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Author Archives: jesssteele
New York City 1: Queens Community House
[From La Guardia airport on the way to Detroit, 12 Nov 2011] I have spent the last 4 days visiting a community organizing development programme in New York City which has striking similarities to our emerging home-grown Community Organisers programme … Continue reading
Posted in Community Organisers, Locality, US trip
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Transparency
In general the Community Organisers team was happy with last night’s TV coverage. This was no thanks to Newsnight, but all credit to the community organisers themselves, to Stephen Kearney and the Re:generate team, to my excellent team at Locality … Continue reading
Posted in Community Organisers
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Feeling weird about the media
What a strange 7 days… I feel like I’ve been through a shrapnel whirlwind and there are a dozen fragments lodged in my brain, any of which could either strike gold or explode any time. One thread runs through it … Continue reading
Posted in Community Organisers
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Hosting Community Organisers
We’re at a very exciting point in the Community Organisers programme. In a few days time I’ll be joining the first 47 organisers at Trafford Hall for their intensive introductory training. They have been recruited by the 11 Kickstarter hosts … Continue reading
Posted in Community Organisers
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Civil service lessons
Various prompts have got me remembering my conclusions after five months on secondment to the civil service in 2009. @Puffles2010 at http://adragonsbestfriend.wordpress.com/2011/08/15/a-challenge-for-the-civil-service-and-large-institutions-alike/ is one of the sparks to make me trawl my archive for the memories. The experience of trying to run … Continue reading
CoCollaborative
It feels strange to be writing anything at all that is not directly about #riots, but while we can all pontificate easily enough, at Locality we always try to reflect what our members are experiencing so we’ve put out a … Continue reading
Posted in Community Organisers
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Biting & Feeding
I JUST ADDED THIS COMMENT TO THE NATCAN FORUM at http://nationalcan.ning.com/ Reply by dave berry 5 minutes ago Hi Am new to the forum so please bear with me, the last time that “government” funded real community activists was the Com. Dev … Continue reading
Posted in Community Organisers
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Homage to Yorkshire
Generally I love an underdog. Schooled in Deptford with Millwall’s slogan “no one likes us we don’t care”, I live in Hastings where official research shows that once you get here you love it but those who don’t visit think … Continue reading
Posted in Just Me, Locality
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Twitchforks and the real story
Below is the comment I have just added to the NatCAN forum at http://nationalcan.ning.com/. You have to ask to join. There was a thread of 70 comments on the subject ‘How do we relate to Community Organisers’, many of them very hostile … Continue reading
Posted in Community Organisers
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Recruitment underway
After long and tiresome delays regarding the tax and employment status of Community Organisers, we are delighted that our Kickstarters have now begun the recruitment of the first cohort of 30-40 organisers. Community organisers will listen to residents in their … Continue reading
Posted in Community Organisers
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Demob happy – fragments
Off tomorrow to Prague to celebrate 10 yrs with DH (v dear, not quite H). Very excited, but before I go, I need to record a few fragments of conversations from today: I’ve been to JRF’s ‘Communities Under Pressure’ report … Continue reading
Posted in Community Allowance, Just Me, Locality
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Compulsory Purchase
Today Greg Clark announced an exciting new piece of guidance but you won’t find it without dogged persistence, or a bit of help. The guidance is designed to help local communities deal with abandoned buildings and irresponsible private ownership of … Continue reading
Posted in Just Me, Locality, Seaside
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A Week Away, Brain-food from Hay
A strange and welcome break in proceedings – a week in a field in Wales. A very special field just 3 minutes walk (scrambling over a barbed wire fence) from the main site of the Hay Festival or a pleasant … Continue reading
Posted in Just Me
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How dare the Lord?
Recently enobled Lord Glasman, of ‘Blue Labour’ fame, allegedly let fire some insults in the Palace of Westminster today: @kayewiggins @tobyblume Glasman calls Locality “toffs” – says real comm organising would create “conflict and mayhem” Kayewiggins: Maurice Glasman being v … Continue reading
Posted in Community Organisers
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Kickstarters & Hosts
Locality’s approach to the national Community Organisers programme is that community organisers should be hosted by local organisations. To get us started quickly we selected a set of ‘Kickstarters’ for the bid itself and are currently looking for some further … Continue reading
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Community Organisers – clarifications
I want to clarify some points in my previous blog post which have led to misunderstandings about some aspects of the Community Organisers programme. 1. I didn’t mean it to sound as if Government dictated Regenerate’s involvement – they … Continue reading
Posted in Community Organisers
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Transparency, creativity, power & responsibility
Writing this immediately after an animated meeting with Tessy Britton, whose recent blogs at Thriving Too have inspired deep and ongoing discussion about the Community Organisers programme. She is right to raise the question of transparency and responsibility. In the … Continue reading
Posted in Community Organisers, Just Me
9 Comments
Back to the Seaside
Getting my fix of seaside towns to re-energise after a hard winter of #communityorganisers and the birth of Locality. Last summer’s Seaside Tour (see earlier blogs) took in Southend, Southwold, Yarmouth, Cromer, Scarborough, Southport, Blackpool and St Anne’s, before returning … Continue reading
Posted in Seaside
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I mean it about open… but there’s no need to be nasty!
#communityorganisers #corganisers #corgs Here’s what the National Coalition for Independent Action thinks about Locality. Community revolution entrusted to Locality March 21, 2011 · Filed Under News, Newsletter The issue that has, by far and away, put the national gossips in a tizzy … Continue reading
Posted in Community Organisers
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More on #thepeoplespier
Just found these nice pics (30th January 2011) and wanted to share… Have a good look round http://www.hpwrt.co.uk to find out more. This is my daughter. The pier burned on the night before her birthday. Having watched it all … Continue reading
Posted in Seaside
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