December 2009 Community-Led Development Forum

Auckland is buzzing with locally-led, neighbourhood initiatives and people happy to tell their stories and learn from others. Street and neighbourhood development offers some new, exciting ways of enabling amazing community change... and it often starts with one person who has the belief and hope that things can be different.

And on a scorching hot Auckland day just before Christmas who would have thought that close to 80 people would want to meet and share stories and handy hints about local communities...

They came for a forum, Strengthening Auckland from the Streets Up, organised by Inspiring Communities, Waitakere Hot House Group and Lifewise. The focus was on street and neighbourhood level action in the Auckland region, particularly:

• Increasing understanding about neighbourhood development;
• Thinking how we can work differently to better support our neighbourhoods;
• Exploring what additional tools and resources are needed at the grassroots;
• Celebrating Auckland's street leaders;
• Thinking how street leaders can be better supported.

We heard stories and examples of hope and inspiration from all over Auckland - with both panel and workshop discussions. Our neighbourhood panelists told their stories from a position of humility. All were moved by circumstances within their communities and were prepared to take a stand, asking ‘do we have to accept what we see?' and ‘can we change this current reality?' Tony Palm talked about residents working together as part of ‘Roundabout Meadowood' on the North Shore and bridging diversity. John Adams outlined why and how Rosehill neighbourhood action has taken off in Papakura. Dickie Humphries and Ashleigh Bottles talked about the evolution and learnings from the Changesz youth movement in Glen Innes, Tamaki (www.bebo.com/changeszeastside), and changing the way the community responds to the issue of drug and alcohol abuse.

Neighbourhood stories

Our panelists answered questions about:

• What got your community initiative started?
• Where do you see future developments?

For Meadowood the story was about neighbours starting to talk to each other - people from different cultures and with different languages finding a way of connecting through local neighbourhood events and encouraging locals to say ‘hello'. The next step for the newly formed ‘Roundabout Meadowood' group is to undertake a ‘needs' survey with a focus on best ways to connect locals and bridge diversity.

Tony said "just start something that builds connections" and the value of this insight became evident during the day. No matter where you start, if you intend to build community connections and find out about what people really want and can offer, then you have a community-led development beginning and ‘community capital' growing - rather than one-off, disconnected events.

An opportunity to contribute to the local Council's redesign of the local park was the inspiration for Rosehill. A highly successful community barbeque was the starter event with anyone and everyone free to come. Through conversations at the barbeque, John realised that there were others also thinking about what they could do together for their neighbourhood. As a result, several local events have been held and a monthly car boot sale and newsletter established. A family fun day in the local park is planned for February. Addressing how to stop resident led action fizzling out and to keep it growing is important to Rosehill people. So John and others are consciously thinking about how to best build local leadership and wider support as a key next phase. This way the load is not just on a few people.

ChangesZ grew out of a community run survey in Glen Innes that identified young people as being a priority to support and resource. (See Inspiring Communities September 2009 Newsletter: Ka Mau Te Wero - Rising to the Challenge) Next, young people got together, started taking the lead and bringing their skills to the fore as they begun to look at solutions to local drug and alcohol problems. They filmed their group conversations about the changes they really wanted to see - including wanting to connect more with each other and their parents - seeing family and community development as the key underlying issues and solutions for their community. They shared this filming with their parents, built a common understanding and began operating a whole range of events and initiatives which they will continue in the future.

Mary-Jane Rivers and the team from Changesz

Inspired, we moved into the workshop of our choice. Each workshop identified handy hints, suggestions, and questions during the discussions.

Workshops

1. Transforming into a Neighbourhood Focused Organisation (John McCarthy and Rebecca Harrington)

The Lifewise experience to date in trying to become more neighbourhood focused. For more information about the Know Your Neighbours Project see www.lifewise.org.nz/Resources.htm. Key points from the workshop were:
• It's important to work from the street up;
• Keep asking communities where you're based what they want;
• Keep talking and communicating about developments;
• Build relationships with, and support, people already doing things in neighbourhoods;
• Encourage funders to be flexible;
• Respectfully tell local stories.

2. Creating a Happening Neighbourhood Hub (Lippy Chalmers from Ranui Community House)

For more information see www.ranuicommunityhouse.co.nz. Key points from the workshop were:
• Neighbourhoods are important because they connect across the silos of separate sectors that distance us from each other;
• Don't be frightened if an idea is not working... dip your toe in the water and one thing leads to another;
• Can we create a ‘happening' community hub that creates community sustainability i.e. through a combination of (for example) car boot sales, community management of Housing NZ maintenance and of local parks.

3. Empowering Resident Voice and Action (Rochana Sheward from McLaren Park Henderson South Community Initiative)

The daily life of a neighbourhood broker For more information see www.mphs.org.nz. Key points were:
• Neighbourliness is the key... start through small actions and start tomorrow;
• Recognise the richness of communities - but understand that you can't unleash local resources until people know each other;
• Seek to add value into what's already happening;
• Don't underestimate people's willingness to be involved once something is started - be prepared for anything.

4. Exploring our Story - neighbourhood action in Randwick Park

For more information see the October article from the Manukau Courier. Key points were:
• Faith, hope and unity create communities;
• Start with community and go back and forth between family and community - making each stronger;
• ‘Work with' and not ‘do to' people;
• Focus on the positives;
• Agencies should seek permission to be with community - not just assume;
• Quality of life matters - support education and learning through connecting from babies upwards.

Overall the strongest messages from the day were...

• That neighbourhoods really are important with often huge untapped energy and willingness for people to participate;
• There was a clear message that for local people there should be ‘nothing about us without us'... and that change can be tapped into, nudged and nurtured but not muscled and forced;
• There was also a strong reminder that we ALL live in streets and that we can all do something no matter where we live.

7 handy hints for strengthening neighbourhoods

1. Just start... create opportunities for locals to talk together, this is where things often start from.
2. Once things have started, connect, reflect and develop from there - keep dipping your toe in the water and holding things ‘lightly' so they can be organic.
3. Tap into, support and work with what is already happening.
4. Focus on the positive - ‘What is our neighbourhood like when it, and we, are at our best?' Dwell not on what's there now but what could and should be.
5. Start small - from small acorns oak trees grow.
6. Spot and tell the stories of neighbourhood development - the more we hear what's happening the more we can support and learn from each other.
7. For those supporting neighbourhoods, remember how unintentionally you can take things away from people. Make room for locals to lead, don't do what others could do, use their language not yours, support from the side.

A full workshop report will be available on the Inspiring Communities website in late February.