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The Connection Coalition was formed in April 2020 as a response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Anticipating that the nation was at risk of a crisis of disconnection – and a worsening epidemic of loneliness and social isolation – we created a platform for organisations across the country to work collectively to ensure that communities and the country emerges from Covid-19 ready to build and strengthen social relationships. It was only ever intended to be a time-limited project but we tapped into something necessary and powerful.

Image by Penny Vincent, taken at Yorkshire Sculpture Park

Member survey

In Spring 2022 we asked members about the challenges they are facing, their hopes for the future and what they want from the future of the Connection Coalition. You can read the report of our findings here.

We’re continuing

Based on the findings from this survey and our wider work from the past 2 years, the Jo Cox Foundation Board have agreed to the principle of continuing the Connection Coalition – moving it from a time-limited pandemic response network, to a longer term sustainable programme, so long as there is a need. Hurrah! A big thank you to those of you who have engaged with the Coalition over the past 2 years – responding to the member survey, participating in the Community of Practice, informal get togethers, running Meta Creative Connector projects and more. Your participation and our shared learning from these spaces conversations has helped us understand and evidence the needs and potential for the Coalition moving forwards.

Having joined the Jo Cox Foundation in 2021 as Connection Coalition Manager, in July I started a new role as Head of Community Programmes. I am heading up a newly formed team which includes our work on the Connection Coalition, plus our work across West Yorkshire, the Great Get Together and the More in Common Network. I started a couple of weeks ago and my first task is creating a strategy for this area of our work to feed into our new overall Jo Cox Foundation strategy for 2023-25. I am not having a quiet summer so far! But I am excited to be working with a brilliant team to help us increase our impact and make change led by the values by which Jo lived her life. All this means…

We’re recruiting for a Connection Coalition Manager

We are looking for someone with experience of facilitation and making connections who can lead the Connection Coalition into its next chapter and steward our cross-sector network of organisations, charities, companies and groups to create a better future for everyone by building strong relationships and connected communities.

Apply before midnight on Sunday 11th September 2022.

Find out more: https://www.jocoxfoundation.org/careers

If you want to discuss any ideas for the future of the Connection Coalition or our Jo Cox Foundation Communities work more broadly, I’d love to chat. Otherwise, we’ll be in touch in the Autumn introducing new opportunities to get involved in shaping the next chapter for the Connection Coalition. I’ll still be around, overseeing the development of the Coalition and hope to see you at an informal get together soon!

Zoe Cumberland

Head of Community Programmes

The Connection Coalition: Youth Loneliness Panel, held on 16th December 2021, was held aiming to increase our understanding on the issue of youth loneliness. We shared some of the latest research and heard from various local projects, to help us better understand the barriers that community organisers face when tackling the issue of youth loneliness, so that we might address them in the future. 

The video of the event is available here. We heard from the following as part of the plenary discussions:

• Andy Mortimer, Head of Communications, The Co-op Foundation
• Su Moore, CEO, The Jo Cox Foundation
• Mohammed Hanif, Trustee, Advancement of Community Empowerment CIC
• Naomi Lea, Founder, Project Hope
• Marianne Quinn, Senior PR and Comms Officer, The Jo Cox Foundation 
• Jean Inglis, Volunteer Glasgow
• Kevin Franks, CEO, Youth Focus North East 
• Charlotte Hill, Tackling Loneliness Team, DCMS

In addition to the speakers we had over 30 participants from a wide range of organisations and backgrounds, including young people and representatives from local projects like The Wolfpack Project and The Big Red Bus Club, Local Authorities including Warwickshire County Council, and national organisations including The Reading Agency and the Campaign to End Loneliness. The themes from the breakout discussions were:

• The role of language: the word and associations of ’loneliness’ often don’t resonate with young people. There were reflections and experience from youth work organisations on the use of positive framing working well – talking about health, wellbeing and making meaningful connections. One young person said talking about belonging was effective with her and her peers “you can feel connected but not belong – belonging comes up a lot”.
• The role of transitions: young people shared their experiences of loneliness and how these often came in the move out of the formal education system, when moving away from home, and/or entering full time work. This aligned with the Co-op Foundation research which shows in school levels of loneliness are lower, and levels in young people aged 18+ were higher. There was conversation around how to make workplaces inclusive for young people when they are e.g. moving to new cities, there seems to be lots of talk but not a lot of action! Young people have been particularly impacted by the work from home mandate throughout the pandemic.
• Engaging and involving young people in the conversation: Young people reflected on it being rare to see or hear from young people in conversations about youth loneliness. Across all age groups, it’s important to remember that there is diversity within young people – they are not a monolithic group – e.g. young people with English as a second language. Anyone working in this sector needs to go in without many preconceptions. Those with experience of working with young people say what works is having young people in the lead. Do the ‘loneliness sector’ who are increasingly recognising youth loneliness as an issue and wanting to work to tackle it, need training and support on how to meaningfully engage with young people to shape their work?

Next steps

The next convening for this network will be on Wednesday 2nd March, 3 – 4:30pm. Picking up one of the key themes from the first panel, we will be discussing engaging and involving young people in the conversation on youth loneliness. Participants will be invited to share their experiences of what works well, what doesn’t work, and any helpful tools and guidance we can capture and share. We will discuss whether or not a simple resource for professionals who work on loneliness but are new to working with young people might be helpful – perhaps with top tips and signposts to all the existing work and resources out there. If you would like to present your work or have other ideas on this topic to share, please contact [email protected]

Connection Coalition Manager, Zoe Cumberland, reflects on the lessons from 2021 and outstanding questions for the Coalition in 2022.

Image from our June informal get together with Connection Coalition members

The Jo Cox Foundation founded the Connection Coalition in April 2020 as part of the civil society response to Covid-19. Anticipating that the nation was at risk of a crisis of disconnection – and a worsening epidemic of loneliness and social isolation – we created a platform for organisations across the country to work collectively to ensure that communities and the country emerges from Covid-19 ready to build and strengthen social relationships. For more information about our aims, members and overview of the work so far, visit our homepage.

I started in my role as Connection Coalition Manager in May 2021. My background is primarily as a programme manager in youth participation and social action, often working in membership organisations such as the British Youth Council and Youth Access. I know the power of peer support and saw a lot of potential and need for the Connection Coalition members to be able to effectively support each other through such a challenging time. I also know the value and importance of supporting front line practitioners and organisations, whatever the sector, and ensuring their voices are heard when advocating and making policy decisions on a national level. The potential to give our members a national platform to be heard on the importance of their work and the challenges they face remains a priority. I was delighted to get the role and daunted in equal measure – there was no handover from a predecessor or existing plans to start with, so what did I do and what did I learn?

What did I do?

Regular rhythms

I sent a fortnightly newsletter to members highlighting work and resources of interest, provided space for sharing and conversations on our Facebook group; and convened monthly informal get togethers for members to meet each other and share learning, challenges and connect with each other informally.

Community of Practice

It was important for me to get a deeper understanding of the members of the Coalition and their needs, so after various ideas and conversations, I ran a community of practice for 15 practitioners from within the Coalition on the subject of “how can we keep putting relationships at the heart of what we do”. We ran 6 x 2 hour sessions, initially getting to know each other, establishing why we think it’s important to invest in relationships and what does good look like in relationships. Group members then created their personal challenge/question that they wanted the group’s help in exploring through the rest of the sessions, using something similar to an action learning set approach. 

Youth loneliness

We were successful in securing some funding to run a youth loneliness theme of work within the Coalition (linking with the Jo Cox Foundation and sector more widely where appropriate), so I spent time researching what already exists and asking members what would be most helpful, and we ran our first event in December 2021, bringing together members to explore the issue and identify the themes that this project could help to address in 2022.

What did I learn?

Trialing, testing, and preparing to ‘fail’

It has been a luxury (and overwhelming at times) to have a blank page and the opportunity to just try some things out. I have spoken to a few people recently with similar experiences – moving from very target and delivery focussed roles, organisations and sectors, to spaces where we have a little more time to think, reflect and embrace iterative approaches. It may be what we want but it still takes adjustment!

The community of practice was a hunch and proved invaluable for me and participants. The monthly informal get togethers work, and I have fought against the need to change the format by adding too much in, or combining them with other ideas – they’re not for everyone, but they are always a warm and friendly space, with smiles and genuine connections, some people return each time and new members are still joining us each month.

As someone who loves a detailed plan, I have built my confidence in just giving something a go without knowing what will emerge. The challenge is to ensure I am capturing learning and implementing it in the next things I try out, ensuring I am confident in knowing what is working to help us move towards our aims, and knowing when to stop things or adapt/move on.

The power and importance of spaces for reflective practice

This is not something that has come as a surprise, but has been reinforced for me through the opportunity to actually carve out spaces for reflective practice for me and others in the Coalition. Participants in the community of practice reflected on the value of having a space “to be, not do”, with others who share similar values. The process threw up some predictable issues and challenges, but also some surprises, and by being intentional about the space being flexible and led by the needs of the group, it allowed more space for the complexities and messiness of the work we’re doing to be acknowledged and reflected on.

“[It enabled us to] generate ideas and realise even more that collaboration is where the ‘power’ for greater impact lies.”

“[I am grateful for] the way this enabled me to have aha moments and spur me into activism!”

“By having sessions that are not being ‘recorded’ the community of practice sessions provided a space where we could be ‘ourselves’ and not the mask that we have to usually put on when undertaking our work – that is a precious gift that I truly believe has the power to inspire and motivate even more.”

Community of practice participants

Building resilience in the sector through these spaces

The phrase “supporting the supporters” has come up a lot as I understand the aims and needs of the individuals and organisations who make up the Coalition. Hearing the news that the Small Charities Coalition (SCC) is being forced to close in the Spring has rightly prompted the sector to think about the value of infrastructure bodies. In a recent article responding to the announcement from the SCC, Maddy Desforges, CEO of NAVCA, says of infrastructure support that “it is the catalyst that allows other organisations to have their impact”. Support can come in many forms, but informal spaces to connect and share have proved valuable for members of the Connection Coalition.

In our monthly get-togethers, our conversation prompts will often be “share something you have read / watched / listened to recently that you would recommend” and “what challenges do you have that group members might be able to help with?”. Sometimes the conversations end up being work related, sometimes we talk about the joy of Mortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Fishing and give advice to a member who has been struggling to sleep. I sometimes question if this is what I am ‘meant’ to be doing – but if these spaces aren’t ones where we can bring our whole selves, build relationships and connect as humans, then I’m probably missing something essential. Members have talked about the value of taking some time to “walk the walk” and actually connect with others, not always focussing on helping other people. These past two years have been tough in so many ways, and we should not underestimate the power of these weak ties in keeping us going, and now more than ever, we need all these brilliant people and organisations to keep going.

“I personally really enjoyed being able to speak to other people working and supporting their communities and actually take some time out to smile about things as we connect. So thank you for that because I hear so many of us say we feel like we have lost ourselves a little at the moment.” Informal get together participant

“By having a safe space to talk it is relieving pressure, I hadn’t anticipated that.”

“It’s been important to realise we’re not alone.”

“I feel a lot of relief from sharing my feelings and experiences. I feel much more motivated to do my work and have a clear focus and confidence to continue with online and alternative working and be able to advocate for the need to do this for others as well as myself.”

Community of practice participants

Outstanding questions

Of course this work has raised as many questions as it has taught me lessons. Some of the key questions I am taking forward into 2022 are:

How do we give members space to ‘be, not do’, which we have evidenced increases motivation and inspiration, ‘unlocks’ thinking, and gives space for ideas and solutions to be shared, but also respect their time and help ensure these spaces are most useful and stand a chance of being prioritised?

How do we ensure actions we take on behalf of members on a national level are most relevant and representative of the members?

How do we best use our limited resources to give power to the members and facilitate processes for them to take forward their own ideas and solutions?

I think of this quote from one of our members often, and how we can support this approach through the Coalition’s work:

“Start and stay local. Build from the grassroots. Listen to the specifics. Learn from the community experts and their lived experience. The community has known how best to mobilise their support and connect with their neighbours. It’s been locally created, locally resourced, locally managed and extremely effective. Empowering, enabling and building from these hyper local responses is the most powerful thing that can be done to build from the crisis response into recovery.” Connection Coalition member

What are the plans for 2022?

The work of 2021 has demonstrated an interest and a need from Connection Coalition members to maintain the network and through a combination of successful funding bids it has been possible to extend my role to December 2022 and with it the work of the Coalition. This gives us an opportunity to build on our learning and think about what’s next. For more information on our plans for 2022 – click here and make sure you are signed up to get the latest.

I’d love to know if anything in this has resonated with you, and if you want to connect on anything raised or the Connection Coalition more widely, please don’t hesitate! Email me: [email protected] or find me on Twitter.

In the push to get people online, we shouldn’t neglect the old-fashioned telephone

Last March, lockdown emptied the libraries.  The church halls and community centres fell silent. The Knit and Natter groups, the coffee mornings, the lunch clubs, the U3A meetings, came to a halt, or sometimes, haltingly, reconvened online. In their cupboards, the tea urns gathered dust. But in people’s homes across the land, Zoom screens flickered on and community life, or at least a disembodied shadow version of it, continued. 

One group, Cambridgeshire Older People’s Enterprise (COPE), took a different approach. Deborah Katznelson, one of their trustees, had spent much of her life in the US, where telephone conferencing is mainstream – there are programmes in California and New York and Texas among others, with hundreds of participants. She also knew that many of COPE’s members were not really interested in online meetings – they wanted to stay in touch with others and continue to learn and socialise, but didn’t particularly want to move onto screens to access community life.

TALKING TOGETHER – by phone

Deborah had started the TALKING TOGETHER programme of telephone discussion groups in February 2020, but with the advent of lockdown, the work of sustaining and growing the programme took on a new urgency. TALKING TOGETHER uses a telephone conferencing format, using a platform provided by the Phone Co-op. Participants sign up to a free six week course on a particular topic – topics have included poetry, Cambridgeshire history, paintings of the Fitzwilliam museum and the science of DNA – one group even read through The Cherry Orchard together! Each week, a facilitator is connected to the  participants, and over the next forty five minutes, each small group learns and discusses together. Course materials are posted to participants in advance of the calls. Around 300 people have participated to date, and demand is high: every series so far has had a waiting list.

Their lessons? Firstly, it was crucial to have a system which reached out to the participants. If the burden of phoning into the group at a set time was placed on the participant, far fewer people might join.Secondly, keep groups small. Meaningful interaction becomes impossible beyond about eight people when participants can’t see each other.

Finally, a skilled facilitator or host who can support everyone’s participation makes all the difference.

Some people don’t use the internet, and that’s OK

What I really liked about COPE’s approach was that telephone conferencing didn’t make participation reliant on getting online. The TALKING TOGETHER programme recognised that lots of people don’t really use the internet, and that’s OK – they didn’t have to be converted to the joys of Zoom to participate. 

In Cambridgeshire, where I live and work, there was widespread recognition of how many people did not have internet access – sometimes because of poverty, often because of lack of interest. Nationally, three in five over 75s are without internet access. When lockdown started, voluntary and community groups came together for a heroic push on digital exclusion, working to get devices out to residents and to offer training in using the internet (props especially to Cambridgeshire Digital Partnership). I don’t wish to denigrate this work. It enabled lots of people to access learning and connection. But we need to be honest about the limits of digital inclusion. 

Meeting people where they are

“Digital inclusion” seeks to move people onto the internet. Telephone conferencing meets them where they are. Joining online meetings needs a data plan, a device, decent broadband speed, and the money to pay for it all, which is not to be taken for granted in Fenland, an area of multiple deprivation. Telephone conferencing is low-tech but has a low barrier to entry.

ONS data suggests that the majority of people choose not to be online not because of lack of skills, but because of the cost of home internet access, or because of a lack of interest in going online. In addition, Cambridgeshire community conveners report that some older people are fearful about going online, and the risks of online scams or being hacked. Research from Lloyds suggests that 30% of people are totally uninterested in moving online, even when skills and money make it possible. 

Offering alternative ways for people to connect into community life

Digital assistance can be incredibly valuable where people are interested in going online. But when it’s not digital skills that are the barrier, we need to be able to offer alternative ways for people to connect into community life from home.

As more and more people get vaccinated, we are beginning to see the church halls and the community centres come alive again. The tables are being unfolded from their cupboards. The tea urns are gurgling again. But it’s important to remember that just as before lockdown, there are people who can’t join. People who because of the bus cuts, or the heart condition, or the pain when they walk, or the responsibility to a loved one who needs 24hour care, are trapped at home, sometimes with only the telly for company. For these people, so often out-of-sight, out-of-mind, lockdown didn’t change anything. I see telephone conferencing as a model for including these people in community life. 

Lianna Etkind is the Community Engagement Lead for Civic’s Future Libraries Initiative

As Jo Cox said, “young or old, loneliness doesn’t discriminate”. We know that loneliness is not a new issue for young people, and we also know that the pandemic has made things worse. We are bringing Connection Coalition members together to amplify your existing work on youth loneliness, including calls to action and campaigns, and support those new to working with young people on loneliness to understand the issue and build skills to empower you to take action. We want to hear your views on the most helpful ways to go about this to help you best tackle youth loneliness in your communities.

As Jo Cox said, “young or old, loneliness doesn’t discriminate”. Research shows that loneliness is not a new issue for young people. In 2018, the Office for National Statistics reported that being 16-24 years old was one of the characteristics most closely associated with experiencing feelings of loneliness, with 9.8% reporting that they were “often lonely”. Whilst it is not a new phenomenon, we know that the pandemic has made things worse. 77% of young people agree that the coronavirus pandemic has made them feel more lonely (The Mix, Feb 2021), with 39% of 16-25 year olds feeling always or often lonely in the 12 months Feb 2020 – 2021, with an additional 41% feeling lonely sometimes. 33% of young people wouldn’t know what to do to help them cope with loneliness.

Loneliness can have negative impacts on our physical and mental health. It can affect our sleep, contribute to feelings of anxiety, stress and depression, and is linked to low self-esteem and feeling able to cope. Not all young people are at equal risk of experiencing loneliness. Research by The Mix has identified groups that are more at risk than others, including full-time students, unemployed young people, young women and LGBTQ+ young people.

Youth loneliness and the Connection Coalition

One of our aims with the Connection Coalition is to support organisations who work to build and maintain relationships and connections in their communities, creating spaces for them to share experiences, increase knowledge, skills, confidence and motivation, with the ultimate aim of improving practice. We know that over half of our members identify as working to tackle loneliness, and in consultations with Connection Coalition members earlier in 2021, youth loneliness was one topic which members recognised as an issue and wanted to come together to share experience and ideas about.

To support this, the Jo Cox Foundation has been successful in securing some funding from the Innox Foundation for a 12 month project to bring together Connection Coalition members who are working on youth loneliness or want to deepen their understanding and capacity to tackle youth loneliness. The project aims to harness the expertise and collective power of Connection Coalition members to reduce loneliness among young people across the UK by:

• Amplifying existing work on youth loneliness, including calls to action and campaigns
• Supporting those new to working with young people on loneliness to understand the issue, how you can help and build skills to empower you to take action

Share your views to help shape the project

In order to make the project as effective as possible we want to hear from you, our members, to understand what would help you on this topic, and to understand what learning and expertise already exists in the network that we can amplify.

Please submit your responses to this survey: https://forms.gle/8fjiDYUaUwCB8Gaw9 by Friday 24th September 2021.  We are also happy to hear from you in any other way, you can send me an email, video or audio file or we can set up a phone call. Any questions please contact [email protected].

In this article, Sue Egersdorff, founder of Ready Generations, a Connection Coalition member, explores the need for human connection, the impact of the pandemic and the charity’s mission to understand the impact of loneliness across all generations and to better understand the most profound motivators of human connection.

Heart by Misuzu Kaneko
Translation by David Jacobson, Sally Ito and Michiko Tsuboi

My mother is big –
she’s a grown up
but her heart is little.

I’ll tell you why – because
she says her heart is filled with little me!

I’m little
since I’m a child,
but I have a big heart

I’ll tell you why – because even with my heart
filled with my big mother, there’s still room for so much more

Misuzu Kaneko is Japan’s most celebrated children’s poet. Her poems are an important part of the curriculum in every Japanese elementary school and speak passionately to the need for constellations of connection with each other through acts of simple human kindness and reciprocity. The emphasis, during the Covid-19 pandemic on an enforced return to the simplicity of basic living and a re-evaluation of what is considered as important chimes perfectly with Kaneko’s work. Yet in real time, day after day, we face a stressful dichotomy. We are experiencing a range of situations that have the potential to either humanise or, in stark contrast, dehumanise us. Covering our faces, pulling back from hugging our friends and family, feeling nervous about shared food, awkwardly avoiding contact with strangers, blaming the young and blaming the old. Such situations have raised a new internal consciousness that feels alien to most of us. We appear to have grown distant from each other and at worst, suspicious of each other at a time when we harbour a longing to be connected and close.

Our recently revised daily routines and behaviours have combined to create the perfect storm for a life-altering loss of physical contact and interaction. For some, the natural inclination towards intimacy has been frozen out, replaced by the sharpness of dismissal and avoidance. This can lead to feelings of a blanket disconnection – emotionally, socially and spiritually.

As humans we have evolved into a species that appreciates and places high value on interdependence. Now this feels challenged on a number of fronts. Will we ever sit comfortably next to a stranger on the park bench exchanging casual pleasantries, or share a hug with a work colleague or delight in children holding hands and playing together? How will we respond when such actions are directed towards ourselves? The anxiety associated with a new consideration of the we and us in relationships is increasingly present with the potential to grow into an alien consciousness that goes to the core of who we perceive ourselves to be.

Misuzu Kaneko’s work calls for constellations of connection.

Prior to the current situation, some organisations were considering the power of connection and relational dichotomies. Ready Generations, a charity based in Liverpool was created with the sole aim of encouraging reciprocal connections between children, families and older people, as brought to life through many of Kaneko’s poems. Our work involves developing the right environmental conditions to encourage safe, authentic and sustainable relationships grounded in respect for human dignity at every stage of the life course. Challenging discrimination against individuals and groups on the basis of their age is central to the Charity’s mission and we are currently building a Think MINI Ageism movement advocating for greater civic understanding of the needs of babies and young children as well as older people.

The Charity’s major project is a partnership with Belong Ltd to set up a purpose-built intergenerational nursery in the heart of a new care village in Chester. This is due to open in early 2022, enabling older people, families and young children to mix together informally and also to learn to understand each other more through an innovative Mirrored Curriculum Framework. Many fabulous intergenerational models have focused on an activities together approach with positive results. This project will expand such models and consider the lived experience of a fully integrated approach where living and being together is prioritised in a sustained way and under a shared roof.

The overarching aim of the project is to develop scaleable lived experience approaches to intergenerational connection, where the wisdom of the years meets the eagerness of childhood through a sensitive developmental programme. For example, through the Mirrored Curriculum Framework, children and older people will work together on inter-related tasks that tackle ageist barriers whilst promoting the cognitive abilities of the very young and maintaining the cognitive health of the older generation. This is particularly significant work when considered against a national demographic that shows an increasing prevalence of such debilitating chronic conditions as dementia and other degenerative cognitive conditions in the over 65 population and an increasing use of dismissive images and language around older people and children.

As a Charity, we are uncompromising in our mission to seek out and better understand the most profound motivators of human connection. Charity founder, Sue Egersdorff, says:

as humans we are wired to be social and to seek the proximity of others, both family and friends. Very few of us are able to do well or function at our  best when we feel isolated and alone. The pain of social loss and connection can be devastating. The brain responds in the same way it would if the pain was a physical one. This is becoming so apparent for many as they have been separated from their families in this pandemic.

To bring life to our plans, we have also developed an Attuned Relationships Model (ARM) focussed on ensuring all developments respond to the basic human needs we all share whatever our age. These are, to secure safety, comfort, proximity to those who love and help us and an intuitive desire to look for predictability in things and feel in control. When faced with perceived chaos or uncertainty we try our best to make sense and secure meaning for ourselves. In turn, this helps to provide us with a sense of positive self-definition – we feel in control whether we actually are or not, we feel safe and we have some sense of what the future holds and how we should respond and expect others to respond to us in return. These needs have been deeply challenged for many as the pandemic has progressed and will require much post-pandemic recovery support and understanding.

Over the last two years, our work with nurseries, schools and care providers has placed us in a good position to help in any way we can to support such recovery efforts. Our research, through our recent Care to the Nest Report has highlighted the concern that staying connected with your own peer group alone can be self-limiting. It can encourage myths to form about what other generations may be like, increasingly fuelled by hearsay and social media. Stereotypical and often ageist views about the ways in which generations engage with their environment and each other can quickly become entrenched and embedded. Young children can appear supremely physically active, needing constant adult supervision, whilst older people are often described as sedentary onlookers onto the action. Young people can appear selfish, rowdy and threatening, whilst older people can seem slow and distant with outdated views and prejudices. We think ageist representations are to be guarded against at every stage of the life course.

As human beings we all participate in the world through our environment and form perspectives through the interactions our particular environment offers us. We believe environments are hugely significant and can become enablers or barriers to engagement.  For a lucky minority, the pandemic has brought people together in ways that could never have been imagined at the start of 2020. Neighbourhoods have grown together with people noticing the existence of each other and building new locally focussed friendships and alliances. At its best, this noticing is gradually developing into knowledge and experience about how to live alongside each other in, what could best be described as an interconnected ecosystem reflecting a refreshed sense of the collaborative community.

However, in reverse there is a bleaker side, a side which continues to fail badly in noticing the plight of the most vulnerable.  Many people, often the most helpless, have died at home alone during the pandemic, some not found for periods of up to two weeks. This is no surprise when years of austerity have destroyed many local services and fragmented adult social care. It is the danger of such extreme social isolation that poses the saddest of all community challenges for post pandemic life.

We know that the smallest shifts in behaviour can have a massive impact. So a question we are grappling with is, how can we all, as active citizens, accept some degree of responsibility for those living in closest proximity to us, even if this is a minimal recognition that curtains have been drawn and there is evidence of life in the house so all must be well. In nudge theory – what is the nudge?

Throughout the pandemic, the basic renewal of an ageless community spirit, emanating from our doorsteps not centralised government policy is a fantastic starting point. The concept of community has grown in status and shown to deliver real and humanising impact. It has demonstrated real potential to provide a vital preventative antidote to what is possibly the nation’s most virulent modern pandemic – the loneliness inherent in social exclusion, of belonging to the tribe of the unnoticed!

Ready Generations believe that intergenerational approaches have real value in building sustainable communities and effective policymaking in education and social care recognises the positive impact of connection across ages.

Loneliness affects us all at different points in our lives, yet we tend to think of loneliness and old age as common bed fellows. Ready Generations’ work extends to understanding the impact on health and wellbeing of loneliness across all generations, understanding that even the youngest children can be affected by the impact of loneliness when they feel their needs are not understood or met by the adults who care for them. Young families can feel incredibly alone as they adapt to life with children and the new limitations on their social availability this inevitably brings. As we age, it becomes easier to recognise the life changes that can trigger loneliness – separation, divorce, empty nest syndrome, loss of loved ones, physical frailty, loss of social contacts – the list is endless. We can also have none of these challenges yet still feel a sense of penetrating loneliness in the midst of whirling social calendars, careers and social media hype. Any of us can easily become a member of the tribe of the unnoticed.

We hope that our nursery project interlacing the everyday lives of children, families and older people will bring more learning and understanding of how to design around lived experience. By virtue of being so young, children act unconsciously within the world – they are curious and intuitively experience wonder in the simplest of things – a flower, a beetle, a cloud! We intend to learn from this as we plan sensory, connected spaces both in and outdoors for  everyone to enjoy and play in. We have been inspired by the work of Erling Kagge. In his wise book Silence in the Age of Noise he speaks of childlike wonder as the very engine of life and one of the most powerful forces with which we are born. Older people, when re-connected sensitively with the young are given a unique space and time to revisit their own personal concept of wonder. The impact can be extraordinary for both groups and there is often joyful, life affirming magic at play when the two are brought together. Even those that may feel they have not got the energy or desire to be with very young children can be positively affected. We have witnessed this so many times and love the story of Rene.  

Rene with her friend Pixie – nearly a century separates them.

Rene was 96 years old and living in a North West Care village when she became involved with intergenerational activity. Although physically frail and wheelchair bound she was alert and smart. After a nature session with toddlers looking at the colours and shapes of spring flowers, she became wistful and started to write. She wrote the words of the song This is My Lovely Day from the 1947 London musical Bless the Bride. She recounted how her husband, Charlie took her to see the stars of the musical, George Guetary and Lizbeth Webb at the Adelphi Theatre, London in 1948. It was her lovely day and she felt she had been blessed by another special lovely day spent with the children. She wrote of the children as messengers of memory and delight.  She died a month later just days short of her 97^th birthday.  

During a similar session, Mary, a day-resident suffering with advanced dementia whose mood was often low and who struggled to accommodate others into her narrowing world, grew in confidence and life, telling the children the latin names of trees and flowers and explaining about native and non-native plants. She had been a Forestry Ranger in the Scottish Lowlands. On collecting his wife after the session, Mary’s husband was amazed by the lightness of her mood and positive engagement with the children. He reported that her improved mood lasted well into the following day as did her  constant requests to join another session with the children.

At this time, more than ever, it is worth reflecting with a renewed seriousness about what brings real purpose and joy to living and the conditions that enable life’s most simple gifts to best hold their value throughout life and without interruption at whatever age!

Misuzu Kaneko was right – Are you just an echo?

No, you are everyone through constellations of connection.

Rene’s writing following the intergenerational session.

In response to the recent call for submissions from Danny Kruger MP on how civil society and Government can sustain the acts of generosity and neighbourliness seen during the pandemic, the Connection Coalition submitted a series of recommendations based on the experiences of our members.

As of July 2020, the Connection Coalition is made up of over 450 organisational members, working on a diverse range of issues, including: loneliness and social isolation, mental health, grief, disability, arts and culture, intergenerational, and health-related issues. From community centres to befriending schemes, and from community development trusts to intergenerational networks, our members have been delivering on the frontline of the Covid crisis.

Indeed the Connection Coalition members are at the beating heart of the “awe-inspiring acts of generosity, public spirit and neighbourliness” referenced in the Prime Minister’s letter asking for input. As a result of their experience, Coalition members are well placed to offer unique insights into the reality of the current context and the challenges they face. To harness this valuable knowledge and inspire change, we conducted a member survey and produced a comprehensive briefing for the Government.

The key calls from our members are summarised below:

1. Invest in social infrastructure and grassroots organisations

The majority of our members believe that the Government has a key role to play in strengthening social infrastructure, meaning the places where social connections thrive. Many smaller organisations also face significant funding challenges. It is vital that additional funding is made available that is accessible to localised groups to support them and ensure their services users aren’t left behind.

2. Close the digital divide

The ‘digital divide’ was cited as the biggest barrier to supporting communities. An estimated 12 million people do not have access to digital technology, with certain groups such as older people, particularly from BAME backgrounds, particularly at risk of being left behind. It is vital that measures are taken to ensure equal access to technological resources and knowledge, as well ensuring inclusive digital infrastructure that accounts for a range of abilities and needs.

3. Enable and incentivise cross-sector collaboration

The Government should incentivise and support cross-sector collaboration to maximise the role of civil society in building and strengthening social connections. Members are keen to see the Government play an increasingly active role in convening collaborative spaces to facilitate this, and the prioritisation of holistic action at all levels to ensure social connection remains on the national agenda.

4. Prioritise mental health

The prioritisation of mental health support for the most vulnerable in communities is essential. At risk groups cited included those from BAME communities, those from areas of high deprivation likely to be disproportionately impacted by unemployment; those with disabilities; and children and young people. Providing additional support for these groups will lessen the burden of care placed on civil society organisations and free up capacity to maximise their expertise in other areas of support.

5. Ensure inclusivity

The role of civil society can also be maximised by actively building an inclusive environment that challenges stereotypes of both volunteering and the communities served by civil society. It is recommended that the Government adopts an intersectional approach, factoring in intersecting issues such as race, age, gender, sexuality and disability, into its engagement with civil society to ensure a range of needs are represented.

6. Value community work and volunteering

Civil society organisations are eager to preserve the incredible community spirit that has been fostered, but are concerned that as people return to work there will be a significant drop in volunteer capacity. It is important that more is done to raise the profile of volunteering beyond the immediate crisis and promote the holistic benefits it can have. However, it is strongly felt that this cannot be seen as a substitute for paid work.

The Connection Coalition looks forward to working closely with Government in exploring these recommendations further and ensuring an inclusive and collaborative path forwards beyond the immediate crisis, helping build a more connected future for all.

The full briefing can be viewed here. If you have any questions or would like any further information, please do get in touch: [email protected]