Community organising possibilities
An email landed in my inbox for an event/workshop. For the next day. Whoops. I didn’t schedule it. I can fit it in though. Skip lunch, push a client back by 15 mins and still get to ride my bike into town. Again. One ride closer to my zero carbon transformation. Gotta have big goals hey?
Now that workshop? Rejuvenate. Sounds like a skin cleanser to me. On further checking I find that I signed up for it awhile back. It’s run by the guru’s of Social Entrepreneurs at ACRE. Why me? Oh that's right I sometimes get grandiose plans of being able to change the world. Just work on changing yourself first Eric, apply those steps of Transtheoretical models of change.
This Rejuvenate thing could be fun so I decided to head along but do the usual - keep my mouth shut (hard for me to do at the best of times) and sit on my hands(staying still? Yeah right!) - this philosophy usually works and keeps me out of trouble.
Walking through the door I’m warmly greeted by strangers, I see familiar faces. And a lite lunch - perfect. I fill a plate, go and greet the people I know, then introduce myself to a few I don't.
We begin. The icebreakers work. We share where our happy places are. You know where mine is - the garden, composts and pickling and preserving in my shed/kitchen. The workshop is about community organising, so we rank ourselves based on our perceived skill levels in this area. I get pushed up a little from the bottom as I ran a little cafe before the virus hit.
We learn the definition of an entrepreneur, and who sullied this term in the 80’s and 90’s in Australia (Bondy and Skase). And the difference between an innovator and an entrepreneur. And lastly what a social entrepreneur is. I realize that maybe I was an innovator back in the day with my little cafe. How am I supposed to connect to my community that I alienated by closing my cafe and then three years of the virus dispersing the rest.
I am the only one there from the local community garden that I am supposed to be thinking of. I’ve tried to find what opportunity our garden is supposed to be creating, a problem to address here but responses are low:( And I blogged about how the garden could be funded through collaboration between regional health and local councils. Too hard, I've been told by councillors.
My mind starts going over the Gantz community organizing mantra, find your people and they will define your problem, The Indie Way - a small number of dedicated people can effect change…. Carol Sandfords focus on evolving capacity is better that doing good or arresting disorder, permaculture’s ethics - Earth Care, people care, fair share and the pillars of sustainability, ecology/environment, people, social culture and economy (last as it should be in the hierarchy of things - you can only have a strong economy when people, culture and environment are strong).
Snap.
Back in the room I fall. I start to hear the stories of others. The person from the local bowls club who can rent out their space for workshops and kitchen for catering. The mahjong guru that needs a place to gather and play in peace. The toy library that is run out of a members garage and the food swap happening between the front yard farmers in a few cul-de-sac and back streets in regional towns. The U3A group that needs to house their wide screens and equipment, to gather, and learn. The band that doesn’t have a space to rehearse. The budding food hub people searching for a way to realize their dreams in a rural community. And this passionate community gardener creating a master plan to bring in the hordes and change the foodscape of our town. All thinking that money will solve their problems.
The council has no money bemoans a bystander. And what they do have comes at too high a price for these small organizations. Money is just a resource anyway. Policy is a resource, and so is support, cheerleading, and information, and people who have time. It comes back to people. Who are your people? And what resources do they have? One participant complains that insurance for their cruise next year is soooo much and that the overseas holiday will cost twice as much. And their Super is only returning 14%.
Click - the penny drops.
All these people have time. And Super. But our culture encourages outward displays of wealth (the single use takeaway coffee, the manicured front lawns, the overseas holiday, and the fast fashion of puffer jackets and active wear) and structures that support money flowing from our community. Then we fight to get money back into our community through government grants and philanthropic handouts.
It doesn't help that we are conditioned to expect governments to provide for us, to deliver on their policies, strategies and plans. For Governments to save us. This conditioning is wearing off. Saving ourselves just maybe a better option.
We hear of people around the world in communities that have effected the change they wanted. Policies created to support social enterprises, and building community facilities, funded by the community, with returns to the community. We hear how they work. We slowly believe that they could work in our town.
Time is up and we’ve gotta leave the workshop. A quick survey and reflection to meet the workshop audit later and out the door we go.
The end...........................Not quite.............Read on......
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I realize that my happy place is actually connecting with people around food and working sustainably, being creative, and building hope for a future I am happy to hand on to my daughter and future generations.
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What if?
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The people in the room realize that solving their group's problem involves creating a different funding structure. One that doesn’t rely on the Government, or a single philanthropic benefactor, or a couple of people working day and night submitting grant applications like lead fired from a shotgun cartridge hoping one will hit the target.
The funding is sitting there in our super. A pot of money that is given to those corporations in the big cities to invest on our behalf, in structures half a world away, to benefit other communities (and themselves), with the hope of a little return at the end of our lives.
Why wait?
What if our community could benefit from it now. And the returns are to our community, to jobs here and change, education and empowerment. Of involvement and engagement.
What if each town had a local super fund that invested in the town, or the region, in social housing, in gardens and farms, training in life skills, in recycling, in repurposing, in wellbeing and hope. Right now you can split your super. You have that choice. And any Tom, Virginia or Hariet can start a SMSF to return for the individual. Why not start one that returns for the community? And the environment? A CMWF- Community Managed Welbeing Fund.
I want to invest in my town - my local environment. But I am risk averse. I've been frustrated, burnt out, granted out and mentally challenged. We all get conservative as we wrinkle toward the end of our working life. Right now, investing locally is the least risky thing we can do. And we all get to enjoy it. I'd put extra money in a local project that would return for my community, create jobs, evolve the communities capacity to learn, grow and connect. Now that's the sort of rejuvenation I'd want in my town. And when no-one is left behind we are all safe.
What about you?
Do you wanna get organized?
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