The Ideas Hub has just passed its first anniversary. In May 2016 we started with a short blog setting out what we intended to do. Since then there have been over 100 articles – case studies of people doing wonderful things be that within the public sector or in communities, interviews with inspiring people, videos, summaries of reports that have interested and excited us, blogs and our Idea of the Month feature.

We’ve heard from people about what a difference it has made to have their story published. We’ve heard from people who have been inspired by what someone else has done and want to try the same things themselves. We’ve heard from people who had felt isolated in their efforts to make changes and the comfort they’ve got from knowing others are out there doing similar things.

When we set out we admitted that we did not know how this would evolve and develop. Your feedback and enthusiasm has convinced us we are on to something.

The Future

So what next? We intend to carry on publishing articles. Finding and celebrating those ‘small stories’, connecting people, helping to build the movement for change. Our aim is that strengths based approaches and true co-production become the norm – this is why we set out on this journey.

One new feature will be a monthly “My Best Mistake” article. We always include a question in our interviews about mistakes. At a recent conference someone suggested it would be good to have an online platform to share our learning, our mistakes and not being afraid of failure. I said that we already have that platform and so we now have our first volunteer guest ‘mistakers’ who will soon be sharing their stories.

We are looking to partnerships with others to further promote our shared aims – through our publishing activities and hopefully, moving into events and festivals. If you want to join us or talk to us about doing something together – please get in touch.

Photo by Edu Lauton