Community Connections

This group is for people taking collective action in their communities and people who have an idea for the sort of work they want to do that they’d like to explore. It’s a peer group for asking questions, sharing ideas, resources and support, and spreading stories. It’s free of charge. The idea is to inspire more people to create change and make their communities better places to live and work and to have some fun as we do it.

The phrase “the key to fixing everything is all of us”, is the subtitle of Jon Alexander’s book, Citizens, which tells the stories of several very different groups people who took action in their communities, bringing people together to create new ways of doing things that made life better.

Since the book was published in 2022 the stories about the people who are doing amazing things in their communities are increasing, and a few of us thought it would be a good idea if we had a place to share what they’re doing, talk to each other, and swap ideas, resources and support. So here it is …

The suggestion is for regular Zoom calls at a time that works for most people, a private on-line discussion forum in Slack and a newsletter that shares all the best bits of the discussions. (Free of charge – always.)

You don’t have to be running a social enterprise or have any formal set up to join in, you just have to want to learn from other people’s experiences and be willing to share your own – even if that’s just an idea at this point.

The first step is to email me to let me know you’d like to know more (no spam, I’ll never share your details, etc, etc 🙂 )
Lets talk!

I’m Ann Hawkins, fascinated by many things, especially how art in all its forms influences how we live. I wrote 24 short essays on Questions on Creativity exploring all forms of art, and especially the idea that “we are all creative” (Rick Ruben) – even in the way we create money.

I’m a firm believer that all of us together are smarter than any of us – something I’ve been demonstrating in collaborative peer groups for over 15 years. I started working with Jon in 2021 when he was gathering ideas for how to present the stories in Citizens and was involved in creating Citizen Collective and administering the budget and operations through Open Collective, under the fiscal sponsorship of the Social Change Nest.

In 2023 the Co-Founders of Neotists CIC, Clair and Richard Slade, invited me to become a Director and help them re-shape their organisation. They ran the hugely successful St Neots Festival, raising close to £100,000 in sponsorship, managing hundreds of volunteers, 140 acts and entertainers, and 12,500 attendees. With a membership approaching 600 people we’re aiming to be a Town of Culture in 2028.

I’m also a Director of Martyn Sibley’s CIC. Martyn is a social entrepreneur who runs several businesses aimed at shaping the culture of society’s attitude to disability. We’re currently working on creating a repeatable way of bringing people together to solve different accessibility challenges through co-creation.

I hope you’ll join this group and help to spread the great stories we share. Connect with me on LinkedIn and join the group Citizen Future.
To save you having to scroll back up, if you want more information just email me!