Have you noticed that recently, the social and public sectors are talking a lot about ‘thriving communities’?
It’s perhaps unsurprising that those organisations working closely with citizens are looking to support communities to thrive. The very definition of thriving is ‘to prosper and flourish’. It feels like setting a goal for communities to prosper and flourish is a good thing.
At Bromford, ‘thriving’ is a key element of our social purpose - “We invest in homes and relationships so people can thrive.”
But what role can and should social and public sector organisations play in supporting communities to thrive?
We’ve explored this concept in the Lab before. In our June 2019 Bromford Lab Twitter Chat, we explored the theme of ‘people and places; using design to shape communities’ and more recently, in our August 2020 Bromford Lab Twitter Chat, we asked the question ‘what role, if any, should agencies play in grassroots community development’?
Here are just a few of the responses we received to that particular question:
Quote - “Ask them what they need in order to grow. Provide resource. Remain mainly hands off unless they expressly ask for your help. Enable them to tell their own stories + amplify. Don’t try and take credit for their successes or work. Let them exist outside of your bureaucracy. Quote on a grey background with a Bromford logo from a Twitter user.
Quote - “Let the community lead and agencies observe. People will find a way. What works for community many not work for another. Support grows organically… No policy needed here thank you!”. Quote on a grey background with a Bromford logo from a Twitter user.
Quote - “Organisations/Agencies need to get comfortable with, working alongside and not always looking for problems to solve. The people within communities are their own assets, embrace their skills and connect them with the tools and resources to flourish”. Quote on a grey background with a Bromford logo from a Twitter user.
Quote - “Remove outdated policies that no long serve todays context, and are restrictive to the creation and spread of effective grassroots community and solutions”. Quote on a grey background with a Bromford logo from a Twitter user.
Throughout all of our exploration, the conclusion we keep drawing is that whilst the social and public sector clearly has a key role to play in supporting communities to thrive, essentially it’s the communities themselves that have the drive, motivation and best opportunities to make things work.
If the chaos of 2020 has taught us one thing it’s that our communities are alive with ideas and activism. During the first UK national lock-down, communities came alive, rallying around to help each other through small, medium and large acts of kindness, sharing and reciprocity. What’s more, much of this activity was driven by community members themselves, rather than being mandated by the government or any other structured organisational body.
As a social facing designer, I’ve got a keen interest in the power of communities - especially the ‘guerrilla’ activity which happens independently of any ‘formal’ intervention or encouragement. I’ve been kicking around an idea for a side project for a while now and as we embark on a second phase of national lock-downs in the UK, I thought it would be the ideal opportunity to bring it to life.
I wanted to create an online space to champion, inspire and launch activity which supports communities to grow - be that grassroots community-driven activity or the activity of agencies commissioned to work with communities. From grassroots, community-driven activity in the form of Happy to Talk and The Shrewsbury Cup to commissioned work such as We Keep Going and Museum of Us, it feels like the best community activity is often engaging, independent, self-organised and guerrilla by nature, so I called my sharing platform ‘Cheeky Guerrilla’ - because the revolution has got to be a bit of fun too, right?
I’ve created an Instagram account for publishing bite-sized blogs and a Twitter account for sharing stories and inspiration. I’m not starting with a polished solution and I’m hoping that over the following weeks and months, Cheeky Guerrilla will develop and grow. I’m not sure where the journey will take me, but in true Lab spirit, I do believe that the only failure would be not to learn from it.
If you’re interested, please feel free to give @CheekyGuerrilla a follow on Instagram and Twitter.
Join the conversation - Let’s #bemoreguerrilla together!
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