themselves can take action and bring about
programme for almost change, on their own account.
three years and during that
time we’ve seen hundreds This document is the first in a series of short
of inspiring community publications about the day-to-day experiences
actions get under way. and work of the organisers and the volunteer
organisers. These stories offer a window into
Working and listening in their local the programme and in each case are a brief
neighbourhoods, the Community Organisers snapshot in the journey of a community
have already spoken with over a hundred organiser and the community where they are
thousand people across England about their working. New stories and actions are developing
loves, concerns and ideas for their communities all the time.
and encouraged them to talk to their neighbours
in the same way. These particular stories were chosen as we feel
they draw out some of the key themes which
This simple process can be the spark that have become apparent over the course of the
motivates someone to take action on an issue programme: local democracy, neighbourhood
which matters to them – clearing the local pride, community spirit, individual possibility
neighbourhood of litter, saving a playground and more.
from closure, setting up a social club for older
people, influencing a local council. I hope you enjoy these samples of Community
Organising in action from neighbourhoods
The projects we share with you have all been across England.
started and run by people inspired to make a
difference in their local communities, people Yours
fired up by the possibility of what they can
achieve under their own agency and with other Steve Wyler
local people. CEO Locality

These stories and actions go to the very heart of
Locality’s mission: to change the world one
neighbourhood at a time. We believe we are
seeing here the beginnings of something very
big indeed – a fundamental shift in power, where

2

Contents

Individual possibility 4
Building confidence - Mark Parker, Southwark 5
Lighting up - Alex Ivancevic, Southampton
5
Early wins 6
Winning with your very first letter - Rebecca Cant, Bristol
One thing leads to another - Ellina Catherwood, Peterborough 7
7
Community spirit
Community spirit in the tower blocks - Toni Nash, Newham 8
Seaside trip unites a community - Najeeda Asghar, Wakefield 8

Activating the networks 9
We don’t have projects, we have a community - Marc Cantan, Gravesend 9
The Breakfast Club - Leigh Ricketts, Stirchley & Brookside
10
Neighbourhood housework 11
Right up my street - Stephen Smith, Nottingham
Incredible Ashington - Victoria Gallagher, Ashington 12
12
Influencing decisions
Bus service success - James Booker, Sheffield 13
Imprisoned by the Olympic Village - William Buchan, Portland 14

Assets and services 14
Penkside procurement - Stewart Bishop, Stafford 15
Play matters - Sarah Argue, Sheffield

Enterprise
Curing teenage-itis - Glenn Jenkins, Luton
Making it happen - Laura Ward, Stockport

Democracy
How to be a councillor: listen - Gavin Marsh, Southampton
Footpath fixing - Krysiek Tarnawski, St Helens

The stories in this booklet represent snapshots in time throughout the lifetime of the Community Organisers programme so far.
Naturally many of these stories will have moved on and developed since the time of writing.

If you’d like to get an update on any of the stories featured in this publication, please get in touch with the Community Organiser
featured by finding their profile at www.cocollaborative.org.uk/organisers

3

Individual possibility:

moving individuals from apathy to agency, building a sense of possibility

Building
confidence

Mark Parker: Residents’ meeting
Southwark, May 2012

Sandra is a Spanish woman who has three primary age kids
and works part-time in the music department of their school.
She is a busy individual, but when we met at the door and she
invited me into her home to chat about her experience of living
locally, she gave me her full attention.

Our conversation turned to the way the council dealt with The two subsequent meetings brought five mums out together
tenants, especially around repairs, maintenance and the plans with about 12 younger ones and the fun day was planned
to demolish her home. Her flat is not large enough for her and by them for 4 June, using borrowed tables and chairs, a
her family - she has been on the transfer list for years - but it loaned PA system and donated food, all from residents from
is their home. In our conversation, she saw that complaining the one surrounding block. Sandra went out cadging paint
on her own was less likely to have any real influence on and material for bunting. Her children went door-to-door
council priorities than if they got together and argued the encouraging donations and telling people about the day.
case collectively.
The fun day itself was a huge success with over 100 people
She came to two meetings of local residents exploring what turning out. The kids enjoyed all the games and activities they
their priorities were for action. had planned themselves and the adults – mostly women –
looked after food, drink and the music. Sandra says she would
When a kids’ fun day was suggested, she offered to have a never have had the confidence to run things like this before
meeting of the local children at her home. She already knew but she has already made a huge difference to her community!
many of the kids from school and saw that events like this are
one way to get more parents and neighbours involved.

 

The Fun Day was a huge success.

4

Lighting up

Alex Ivancevic:
Southampton, February 2012

I went to listen to a young woman recommended to us by
her neighbour. She invited me in and after going through
the listening process for a while, the woman suddenly had a
brainwave: to set up a mother and toddler group in their tower
block as there is a suitable but unused community room in the
block.

I don’t mind admitting that I was melting inside just seeing The woman has already spoken with some of the other
this lovely person suddenly getting 10 feet high and being so mothers in the building and we’ll all meet up for the idea to
pleased with herself because of her idea! The lady kept on be discussed and taken forward. For me, the lesson reinforced
saying: ‘yes, I’m sure it’s going to work, we can decorate the today is: it is so important to give people the opportunity and
room, and it’s going to be good for our children to play and space to come up with their own ideas and initiatives and thus
for us mothers to socialise and connect’. She would positively feel the full ownership of them.
light up when talking about all this.

Early wins:

early wins that inspire and invigorate

Winning with your
very first letter

Rebecca Cant: Sitting with me, she phoned him up and told him that things
Bristol, April 2012 shouldn’t keep changing “as it’s not good for the young
people”. Then she said, “Thank you for your letter, but that lot
up there, they need a good kick up the …***…Yes, you can pass
that on…The kids love their football sessions, that’s the most
important thing. You’ve got to keep them.”

The other week, I helped a local resident and much-loved Amazingly, he told her he would try to find funding to keep the
mum of six to write her first letter. She was disappointed football sessions in place! Although we can’t confirm it yet, I
about the closure of the Youth Inclusion Project in her area. think it’s a brilliant result for her in terms of building confidence
Below the letter, she collected 20 signatures and moving to challenge power. Now she’s ready to do more and more. I
comments from kids in the area who are devastated about asked her if she’d be prepared to try and start a community
losing the service. I’m hoping she’ll connect me to those kids, project… she’s a bit nervous but really encouraged by the
all of whom respect her (and seem wary of me) so that I can action she’s just taken, so fingers crossed!
develop relationships with them too.
Update May 2012: Anyone remember the mum who wrote a
The manager of the Youth Offending Team, the funder of the letter with comments and signatures from 20 young people
programme, sent a long letter to her in reply to explain the about the closure of the Youth Inclusion Project? Well, she
changes to youth services in Bristol and put his mobile number persuaded the council to restore funding to the project and
at the bottom. the football sessions start again in two weeks. Really proud.

5

One thing
leads to another

Ellina Catherwood:
Peterborough, March 2013

The day I listened to Dianne, I knew I had found a determined,
motivated and caring individual.

Dianne has been in the area for a while and since her children Scrabble at the Seniors Club
had grown up and moved away she now lives on her own.
Dianne is a very active person, plays table tennis regularly,
volunteers, goes out on long cycling routes and generally
keeps fit.

During my listening with Dianne, one of her concerns was the I recently went back to visit Dianne and Dee which gave me
absence of a social club which was primarily for the senior the opportunity to listen and meet the new members. One
residents in the area. Dianne visualised that such a club could very positive outcome of the project can be summed up in
provide a place for senior residents to socialise, meet people the words of one attendee. He told me that before the Seniors
and do various fun activities. Club was established he was very lonely as he has no family
and had been looking for something like this for years. He told
She knew a group of people within the Hampton community me that attending the club has become the highlight of his
that shared her views so she motivated them to get together week and he has made many new friends and begun to feel
to form their own ‘Seniors Club’. Dianne and Dee set up stands more confident.
in local fairs and shopping centres to promote their club and
find members. This one example demonstrates the positive impact that
community organising can have with a community. Volunteers
They hired a room in the Hampton Community Centre and were motivated to work together to promote and manage
began by charging a small fee to cover the room hire costs a small community project. This has grown and led to wider
and the table tennis tables. The positive response from locals community engagement, secured local government funding
proved that the project was needed and before long Dianne and encouraged other projects to be developed. The project
and Dee approached local councillors to request funding. The has shown positive outcomes for individuals and the
parish council loved the project and are now funding it, which community by actively engaging residents, providing a
means the members no longer need to pay a fee. supportive and social environment for Hamptons seniors,
building new friendships, encouraging a community spirit,
encouraging physical activity to improve health and
improving residents outlooks.

The council is now funding this successful club

6

Community spirit:

sense of community spirit, coming together, overcoming isolation

Community spirit
in the tower blocks

Toni Nash:
Newham, April 2012

The second tower block meeting last night was fandabydozy! The finished action plan
Despite the horrendous weather 16 residents turned up.
They basically ran the meeting themselves with only gentle We agreed to meet again in a month to see how it’s all going,
prodding in the right direction when they started to focus too unless they need some support from us in the meantime. They
much on the negative. all said they would say ‘hello’ to neighbours they meet in the
lifts and spread the word of what they are up to.
We asked the residents who hadn’t come to the first meeting
to express their loves and concerns at the beginning. After
nearly three hours of discussions and bouncing ideas off each
other with oodles of flipchart paper, they have devised an
action plan and have put their names to projects they want to
explore and take further. The only support they need is help to
design a petition and print off copies.

Seaside trip unites a
community
It was a great opportunity for both communities to socialise
and overcome any uncertainties they had about each other – a
real chance for them to relax and get to know each other.

Najeeda Asghar: On the morning there was a huge turnout, which was great.
Wakefield, September 2013 People were well prepared for a day of fun and meeting new folk.

The first time people from Portobello (a community with Right from the beginning to the end everything went very
a majority of white people) met with the residents from smoothly, volunteers were excited to play their part, people
Agbrigg (a very diverse community with the majority of people gathered in small groups, children waited eagerly for the two
from South Asian background) it was to go on a seaside trip to coaches to arrive and to top it all the weather was perfect.
Bridlington.
A local resident said, “I have seen countless community trips
but this one had an exceptional mood to it and it was best by
far. I have made a couple of new friends who otherwise I would
have passed by in the street without talking. I am sure we will
now meet regularly!”

Paddling Bringing both the communities together is a stepping stone to
at Bridlington help them to integrate and eradicate any previous tensions. It
changed the perceptions people had about each other

At the end of the day they felt like their community had grown
stronger. And some people even got to taste some samosas,
pakoras and other food they hadn’t tried before.

7

Activating the networks:

using the network to solve problems, either with one-to-one connections
or by mobilising numbers

We don’t have projects,
we have a community

Marc Cantan: a teddy bears picnic with the little ones, again, a grand turn-
Gravesend, September 2012 out. This last week has even seen the emergence of an estate
football team from the local youngsters with whom we have
We put a newsletter out to 400 homes on the estate we are built a great foundation of trust and respect, both ways. Our
working in. This raised so much interest that we had our first community has now got a raffle which it runs every week,
‘leader’ meeting. This brought together volunteer community there is a 1st and 2nd prize, with local businesses also putting
organisers discovered by both myself and Paddy. This is where in prizes.
the fuse was lit and the explosion into action began!
Starting before the end of this month we have a community
No-one could have guessed that the following two months choir, film club, homework club and a fortnightly bingo
would have gone like it has. We have a backlog of project evening. The money generated then goes back into the
sheets which have turned into action: a fishing trip with ‘Community Pot’ to hold yet more events and the goal of
the local youngsters, a community sports day (held at our having an xmas party at our community centre with every
community centre, it was a massive success), we have also had kid on the estate under the age of 16 getting a present from
Santa, who, of course will be putting in a visit on a float around
the estate where we work. We don’t have projects, we have a
community!

Breakfast People took photos
Club of themselves

Leigh Ricketts: and their cereal
Stirchley & Brookside, October 2013

It all started with a listening in one of the local schools in developing local connections to save the club. Leigh and
Shropshire. While listening to a teacher, community organis- Kathryn contacted community organisers around the country
ers Leigh Ricketts and Kathryn MacDonald found out that the for ideas and support, whilst the teacher connected with
school’s free breakfast club had run out of funding and was local businesses, who were delighted to support the club. They
now being paid for by one of the staff. The teacher however also worked with a local food bank. Cereal from all around the
was no longer able to sustain paying for the club herself. country started to arrive at their door and not only that, other
residents got involved.
Previous listenings with the school children revealed how the
club is extremely important to them. The kids talked about it as Leigh said: “We even got hundreds of pounds in donations
a safe, quiet place where they come to socialise and prepare from people we didn’t know. We also asked people to take a
for the day ahead. They were devastated by the prospect of it photo of themselves with their box of cereal before they sent
closing. it. The photos were shown to the kids and they loved them!”

Time was of the essence so the organisers decided to utilise Today, supported by organisers the school and the food bank are
some of their networks as well as support the teacher in working together with the kids to make sure the free breakfast
club continues running. And most importantly the children are
developing ways of collecting food for the bank as well as for
the club, and are excited about making a difference in their area.

8

Neighbourhood housework:

extending the tidying up and caring work that goes on in households
into the wider neighbourhood

Right up my street

Stephen Smith: of pride for the area is steadily eroding, characterised by the
Nottingham, March 2013 levels of dog poo and high levels of fly tipping and litter.

Once I started as a community organiser it didn’t take long
before the listenings began to reveal major concerns about the
untidy area, fly tipping, and a lack of area pride. In fact, this is
Sneinton’s number one issue.

I invited a group of residents from Whittier Road who were
passionate about the area to a house meeting. They were very
committed to transforming the area and have since formed a
constituted community group named The Prettier Whittier group.

The group’s aims are to organise a series of street clean events
annually, to get the community together to clean up their
street; to encourage neighbours to interact; and to help bring
a sense of pride back into the area.

Sneinton is an area of extreme deprivation. The older folk The Prettier Whittier group have organised and run three street
in the area talk about a once-vibrant community with a clean-up events to date, with local residents joining in to tidy
multitude of shops and services, but since a bypass was built up the area, pick up litter and plant flowers. These events have
several years ago, the through-traffic has been diverted, been a great success, and the Prettier Whittier group has the
leading to businesses shutting down. It seems that the sense official backing of the council and the local police.

Incredible Ashington

Victoria Gallagher:
Ashington, January 2014

Clearing the ground ready to plant

Making sure that kids are fed properly has become an important
issue in Ashington, with the increasing price of food. We’ve been
inspired by the Incredible Edible scheme to start growing our
own food ourselves, on unused bits of land round the town.

The local school is already involved. I and some volunteers have Volunteers from the community have started clearing the
visited them to teach the after-school club about how to grow area, ready to plant up when the time of year is right. The local
things. They got some raised beds and the kids are going to nursery is donating plants for the project.
plant fruit and vegetables – and when the crop is ready the kids
can pick it and take it home for dinner. People will be able to feed themselves for free, with fresh
healthy food – plus the local area will look much better planted
We’ve also got plans for an empty bit of land at the top of my with fruit and veg, instead of just disused space.
street. It’s just a scrubby patch at the moment, some trees and
a strip of wall. It’s a pain for the council to look after, and they
were happy for us to take it on.

9

Influencing decisions:

influencing decisions about resources and plans for the neighbourhood

Bus service success

James Booker:
Sheffield, September 2012

Sheffield public transport was undergoing some changes – and Our group was determined not to give up. Together we lobbied
this included the removal of the bus service connecting High for local councillors and the managers of the bus company to
Green to Rotherham and providing the most direct route into come to High Green, talk to local people and travel the bus route
Sheffield City Centre via Hillsborough. themselves.

One of our volunteers set up a petition against the closure, Eventually through our unwillingness to give up the fight, we had
after we discovered late into the ‘consultation’ period that High a breakthrough. We got meetings with the individuals right at the
Green had actually received no consultation documents, and centre of the decision-making process and we were able to put
there was only a week left before the consultation period was our case to them directly.
due to end.
After the meeting they conceded that the bus link between High
Our volunteer rallied round and submitted an 1154 strong petition Green and Rotherham was vital for local residents and agreed to
to the Sheffield City Council Cabinet meeting at the Town Hall. keep this service. They also agreed to maintain the 66a bus which
runs during unsocial hours.
But the petition fell on deaf ears, and we were told the closure
of the bus route would still go ahead. In fact we found out the Through organisation and hard work, power had shifted to the
decision had been made before the meeting. community.

Saving the 66a bus route

10

Imprisoned by the
Olympic Village

William Buchan:
Portland, July 2012

We were invited to listen to residents at a sheltered housing The group wanted to meet face to face with their perceived
complex on the island. tormentors and insisted on handing the petition over in person.
So two weeks later the residents, the Escape Committee, the
When we asked the residents about their concerns, one response Olympic Village Manager, local police representative, two county
was the fact that the new Olympic Village, security fence councillors and the Highways Agency all had tea, biscuits and
and changes to the road layout were limiting their mobility, excellent home-made cake.
restricting their movement and had tripled the length of the walk or
wheelchair journey to the nearest usable bus stop. In the short term, a sponsored wheelchair-friendly bus was made
available twice a week, extra signage and route marking took
They now felt imprisoned, isolated and unsafe. place, LOCOG met on a more affable basis with the residents,
and apologised for not realising they were there and not
Their idea was to start a petition to highlight their plight and involving them in the process. They also offered to take them on a
send it to LOCOG (London Organising Committee of the tour of the village and let them use their VIP fleet of cars to assist
Olympic Games and Paralympics) and Dorset County Council. the residents with transportation issues.
We challenged them to use the listening process to canvas
opinions locally and add strength to the listenings we had The councillors agreed to assist in the short term effort, and also
collated, to kick-start any action. returned later to the group to foster a long-term transport plan,
encompassing the residents of Foyle Bank, the new owners and
We met a week later and the Escape Committee (as they had residents of the Olympic Village houses and the school children
become affectionately known) handed us a pile of listenings they that will benefit from the mess hall ownership following the games.
had done. We helped them to sort out an official petition and they
got 100% of the residents and some staff to sign up, and then they All of the people who received an invitation to collect their
lobbied the nearby doctors and hospital for additional signatories petition are adding their weight to this long term plan for better
- quite an effort for four elderly residents. services with proper access and sheltered bus stops.

Portland care home residents got together
to tackle their Olympic Village concerns

11

Assets and services:

community takeover of assets and services

Penkside procurement

Stewart Bishop:
Stafford, June 2013

Penkside had long been designated an area of deprivation. Community choir
The locals are fed up of being stigmatised by all the different
agencies in the area. The Penkside Community Champions The group have arranged and financed courses run in the centre
wanted to do something about it, and with support and including numeracy, literacy, computing, first aid, fitness and
encouragement from me, they have started to challenge this more recently a weekly work club.
impression.
In April 2013 the Penkside Community Champions were asked by
I supported the group to form and to secure funding for a the local authority if they could provide staff to run the Children’s
community choir which has 20 plus members who meet on a Centre and as a result were awarded a 12 month contract and
weekly basis in the local church hall. Four champions run the now employ three local people in the centre.
youth club every week in the Children’s Centre and adjoining
school facilities. They produce a monthly newsletter that is It’s been great to be part of this group to see how they have
delivered by volunteers to 2,000 homes across the area. grown in confidence to lead on their own terms.

Play matters

Sarah Argue:
Sheffield, October 2013

In the very early stages of our training year, a local resident and signatures, working together with the city’s other adventure play-
parent called Kate contacted our team, as she had heard through ground. Local people were challenging people in power - from
other people in the community that we were knocking on management in Activity Sheffield who staffed the playground
doors and listening to what people thought about the area. Kate to senior council officers and cabinet members. The campaign
expressed concern over the fate of the local adventure resonated with so many people, and it was truly amazing to see
playground as rumours had begun to circulate that the parents defend the playground and challenge those in power for
playground may be under threat due to Sheffield City Council the first time and the children who themselves asked questions of
budget cuts. the decision-makers, along with writing letters to the council and
drawing pictures of what the playground meant to them.
Although the Christmas holidays were fast approaching, Kate
didn’t want to waste any time. She brought together some other Having spent quite a lot of time there over the year, I got a sense of
parents she knew that felt the same as she did to discuss what just how special and unique the playground is. This is a place where
could be done. From this a community group began to emerge, children and adults come together and make friends; it is a true
forming a network of people willing to take some sort of action to example of community cohesion which has developed organically.
try and keep the playground open and staffed.
The campaign did secure some staffed hours at the playground
The group began their campaign by knocking on doors in the due to the passion and dedication of the group. Not content
community, and attending public meetings with local politicians with stopping there, the group has since concentrated on rais-
and decision-makers in the council to make their voices heard ing more funding and a £10,000 Awards for All grant allowed the
(much to the irritation of some!). playground to be open and staffed every day throughout summer
and Tuesday, Friday and Saturday since the beginning of term.
A key achievement of the campaign was reaching 2,500 petition
The group is now working with Sharrow Community Forum to
take over the management of the site from the council to keep it
firmly in the hands of the community.

12

Enterprise:

starting up new businesses, services and projects

Curing teenage-itis

Glenn Jenkins:
Luton, February 2012

A couple of our community organisers were listening to a group The lads were right up for working with one of our team who
of residents living in the same street who all shared the same is an experienced mechanic to test the karts, including a strip
concern - namely a group of teenagers hanging around the street down and rebuild to learn how to maintain them, as well as doing
till late at night, making noise, sometimes drinking, generally some basic business planning and a work plan with target dates
being ‘young with no place to go’. to test the feasibility of using the go-karts to create a viable social
enterprise.
We had a house meeting with the lads to help them understand
the impact they were having on the older people living in the area The lads worked up an outline business plan based on a mobile
and to listen to what they think can be done about it, and to their go-karting track touring Luton’s schools, and cleared and re-
own visions, concerns and solutions. created the temporary track at our Marsh House base so they
could start holding training events.
It turns out they were keen as mustard on setting up a go karts
enterprise. The council used to employ a couple of staff to They used community funding from Luton Council to pay for
run go-kart races in the compound attached to our base, but public liability insurance and are now working in partnership
this was shut down years ago. The karts are still stored in the with the local school to get the social enterprise up and
area. This turned into a really good discussion about ways they running.
could possibly get to use them and all of a sudden they were full
of ideas.

We approached the necessary people at the council to get the
keys to the go-kart container. We didn’t know whether the karts
would still work as they had been sitting unused for almost
seven years, but when the lads broke the old locks and opened the
container there were some pretty crisp looking go-karts waiting
to be put to use!

13

Making My volunteers in Project Cherrywell began listening to local
it happen residents and it soon became apparent that although local people
loved Romiley, they didn’t feel there was enough going on. They
Laura Ward: said they’d like to see more shops open in the village, especially on
Stockport, April 2013 Saturday.

Door-knocking round the Cherrytree estate I came across several Soon, there was a small group of volunteers ready to take this idea
people with a similar agenda - they all wanted to make their area a further. They began working on setting up an artisan market in
better place to live. Romiley every month.

Each volunteer had a talent – including arts, crafts and cooking - The council put up a good few barriers which I thought might deter
and a vision for sharing this talent with other local people. my group and put them off (especially with the fear of a potential
£10,000 fine). However this only made them more determined.
We began meeting each week in a community shop, which during There was a lot of planning and lots of red tape, but they stuck with
the week operated as a community café, The Cherrywell. The it and organised the first Romiley Artisan Market on 3 August 2013.
volunteer running the café often joined in our discussions and soon The event was a huge success, loved by the community, and also
became part of the group. The network was beginning to grow. the stall holders who sold out!

The group created a constitution, elected a chair, a treasurer and a The market took place on the first Saturday of every month
secretary and Project Cherrywell was born! throughout 2013, organised by my volunteers – I’m so proud of
my group. Romiley Traders Association is taking over the reins of
the market in 2014. The volunteers have done a fantastic job!

Democracy:

strengthening the democracy process

How to be a
councillor: listen

Gavin Marsh:
Southampton, June 2012

I called round on a young man I’d been trying to listen to for a while.
He’d had some nasty experiences in the neighbourhood, namely
being threatened with knives, guns and being physically beaten up.
He said he regarded his home as ‘a sanctuary’ and largely kept him-
self to himself. He wanted to do something about tackling violence
in the area.

I found out that he’d thought about standing for the council and I
told him that was an excellent idea. He started quizzing me about
how to go about it and I said “just do what we’ve been doing, listen
to people” I asked him if he thought he could do it and he replied
“yes, this has really grown enthusiasm in me.”

14

Footpath fixing

Krysiek Tarnawski
St Helens, Nov 2013

One common comment in my patch was about the public right of Fix our crumbling footpath!
way at the end of the street. During heavy rain the bank collapsed
taking parts of the footpath with it; consequently it was blocked off
by the local authority.

Residents had been in contact with their local councillors about
the issue and many claimed they had been complaining for a year.
Another concerned resident told me about how her fence had also
collapsed into the stream.

We held a few house meetings and prioritised this concern as their This meeting really showed the potential community organising
first project; they then planned how they would go about tackling has to offer, it also showed how communities can influence people
the issue. in power and create their own power source.

They contacted local councillors who at first were reluctant to at- The following day residents received a letter from the councillors
tend our proposed meeting. Other authorities like the Environment informing them money had been found in the local reserve, the
Agency and the water board were also contacted. Unfortunately all work would be completed by the council under the Councillor Im-
bodies denied any responsibility and certain emails even suggested provement Fund.
the residents were responsible for the damage.
The work was eventually completed a few weeks after the meeting,
After the story was published in the local newspaper, councillors and a great job they did too.
agreed to attend our meeting. We promoted the meeting and had
an amazing turn out of residents, many of whom I had never seen
before.

The completed work

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The Community Organisers programme aims to recruit and train 500 community organisers
and 4,500 volunteer community organisers by 2015. These organisers work in local
communities, knocking on doors, organising meetings, building relationships and listening
to people’s concerns and ideas for their neighbourhoods. They support people and help give
them the confidence to take action on the local issues which matter to them.
The programme was created by the Office for Civil Society in the Cabinet Office (OCS) and is
run by Locality, the UK’s leading network for community-led organisations in partnership with
RE:generate, the lead training partner.

Contact us
www.cocollaborative.org.uk
[email protected]
Find us on twitter and facebook
@corganisers
www.facebook.com/COrganisers

Locality
33 Corsham Street
London N1 6DR
0845 458 8336
[email protected]
Locality is the trading name of Locality (UK) a company limited by guarantee, registered in England no. 2787912
and a registered charity no. 1036460. © Locality, April 2014

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