Telephone: 0131 347 1334 - 07900 696218 - 07900 696219
E-mail: info@diversity-matters.co.uk
 
     
 

Community Building and Worldwork

As well as teaching about community building we run workshops, small and large scale events and forums. people looking in the same direction

We passionately believe that for real changes to happen then all voices are needed. As Margaret Mead once said “If we are to achieve a richer culture, rich in contrasting values, we must recognize the whole gamut of human potentialities, and so weave a less arbitrary social fabric, one in which each diverse human gift will find a fitting place.”

We also know that Partnership working is much easier to talk about than it is to do, so we deliver ongoing support in ways that build the capacity, confidence, resources and resilience of communities to work towards and support further change.

We also collaborate with other networks and partnerships that bring together diverse groups and communities nationally and internationally.

We helped support the large Worldwork seminar and gathering in London in 2008.

Europe Matters is a Project we are collaborating on in 2009, visit the europematters website to learn more.

Please contact us if you would like help to organise or facilitate small or large group or community events.

Here are some quotes from other people who have inspired our work….

“It is time we both recognise and accept that we are all born 'in'! No one has the right to invite others in! It definitely becomes our responsibility as a society to remove all barriers which uphold exclusion since none of us have the authority to 'invite' others 'in'! So what is inclusion? Inclusion is recognising our universal 'oneness' and interdependence. Inclusion is recognizing that we are 'one' even though we are not the same. The act of inclusion means fighting against exclusion and all of the social diseases exclusion gives birth to i.e.. racism, sexism, handicapism, etc. Fighting for inclusion also involves assuring that all support systems are available to those who need such support. Providing and maintaining support systems is a civic responsibility, not a favor.”
Shafik Asante
“The Worldwork perspective looks at every person, group and event as equally important to the emerging future of the community and of the globe.”
Max Schupbach

For more information on Worldwork approaches: visit the Worldwork website or read Max Schupbach's article on Worldwork.

As part of this work we have recently been running workshops for mixed groups of carers, people who use services, workers and community members to explore right relationships and power issues.

“It is inconceivable that no good whatsoever exists in both individuals and communities, so it is always a matter of building upon what is actually there to be built upon, irrespective of what will limit and constrain such good.”
Michael Kendrick
"Civic life depends on citizens' willingness to recognize and support one another's membership despite apparent differences. All people will live better lives when the knowledge that we are all members of each other shapes everyday life and collective decisions."
John O'Brien

Finally, John McKnight writes, in “Building Communities from the Inside Out”:

There are some people who seem to be without any gifts or capacities. They may appear like an empty glass. And so they get called names - names like mentally retarded, ex convict, frail elderly, mentally ill, illiterate, and gang member. These are names for the emptiness some people see in other people. They are labels that focus attention on needs.

One effect of these labels is that they keep many community people from seeing the gifts of people who have been labelled. The label often blinds us to the capacity of the people who are named. They appear to be useless. Therefore, these labelled people often get pushed to the edge of the community, or they are sometimes sent outside the community to an institution to be rehabilitated or receive services.

Nonetheless, every living person has some gift or capacity of value to others. A strong community is a place that recognizes those gifts and ensures that they are given. A weak community is a place where lots of people can't give their gifts and express their capacities.”
John McKnight

 

 
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