Practical Examples
Stronger relationships in and across communities
Hilgrove Creates was an initiative where residents were able to share their artistic talents and interests with their fellow residents. Hilgrove artists have led a series of art sessions with residents themed on the power of community. Activities included acrylic paints, film-making, script-writing and theatre performance. As a result we have strengthened relationships in and across communities, bringing together artists and aspiring artists living locally who would not have otherwise met. We have also worked with local arts organisations such as Hampstead Theatre and WAC Arts to build new networks and connections.
Increase in the capacity of residents to make changes in their own neighbourhood
The North Camden Zone has developed and delivered bespoke training programmes to increase the capacity of residents to deliver change. This includes:
Values and theories underpinning community-led action
Community research methods and research plans
Building Community Asset Maps
Methods and tools to generate ideas for change
Developing ideas into projects and measuring impact
Training we have delivered includes:
13 residents to take the lead in their role as Community Organisers.
50 volunteers to deliver support fellow residents in their community
Camden Council library staff to support resident-led change in their community.
Unlock the assets, resources or services that can benefit a community
The Winch Community Hub was set up in response to the needs of our local community during the Covid-19 pandemic. It was co-designed with local councillors, Swiss Cottage Surgery, Camden Council and the Winch. The Winch Community Hub levered in £95,000 to provide an emergency response to support local people. We recruited and trained 50 new local people as volunteers. We worked with numerous partners to enhance the offer for residents including The Hall School, The Arsenal Foundation, Waitrose and City Harvest. As part of the Hub, we set up a food distribution operation through working with partners to secure free food to top up the essential food items we were buying on a weekly basis.
Strengthen the resident voice over their own neighbourhoods and wider systems
We supported homeless residents living in temporary accommodation to come together, tell their stories in ‘If we work together, we can change this place’, make recommendations for positive change and deliver resident-led action for positive change. We supported them to set up the ‘Voice of England’s Lane’, to work with Camden Council to improve their living conditions inside the hostel. They also successfully got funding and built partnerships with businesses to deliver activities and events to improve the lives of the resident families.
Our resident Chalcots Community Organisers consulted with 250 Chalcots estate residents and developed the Chalcots Community Manifesto. This outlined where the system was failing them, their vision for change and how they wanted to contribute to building a better community. Nine community goals were developed including explicit goals on residents wanting more say and control over their home.