Community blog 1 | Rethinking Poverty

Community blog 1

Posted on 27 May 2020   Categories:  Related Tags:  

Posted on 27 May 2020   Categories:  Related Tags:  

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Rethinking the roots of poverty

As we approach the general election on 4 July, I am struck by how little politicians are talking about the underlying structural problems of our society. Unless we address... Read More

People changing politics

I have a dream. And I’m having that dream right now. Don’t wake me up! Where am I? I’m at a political meeting. I am in a big theatre... Read More

Cost of living makes summer holidays a struggle for many

As the school summer holidays draw to close, Amy Baker and Hannah Paylor from Carnegie UK look at how the rising cost-of-living has put extra strain on families.  The summer... Read More

Demonstrate don’t dictate: Bournville 125 and a new settlement

As we lurch from one unprecedented crisis to another, it’s easy to conclude that the many problems we currently face can only be managed. The best we can hope... Read More

Why it’s time to start taking young people seriously

In this blog, Rethinking Poverty’s Barry Knight and The Orwell Foundation’s Deputy Director Liz Wallace reflect on what our shared work reveals about young people’s political engagement and education... Read More

The Janette Kirton-Darling Memorial Prize on BBC Politics North

The Janette Kirton-Darling Memorial Prize was featured on the BBC Politics North programme, including winners Chopwell Regeneration Group. For more information on the night, you can download the event brochure here.... Read More

Chopwell Regeneration Group wins the Janette Kirton-Darling Memorial Prize

At a ceremony held at the Cathedral in Newcastle upon Tyne on 30 November 2022, the first prize of the Janette Kirton-Darling Memorial Prize was awarded to Chopwell Regeneration... Read More

Dwellbeing Shieldfield

The final applicant for the Janette Kirton-Darling Memorial Prize, Dwellbeing Shieldfield, is a community cooperative in the East of Newcastle. Members of the cooperative share life together, support one... Read More

Chopwell Regeneration Group (CRG)

The five applicants for the Janette Kirton-Darling Memorial Prize have so far focused on what local people can do to solve specific problems in our society – improving the... Read More

Citizens Advice Newcastle

The fifth applicant for the Janette Kirton-Darling Memorial Prize  is  Citizens Advice Newcastle. This is a small, independent charity providing free, confidential and independent advice to people who live,... Read More

International Community Organisation of Sunderland

The fourth application for the Janette Kirton-Darling Memorial Prize continues the focus on race and identity, this time with an emphasis on migration. The International Community Organisation of Sunderland... Read More

Racial Justice in Education Action Team

In the first two applications for the Janette Kirton-Darling Memorial Prize, we saw the power of local people to affect issues that affect them.  In one case, the result... Read More

Even Better CIC Jarrow

Even Better, based in Jarrow, the second applicant for the Janette Kirton-Darling Memorial Prize, has a powerful way of addressing the problem of mental health.  The approach harnesses the... Read More

Mums making a difference

Local people complain that they are ignored by politicians until election time.  Then, they are wooed with all sorts of promises to improve their lives.   Such behaviour causes much... Read More

Janette Kirton-Darling Memorial Awards

In March, we announced the Janette Kirton-Darling Memorial Prize, to celebrate the initiative of organisations who have developed local community initiatives as effective means to #ShiftThePower to people whose voices are rarely... Read More

Banks vs the climate: ‘Who cares if Miami is six metres underwater in 100 years?’

Stuart Kirk, Global Head of Responsible Investment at HSBC Asset Management, last month asked investors: ​“Who cares if Miami is six metres underwater in 100 years?” His widely-reported comments demonstrate the... Read More

Employee ownership: Owning the workplace, securing the future

At the heart of the debate on community wealth building is a fundamental question about employee ownership and who or what holds the keys to wealth in our society.... Read More

Responses to the cost of living crisis? Community energy groups and cooperative farms offer help

The cost-of-living crisis is descending on all of us, and while the solutions obviously have to be, to some degree, macro-oriented and defensive (see this great blog from James... Read More

Recognising the value of community organising

The past five years of working on the place-based funding programme, Empowering Places, has opened my eyes to the benefits of community organising. One of the themes that has... Read More

Housing co-ops could solve housing crisis in Canada

The housing affordability crisis seems impossible to solve. Policies intended to help people priced out of the market often serve to fan the flames and increase costs. An example... Read More

Local government at the heart of a just transition

As the energy price cap rises today, CLES Senior Researcher, Ellie Radcliffe, reflects on her recent visit to the Apse Big Energy Summit and considers the role of local authorities in balancing... Read More

How are young people writing about the climate crisis?

The Orwell Youth Prize, which is run by The Orwell Foundation, uses the writing of George Orwell as a starting point to inspire young people to write about their... Read More

Come dancing with systems

A low ebb Those of us working for social justice and human rights have faced strong headwinds in recent decades. A world obsessed with economic growth has led to... Read More

How can we develop flourishing lives in tough times?

A group of thinkers and activists have been meeting together over the past six months to wrestle with how we might develop flourishing lives for all.  Our first step... Read More

Finding social value in Manchester through public procurement

In its recently published Levelling Up White Paper, the government argued that the power of public procurement should be used to deliver support to communities and pledged to put... Read More

Green space access is not equal in the UK

A growing gap in green space provision divides the UK according to recent research, with people in northern cities having access to fewer parks than their southern counterparts. Nationwide,... Read More

The Democracy of Consumers is dying. Now we must build a Democracy of Citizens

This piece on a ‘Democracy of Citizens’ is #8 in the ‘Visions for the Future of Democracy’ series curated by Involve for its 15th anniversary. We have asked authors to... Read More

Citizen-led renovation: climate policy’s secret weapon?

Citizen-led retrofitting, long the poor relation of climate policy, could now be its secret weapon in accelerating rapid transition. Home renovation through the citizen-led model is making breakthroughs from... Read More

The 51%: Gender equality at the heart of a more inclusive economy

What if gender equality was at the heart of local plans for a more inclusive economy? Efforts to rebuild and recover economic prosperity in a time of crisis often... Read More

Beyond the framework: the co-benefits of deliberation

A new paper examining Shared Future’s Leeds Climate Change Citizens Jury highlights the co-benefits of deliberation, writes SF Director Jez Hall. Local authorities wanting to achieve meaningful carbon reduction, are increasingly turning... Read More

Climate action support for community business

Power to Change has been a major funder of community-led climate action over recent years, with as much as 25% of our funding supporting community business climate action, including our CORE and Next Generation energy programmes. Our mission... Read More

Levelling up: policy frameworks for collective wellbeing

Levelling up is never going to be one size fits all. To support the development of areas that currently have poorer economic and social outcomes, we need to recognise... Read More

How can local people take action on things that matter to them?

How can local people build control and take action on things that matter to them? Our research shows that there are five main components of collective control: social connectedness;... Read More

Janette Kirton-Darling Memorial Prize

The Prize The Janette Kirton-Darling Memorial Prize will be awarded to an organisation that has demonstrated outstanding leadership, creativity and impact in developing a local community initiative developing effective... Read More

IPCC report reveals how inequality makes climate change impacts worse

Nearly half of the global population – between 3.3 and 3.6 billion people – lives in areas highly vulnerable to climate change. The brief window in which to limit... Read More

Community wealth building: making financial power work for local places

Recent years have seen a growing number of local councils across the UK, including Birmingham, Sandwell and Wigan, as well as the devolved administrations in Scotland and Wales adopting... Read More

‘Levelling up’ the UK is a golden opportunity for climate action – but the government is failing

Economists no longer talk of decarbonisation as a cost; climate action is now widely seen as an investment. Like any investment in new economic sectors, money spent is expected... Read More

Is degrowth – making less, but better – the future that the fashion world has been waiting for?

Fascinating article from the Vogue Business news site on the growing relevance of degrowth – producing and consuming less and less to mitigate climate meltdown – and fashion. It... Read More

Developing a shared framework for a hopeful future

In November 2021, a group of ten people gathered together in Letchworth Garden City for two days of conversation. We began with a clear sense of our collective failure... Read More

Steps towards a better world

Written at the outset of the pandemic, #BuildBackBetter showed how being forced to slow down had made people want a different future. Having a profound sense of vulnerability made... Read More

Shaping Our Future: a Wellbeing Framework for the North of Tyne

Earlier this week (Tuesday 25th January), the North of Tyne Cabinet endorsed the recommendations of a report by the Roundtable on Wellbeing in the North of Tyne and, in doing so, committed... Read More

Levelling up White Paper: you can’t level up from Whitehall

The Levelling up White Paper was finally published last week.  But despite 332 pages of what was a rather chaotic document (part text book, part policy, part analysis), when... Read More

Wellbeing: how living well together works for the common good

The World Health Organization (WHO) describes mental health as “a state of wellbeing in which an individual realises his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life,... Read More

Plymouth Octopus is a cosmolocal CAN in action

As we know from long experience, Plymouth is a world-class powerhouse of social and civic enterprise – and it’s richly demonstrated in the Plymouth Octopus latest newsletter. POP (as... Read More

We can’t level up without restoring nature

The government’s favourite term, ‘levelling up’, contains little meaning – just enough to be politically useful, but not enough to support any real plan. At NEF, we investigated the role of... Read More

The brave: delivering community wealth in Scotland

At the close of the 2021 Community Wealth Building Summit, we reflect on remarks by our opening keynote speaker Tom Arthur MSP and the work that CLES has undertaken... Read More

What can we do to ensure decent, affordable housing?

New Podcast: How can we ensure decent, affordable housing?  This episode of the Anti-Apathy Aunt podcast hosted by Deborah Doane, welcomed Gill Hughes from #thehullwewant, alongside Osama Bhutta from Shelter, responding to... Read More

Planning for people and planet: Quietly revolutionary ideas from practice

Change is coming. It has to. Tackling the twin crises of climate breakdown and nature loss is the biggest challenge we are ever likely to face. It will hit... Read More

Lessons from a citizens’ jury on climate change

With COP 26 starting in Glasgow on 31st October 2021, we have brought together the recommendations from six citizens’ juries and assemblies run by Shared Future over the last... Read More

Transforming markets: why markets need a makeover

If Martians landed on Earth tomorrow, they would be surprised by many things, but they would be shocked by an economic system that allows a few billionaires to play... Read More