Unity, solidarity, working together for the common good—and for everyone’s sake—feel “out-shouted” by much louder cries of anger and division right now.
On Sunday, Cabinet minister and Business Secretary Peter Kyle told the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg— in response to marches and counter protests in London at the weekend—that “what worries me most are the divisions in our society.”
Recent protests are “klaxon calls” to government to address people’s big concerns, Kyle said—before adding that, “we have to do it in a way that can start to bring communities back together again.”
To this end, Grapevine is developing a community-led ecosystem of self-governing initiatives called Connecting for Good (CfG) which aims to develop leadership among ordinary people to really shape their communities towards a fairer and more equal experience of life in Coventry.
“I hope we will capture and channel the collective energy of our city’s diverse communities… and display a united front in confronting and addressing all forms of social injustice.
“Most importantly, I hope we will inspire people to recognise their own power—and to understand that, together as a movement, we can challenge and transform power structures that work against the interests of our local communities.”
(Ade, CfG leader and part of the Coventry Urban Eden initiative greening the city centre for all)
Since 2019, we’ve established 18 initiatives and 36 groups. We bring people who are most left out together, enabling them to act on their aspirations and to lead change on the issues they care about in their community.
This builds democratic muscle and provides experiences that show people they can shape their community’s future, learning with others in bridging spaces where both difference and commonality can be explored within a context that is less polarising.
Through this, we aim to tackle both surface problems and their underlying causes.
The ambitions of Peter Kyle and others in and out of government for bringing communities back together to form real solutions on common ground can’t be realised without it.
“Coventry needs grassroots unity—community groups looking after one another, building city-wide strength and making those in power listen. I think we all want a fairer Coventry where our collective power fights injustice and everyone counts.”
(Grapevine deputy CEO Mel Smith)
Follow this link to learn more about what we are building, the issues in society that these community-led initiatives are tackling and the urgency for change now—only magnified by recent and ongoing events.
