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Community Building and Worldwork
As well
as teaching about community building we run workshops, small and large
scale events
and forums. 
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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