Community Development

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by Mel Parks

Looking Back, Moving Forward: Stories From Covid Times

In autumn 2021, Dudley Council commissioned the Ideas Alliance to help them get a better understanding of how the pandemic had impacted on people’s lives, in order to inform priorities for the future. The brief included the use of storytelling and one requested outcome was a visual representation of the experiences of the people of Dudley. 

Alliance, Case Study, Co-production, Community Based, Community Development, Community Engagement, Coronavirus Crisis, Health, Participation, Storytelling
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by Mel Parks

Spread the Word – West Midlands next for Not Another Co-Production Project!

Following a brilliant first year full of ups, downs and lots of learning together in Manchester, we are ready to begin year two of our lottery funded three-year Not Another Co-Production project in partnership with People's Voice Media. We are on the hunt for at least 12 organisations across the West Midlands to partner with from autumn 2022 to summer 2023. 

Alliance, Co-production, Collaboration, Collective Power, Community Based, Community Development, Community Engagement
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by Helen Sturman

Rebuilding Community Connections with Not Another Co-Production Project

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.

Co-production, Community Based, Community Development, Community Engagement, Guest Blog, Voluntary Sector
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by Isaac Samuels

We need to talk about “lived experience”

Lived experience is essential to co-production, but do we treat those who share their stories with us ethically? True co-production needs long-term thinking, proper support and the creation of opportunities for people who have experienced multiple disadvantage, argues co-production advisor Isaac Samuels in this powerful guest blog.

Alliance, Co-production, Community Development, Community Engagement, Leadership, Lived Experience, Storytelling, Systems Change
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by Immy Robinson

Understanding the 9 million active neighbours of lockdown

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?

Citizen-led Action, Community Based, Community Development, Community Engagement, Coronavirus Crisis, Covid Considerations, Guest Blog, Research, Social Action, Social Movement
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by Ben Andrews

Beyond Empower: supporting healthy, active lives for disabled people by transforming mainstream spaces and services

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.

Asset Based, Co-design, Commissioning, Community Based, Community Development, Disability, Guest Blog, Health, Inequalities, Integrated Services, Social Enterprise, Systems Change, Wellbeing
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by Lauren Wallace-Thompson

Doing digital arts differently: St. Helens Libraries and Ideas Alliance’s action research

Find out more about this "learning by doing" project, where the team worked collaboratively with artists, makers, library staff, residents and more to innovate and test ways to help digital arts thrive in St. Helens.

Arts, Children and Young People, Co-design, Community Based, Community Development, Community Engagement, Digital, Education, Research, Technology
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by Rachel Berry

Community building with refugees and asylum seekers in the UK

Read about how the idea of a handwritten "letter fae a local" has sparked a huge community endeavour to welcome and embrace asylum seekers and refugees in Glasgow. In the face of attacks on the rights of asylum seekers, these community-led organisations are trying to support new arrivals and connect them with their neighbours.

Charity, Citizen-led Action, Community Based, Community Development
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“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