Grapevine’s local work in Coventry and Warwickshire is on a national stage again this week at the launch of a major new report into social power and change.
Our CEO Clare Wightman will sit on a panel of sector experts today (27 June) at St Bride’s Church in London to speak about the ‘Social Change Project’ report which is being unveiled at the event.
The project is run by the Sheila McKechnie Foundation – the UK’s leading provider of training and support to those seeking to bring about positive social change.
The Foundation’s ethos is that “people should be able to shape their world” and it exists to help them do just that by building their capacity to effect social change.
Click here to read the report and a quick summary of its key findings.
The report starts from a point of stark contrast between North America’s extensive industry of activating communities to drive societal change (both for-profit and not-for-profit) compared to the UK’s less developed operation.
It aims to learn from what is happening on both sides of the Atlantic so we can work towards a fairer, kinder society where people are not marginalised or excluded because of their differences.
Grapevine is one of three case studies of different types of significant social change (the Living Wage and #MeToo Movement being the other two) and is summarised in the report as follows:
“This local charity helps people experiencing isolation, poverty and disadvantage to build better lives. By bringing what they describe as a ‘social movement approach’, they hope to be not a provider but an enabler, centred on really listening to those who need support.
“As Grapevine Coventry and Warwickshire looks outward into the community to see what is already there that could help, they crowdsource ideas and offers and find creative ways to provide the support that is needed.
“Such an innovative and high impact approach starts to capture national attention. Featuring in the Good and Bad Help report sparks new relationships with national funders, allowing them to work with more people and continue to forge new ways of approaching everything from relationships with commissioners to their own monitoring, evaluation and learning.” (from the report ‘Social Power: How civil society can ‘Play Big’ and truly create change’).
The report concludes that these three examples – and many others shared during a series of ‘Community of Practice’ workshops, events and away days – demonstrate civil society’s huge potential to effect change. It calls this ‘Social Power’.
It is hoped that by highlighting the scope and possibilities of social power, the report will help to evolve the relationship between civil society and the state and initiate new opportunities and investment in its growth.
Our very own resident artist and community organiser @FeelGoodMel was also commissioned to illustrate the report.
For those who don’t know her story, she uses ‘doodling’ to take her mind off the pain caused by a rare spinal condition. With Grapevine’s help, she set up her own social movement ‘Feel Good Community’ based around the idea that creativity can be used as a tool for health and wellbeing for people with long-term conditions. A perfect choice for a report on social change.