I’m writing this on 2nd January 2021. Clearly there’s still a long road to travel in terms of Covid-19, and also in terms of the issues and inequalities that it has created, and/or highlighted. Our #SmallButMighty team will keep working hard to meet the needs of the communities we serve, but we need to now look ahead, and do things differently as well. OneStonegrove is again closed to the public, and we don’t yet know how long for. My personal view, and fear, is that the restrictions put in place right now, are simply not going to slow down the virus spread enough, and we may therefore be closed for some time.
Before the pandemic hit, we had agreed to focus on putting local residents in the lead of whatever came next for our community. In January 2020 we ran some Community Hosting & Community Organising training, and we knew from how well received it was, that we wanted to use these practices to encourage local people to step up, and to take action on what matters most to them. The events of 2020 didn’t really allow us to take this approach, as we “leapt into action” we instead took the lead, and then over time encouraged our volunteers to develop and adapt our projects.
I’m happy to share here – actually the first time I’m sharing this in writing, that in January 2021 we will be launching the Barnet Social Action Hub. This is a collaboration between the Stonegrove Community Trust, and Clitterhouse Farm. I’ll write more about this another time, but essentially they are helping us to embed Community Organising and Hosting practices in our community, and together we will be running training that will be free for all local residents, at-cost for smaller community groups, and reasonably priced for everyone else. Although currently in-person training cannot be accredited, the moment that restriction is lifted we will be ready to deliver!
This training provided to local residents, is the first part of us putting them back in the lead, to make the changes locally that they want to see, and want to be part of. There will be other elements, such as a six month Community Listening exercise where we speak to as many people as possible in our local community, plus other training opportunities, micro-grants of up to £500 each to start projects, and free usage of any spaces within OneStonegrove.
I don’t know exactly where this will lead, but then that’s exactly the point. I am the CEO, but it’s not my community. I am hugely excited about the potential of this work, though also mindful that it will be slow iterative work, as creating real change takes time, effort and of course resource. With several funding applications being built up now for this work, I can only hope that the funders we are approaching recognise the potential here to create something that is truly bottom-up, democratic and much more sustainable in terms of lasting impact and change, than other approaches that we could take.
I feel like I should end by succinctly summing up 2020 from my point of view, but I wouldn’t know where to start! Perhaps a couple of months into 2021, I’ll learn some more from it, and add Part 4…
Instead I’ll end by saying that although 2020 was hugely personally and professionally challenging, I recognise how lucky I am, in an amazing job and charity, with incredible people around me. A huge thank you to every single one of those people – those I have mentioned and others that I have not in name. I look forward to seeing what we can all achieve together in 2021!