Community Organising is a trusted approach to building power in communities to enable Social Action to tackle social injustice..
In June 2024, The Jo Cox Foundation was joined by the Faith and Belief Forum (Walsall) and Under One Roof (Stoke) online for a Common Room session.
Hearing from projects in different areas of the West Midlands gave examples of ways to bridge divides through social action. Martin, an independent researcher, appreciated hearing from these “two exemplary practices for bridging communities and faiths”.
The aims of this session were to:
- learn about the Community Organising Framework for Social Action
- hear practical examples of what helps to build trust and bridge divides in communities
- share our experiences of developing relationships, connecting diverse people, learning from each other and taking action on shared concerns.
- develop ideas for things we can do to bring diverse people together in a way that leads to social change
Poet and Creative Producer Gabriella Gay has been working on the Under One Roof Community Heritage Project in Stoke on Trent.
Gabriella invited everyone to bring an object to show which would help them talk about their culture for 3 minutes in a small group.
Laura really liked this Culture Share activity at the start and said “I’d like to work with that more when working with diverse groups in the future”
Under One Roof is led by St Mark’s Church and All the Small Things Social Action Hub. All the Small Things listen in, and support communities to tackle shared concerns. All the Small Things approach is underpinned by the Community Organising Framework for Social Action.
Through recent listening one of the priorities people are gathering around is community cohesion.
Under One Roof engaged Poet and Creative Producer Gabriella Gay as an artist in residence. She is a Trinidad born page-stage poet, artist, vintage dealer, qualified teacher, PhD researcher and creative producer based in Staffordshire. Gabby is regularly commissioned to perform, write, organise events and facilitate workshops for a wide range of organisations including the BBC, the NHS and The National Theatre. She is the founding member of Stoke’s Roaming Poets and Kwanzaa Collective UK.
Gabriella spent some months with local communities trying to find out where they congregate, their relationship to St. Mark’s and listen to them reflect on the past, present and future of St. Mark’s church and Shelton. Gabriella presented The Problem and Vision as she saw it:
How can St. Mark’s reflect and celebrate the richness of the ethnically diverse communities that surround it?
How can it be an asset to the community, and a place where a wider mix of ethnically diverse groups see it a place to congregate?
Gabby organised four Culture Share events in Shelton for Under One Roof. Key Ingredients of Culture Share are :
- Invitation to come together and share something from your culture, family or heritage… a song, a story, a ritual, a dance, a dish! Or simply come to connect with friends old and new. Each had up to 5 minutes to share something.
- Music
- Food
Gabby reached out into the wider Shelton area, listened to people of different faiths and identities and formed relationships with cultural leaders locally to co-design events with them.
- NORSACA African Caribbean Community Centre – 50 people.
- St. Mark’s Primary School – 53 parents and young people.
- Stepping Stones Islamic Community Centre – 35 women and girls.
- St. Mark’s Church – 140 people from diverse communities including people who had taken part in the previous 3 events.
Gabriella’s key learning was:
- Be open to learning – including the importance of visuals such as world maps; to talk slowly and be considerate of people who have English as a second language; to plan for breaks; to curate events to have a range of music, dancing etc. and seek permission for photographs,
- Adapt, Respond, Be Flexible – especially learning the importance of key religious times of the year and day for different communities.
- Importance of Cultural Differences and Nuances, particularly dance, photography and communication e.g. one Culture Share event was for women only and we photographed mainly hands and back of heads.
- Logistics Really Matter!
- The importance of regular gathering and community support
The relationships with community organisations have continued, with Gabriella volunteering at a local Asylum Seekers support organisation and at Stepping Stones. She has worked on another project at St Mark’s Primary School and was invited to support them to organise their own Culture Share events including their Summer Fayre held in the Churchyard.
Martin reflected he was “Struck by Gabriella finding communities did not have many existing cross-links, and understood that schools are a social and cultural as well as an educational resource themselves.”
Mahmooda Qureshi from the Faith and Belief Forum shared her experience of leading Solihull Faith Action Project. Mahmooda is a Community Organiser, and also works for The Ella Baker School of Organising.
The Faith and Belief Forum work to build good relations between people of all faiths and beliefs, and to create a society where difference is celebrated. They create spaces in schools, universities, workplaces and the wider community where people can engage with questions of belief and identity and meet people different from themselves.
In August 2022, the Faith New Deal (FND) initiative commissioned projects across the UK to explore possibilities of new partnerships between Faith-Based Organisation (FBOs) and statutory services. This initiative came as a response to the Kruger report, quoted above, which called for a “new deal” between government and faith communities, “actively supporting the extraordinary work of organisations of all faiths.”
The Solihull Faith Action project involved:
- sessions to staff at Solihull Council – two Faith Inclusion Skills Workshops and one Encountering Faiths & Beliefs Webinar
- 40+ individual chats with members of diverse faith communities identifying their:
- Concerns
- Hopes
- Fears
- Their relationship with the council
- recruitment of 14 representatives from faith-based organisations to take part in the project
- a programme of sessions with faith-based organisations
- 6 Social Action Workshops
- Getting to know one another
- Principles of working together
- Listening Campaign
- Mapping issues in Solihull
- Action Planning
- Action & Evaluation
- 1 information session led by Solihull Council ‘Understanding how the council works’
- 1 Networking Event – the group presented action plans to the community and the Solihull Council leadership
- 6 Social Action Workshops
Actions following the project include:
- 3 organisations registered as Place of Welcome
- Fill out 7 food bank boxes during Ramadhan
- Run Multi-faith walks
- Add our projects on Solihull Council Map
- Join the Food Bank Network
Mahmooda reflected that having the Local Authority initiate the programme was important. It showed that our communities are recognised & valued. Other things that helped included:
- Shared decision making
- Meeting frequently in various faith related places
- Having creative visual tools such as the large map of Solihull had impact.
- Networking at and between events including on WhatsApp
You can join the Facebook page Solihull Faith Action Project for regular updates on what’s happening and look out on the council website.
One participant said they learned about “the challenges and barriers experienced by speakers when running their events, and the ways they overcame these barriers.
What did we learn?
- Community Organising enables community workers to connect people in communities over shared concerns to build power for collective action to tackle inequalities. This starts with reaching out and listening.
- The Culture Share activity is very adaptable and can take 15 minutes or 3 hours, can be done online or in person and is effective in enabling people to better understand each other. The co-design process is critical, to build trusting relationships which make the events inclusive and welcoming, and allow the relationships to continue beyond the events. The events act as sparks to enable people to understand each other and bridge divides longer term.
- Solihull Faith Action project demonstrated that with time to get to know each other, people from diverse faith communities who do not usually mix, can learn, plan and take action together. Bringing those people together with the local Council, each learning from the other, can build trust between the Faith sector and local authority.
The Common Room session was unexpectedly timely, as within 3 months of the event, a series of violent protests took place around the country including in Leeds. This involved people who were expressing their concerns about their communities such as poverty, violence against women and lack of resources.
It reinforced our learning that building trust and bridging divides in communities relies on connecting people over shared concerns to build power and take action together.
Check out these resources
Watch the Common Room recording here
The Community Organising Framework
Community Organisers Ltd training – regular free taster training sessions online, full courses online and in person for a fee. All the Small Things run this training in Stoke-on-Trent – for information about the next course please contact [email protected]
What’s next?
In 2025 we are holding series 5 of the Common Room programme in Cardiff, Nottingham and Stoke on Trent, and one online, between March and June. These events will be by invite only, to keep the spaces safe and focussed. However we are always keen to speak with potential collaborators, so if you would like more information or to arrange a chat please email [email protected].
We are planning our More In Common In Action conference in Manchester in May, an opportunity for More In Common Groups and Partnerships and interested individuals to share learning and ideas for action. Please sign up to the More In Common Newsletter at the bottom of this page if you would like to know what’s coming up.