One of our new critical friends is George Fielding BEM, who spoke to us about his compelling motivations for community work and life in general. George has raised more than £15 million for charities since becoming an advocate for young wheelchair users at age 12.
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Year 2 of Not Another Co-Production Project has begun in the West Midlands. This is a three-year lottery funded project run by the Ideas Alliance in partnership with People's Voice Media. The 12 organisations we are partnering with to embed collaboration and co-production into their work, had an introductory meeting, where Sophie Ewan-Roberts took visual notes.
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Last year, we were privileged to work with the Elephants Trail in Manchester as part of our lottery-funded Not Another Co-Production Project. Patrick Tierney, Elephants Trail member, shares his brilliant blog post, Road of Restoration, which considers the role of hope in our lives and recovery journeys.
Selva Mustafa shares her process of visually recording events after her experience at the Not Another Co-Production Festival in Manchester.
Read articleLinda Parsonage, Elephants Trail Rochdale Co-Worker, took to the stage at the Not Another Co-Production Festival on Tuesday 5 July in Manchester's Museum of Science and Industry to explain some of the background to co-production. If you are curious about co-production, read on for Linda's explanation.
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The SE15 Community Fund was established in May 2020, as a response to the financial difficulties people were experiencing during the pandemic and a requirement to fund the needs of local mutual aid efforts. The administrators share the principles they hold to, the dilemmas along the way and plans for the future.
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Helen Sturman, Greater Manchester and West Yorkshire Area Development Manager for Parkinson’s UK, shares her experience of being new in the job when joining Not Another Co-Production Project. She outlines the importance of flexibility when rebuilding community connections with people with long-term health conditions, and how co-production values the range of life experiences, knowledge and skills that people can bring.
We need to see more women speaking confidently about issues that matter. 'Energy is more important than message', says Alex Barker.
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The coronavirus crisis saw a huge movement of community activity and support. Immy Robinson, co-lead of the Relationships Project, shares their research about what made people come together. How we can support the different types of active neighbour with an ecology that enables community activity to thrive?
Entering the world of social change and community action can be a daunting step. As someone new to the world of "getting involved", guest blogger Joe Hartley reflects on the value of inexperience - and shares his top tips for making a difference.
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In this guest blog, Beyond Empower founder Ben Andrews tells us about their work to transform mainstream spaces, communities and leisure services so that they're accessible to people with disabilities. By thinking differently about the barriers, Beyond Empower help providers, councils and businesses create services that everyone in the community can access and enjoy.
Mother and carer Eleanor September shares the experiences that led her to participate in Ideas Alliance's recent project on Closed Cultures. Read about the uphill struggle she has faced to access person-centred care since her daughter was born at 24 weeks almost 28 years ago.
Read article“The Hub acts as a glue bringing together people and organisations who are doing so much to positively disrupt their local systems.”
Burcu Borysik, Mayday Trust