Creating a Kind and Connected Bury #KindBury
So, when I was asked to work as part of a collaborative to explore how we could support communities across Bury to be kind and connected, I jumped at the chance. The brief was to work with existing people, groups and communities to connect what was already there and look at how we could build capacity and shift power. As a Bury resident this was so exciting to me…..
I often feel really lucky to do the work that I do, but this was an extra special piece of work for me.
So, here is the ‘plan’. I say plan, but really the piece will be shaped by the people of Bury and its varied communities. We are going to use the Principles of Collaborating Out Loud that have been crowd sourced from hundreds of people to think about how we work together differently to create surprising, simple and social spaces for social change, innovation and shifting power.
Here are the 11 Principles
To get started we want to focus on Principle 1 ‘Embrace and harness the energy and magic of difference and the crowd’. To do this we have a number of ways we want people to get involved:
#KindBury Crowd Sourcing Creativity
We have set up a simple platform using a free tool called Tricider which allows you to share with us and each other ‘How we can create kind and connected communities across bury’. You can add ideas, vote for ones you like and add arguments for and against ideas. We are trying to be as democratic, transparent and open throughout this whole process and this is part of showing these principles from the start. We will bring people together around a number of the ideas to bring them to life, maximize them if they are already happening and connect great work together. This is about building on what is already here and connected it together not creating something new from scratch that would make no sense at all.
Add your idea here
#KindBury on Twitter
We have created a hashtag on twitter where you can share your ideas and to help us to connect people together and discover what is going on. Add your stories and connect with people via #KindBury
Kind Bury Facebook Page
We also know that there are loads of people and communities that are actively using Facebook across Bury and we have created a page that you can like to keep up to date with what we are doing.
Come and like our page and add your comments and ideas by clicking here
We are asking people to share their photos of kind and connected communities across Bury to shine a light on the great tings, people and places that Bury has.
We are spending August exploring and connecting ideas and existing communities and then from September we will be organizing a series of #CupOfChange gatherings and Street Bump events to bring people together in communities across Bury. Here is a little more information about both of these.
#CupofChange Gatherings
This is a really simple idea. We know that a simple cuppa can connect people and inspire them to take action. So, what if you brought people together in socially minded coffee shops across Bury to have lots of great conversation about what matters and what together we can do. This is what Cup of Change gatherings are all about. Anyone can come and its really informal but all focused around what you want to talk about with others from your community.
Street Bump
Sweet Bump brings people together in a collaborative outdoor space to be inspired together by what is around us. It is all about coming together in communities around collective challenges to use the outdoors and the people in that place to find answers and ideas.
Watch out for more details on what is coming up in September and in the meantime you can connect with us on any of the links above or email Claire@CollaborateOutLoud.org
Throughout this whole journey we will be paying attention to these questions that we know are going to bw important to make this a success:
- What challenges and opportunities are worth pursuing together?
- How do we encourage and hear all the voices in our communities?
- How can we pay attention to how we work together and continually give ourselves feedback?
- How should our insights, stories, and community outputs be captured and recorded?
- Who do we need to be talking to and what should we be telling them
- What value should we be aiming to create and how will we know when we have got it?
- How does the community fit into the wider public service context and contribute to that agenda?
(based on Etienne Wenger’s Roles of effective communities of practice)
Let’s see what together we can achieve for the great and diverse communities we have across Bury
