Shifting power to communities is increasingly in the spotlight and there’s scope for really exciting, important, wider change.
In 2024 we set out to be active contributors to a national conversation that shows clearly and compellingly what that shift also depends on – the deep community organising practice and local relational infrastructure of organisations like Grapevine.
A Ball Hill resident presents statistics on air quality in her neighbourhood.
Today we launch a short series of blogs from our speakers who joined us that day, alongside organising friends, funders, think and do tanks and local leaders. Starting with our own Mel Smith!
How we organise change in this place at this time (by Mel Smith)
I am very lucky to work with a team of brilliant community organisers across Coventry and Warwickshire. We organise with people who are segregated, pushed out and not believed in by powerful systems and institutions. Like all organisers, we want to change these relations of power. It takes a focus on the development of leadership and a fundamental belief in people.
A key assumption of organising is that those affected by social problems are best equipped to figure out what changes will make a difference. Organisers don’t see victims, they see potential leadership and develop strategies that help people come together to make change. And here are two contrasting stories of that belief in practice.
Destination Ball Hill
Just five minutes drive from Coventry city centre is Ball Hill. It’s a long stretch of high street that hosts one of the city’s major bus routes flanked on either side by bargain stores, fast food restaurants and charity shops. It’s a mix of nationalities and religions, long-term residents and transient students. The main route to the hospital, the sound of sirens is commonplace.
Local resident Rachel told us: “The area has its ups and downs, it always has. But I think the gap between the two has become more evident post-pandemic. The exit of business names like Woolworths and Boots, as well as at least four high street banks, has devastated the local area.”
We arrived in Ball Hill with a large placard with the words ‘Reform the Norm’ on it in big, bold letters. We started to chat to people at the bus stop, to passers by, to businesses. We knocked on doors. We listened to children, older people and everyone in between. We gave time and patience to the process and we said very little because we wanted to be rooted in our knowledge of what mattered to the people of Ball Hill. This radical listening provided the opportunity to build webs of relationships and trust through follow up one to one conversations. And there were many, hundreds in fact. Their purpose was to uncover self interest, develop a relationship, uncover leadership potential and recruit.
Ball Hill’s ‘community hub’ now takes place every Wednesday, organised by local people.
From this, the first community meetings began. We brought structure: power and responsibility was distributed and leadership development began. Organiser Leonie said being persistent and annoying was key to getting through the mistrust and into the respect zone. It was apparent we had done our homework – the initial rage led to deep and meaningful conversations. Community litter picks saw us tackling a surface problem whilst digging deep into root causes. Their meetings had regular rhythms. There was tea and cake but it wasn’t a talking shop – it was where strategy emerged. Strategy that led to action.
Locals learned how to create strategic relationships with people holding power in church, community, businesses and politics – including the MP and six ward councillors. They carried out multiple economically, environmentally and socially focused actions including a citizen assembly and jury, community workshops, action events and others.
Ball Hill has relatively quickly become a more vibrant and confident place with an air quality campaign, a green spaces and transport plan, a local business traders’ group, a community hub, two community gardens and established a core strategy team with a bank account and constitution.
None of this had seemed possible.
As a local resident said: “There was no visible way to make change. People felt alone. Now, I feel inspired. The people power is out there. The tools are there to organise and unite.”
A healthier Willenhall community together
Let’s travel up the road now to Willenhall, three miles from Ball Hill.
It’s a different story. Willenhall is on the edge of Coventry. As local resident Dave told us, it was once a small village but was absorbed into the city as the city expanded. It’s a council housing estate and the children are twice as likely to be in poverty as they are elsewhere in Coventry. Heron Foods is the main shop. Fizzy energy drinks and tinned food are the welcome party – you have to travel if you want good, fresh food.
It’s taken almost two years to develop a core team of residents who want a local park. It’s currently a park in name only. Nothing there is fit for purpose, it’s either too old or has been destroyed. What use is a swing without a seat? In reality, this is also a reflection of the community’s lack of influence with the local parks department. The more affluent areas of the city are their main focus because they are vocal, they are organised and they are the green flag holders.
The ‘Friends of Brookstray Park’ community group recently held a recruitment drive at the park in Willenhall where they are campaigning for improved facilities.
Willenhall people have seen projects come and go with big promises of change. Our conversations were candid but there was a lack of motivation and an expectation that services should be doing it. Pam the vicar had been the ‘go to’ person, the one who sorted stuff but she’d been moved on to a different parish. Some said this was apathy but let’s be honest, people had lost the belief that they can do anything to make change. Some felt what they needed was services back to fix things because at least then there was something to do or someone to go to. The idea that they could and should alter the relations of power was just not in their sight line.
We unpicked the misconceptions of why we were there, trying to get us all on the same page. We brought our relational practices to the table but they were seen as time wasting and that we just needed to get something done. But the thing was, we weren’t the ones to ‘get it done’. The notion of collective action just wasn’t hitting home. The first meetings were electric, edgy and unpredictable. The local councillor started to attend. We had to explain that he needed to stay away and wait to be invited in. But something was forming and we weren’t giving up. Edwin, our organiser, had spotted potential leaders.
We knew that we couldn’t move forward until the relational work was done to rebuild trust, to stand out, to create the right conditions, to talk a different talk. That’s what community organisers Edwin and Gemma have been doing. They’ve taken the flack, fought back and worked to develop leadership and strategy. Now there’s a core team campaigning for a new park. Alloys Yunka, chair of the team, shared: “Grapevine’s passion and resilience is very infectious. You guys don’t give up.”
Organiser, leader, team member, volunteer, supporter – some of the stages of systemic change in communities.
Our unwavering belief in people
Being agile and able to adapt is key. This feels even more important right now as we continue to face uncertainty.
Observers of our work only see what’s visible – the outcomes. We’ve been thinking about the practices needed to do this work well for a long time.
We don’t want to shy away from what it really takes and how long it really takes. It lies in the development of relationships, in the hundreds of one to ones, in the building of trust and in the unwavering belief in people.
We always show up with kindness, warmth and love. And have done for 30 years now, weaving all of our wisdom and resources together.
Love isn’t a term often used in organising but it’s always been in our kitbag.
Love means that we work to really understand one another as well as being willing to welcome tension, to agitate and face conflict head on.
Related reading
Read Mel’s other blog ‘Dreaming big about community leadership and community centres of the future’ by clicking this link.
Learn more about our Coventry movement against isolation and marginalisation ‘Connecting for Good Cov’ here.
