Introducing….
New additions to the CLASS staff team
Gemma - Fundraising and Communications
‘If you don’t ask, you don’t get’
I’ve never asked someone for a job before, but when my son started school last year, I knew I needed to do something I felt really passionate about. I could see the impact Community Savers was having for both individuals and communities, and I knew it was something I wanted to be part of. I nervously approached CLASS for a job in the summer of 2023, luckily they said yes, and I have been in post a year now!
I first came across the Community Savers idea in 2017 when I was doing some fundraising consultancy with a charity in Wythenshawe. The Community Savers idea was just starting up and the charity that I co-founded in 2012 supported the initial application to the Charity Commission for CLASS to become a registered charity and support the Community Savers movement. I continued to do some small pieces of work with CLASS and Community Savers, mainly fundraising support over the years.
I’m now working 1 day a week for CLASS, mainly in a fundraising role and supporting external communications. Even though I have worked with CLASS and Community Savers over several years, I’m still learning so much about the model, how everything works and constantly trying to keep up with all of the amazing work the network does. As well as working at CLASS, I still work at the charity that initially introduced me to CLASS (Participate Projects in Bradford).
Time certainly flies when you’re having fun, and this year has shot by. It’s been amazing meeting lots of the leaders, partners, groups and funders connected with CLASS and Community Savers and i’m looking forward to building on these relationships further. There are some exciting plans in place and I’m grateful to play a small part in developing and delivering these over the coming months.
Anne - Project Coordinator (Meredith Matters)
I came to live in Hulme in 1969. My roots are in dance, teaching and theatre adding community activities in 2009 quite by accident!. My heart is in Hulme and the surrounding area, we have seen so many changes both good and bad throughout the years, I hope I can make some difference to its future however small. Having unique experience and ties to the area has made working with its people a pleasure. Hulme has a good heart; it beats its rhythm again and again in me.
I have worked in the community on a number of different projects over the past 15 years mostly through a group called On Top of the World Project. This started out as a a co-produced 3 year project with The Royal Exchange using the arts as a tool of engagement working in high rise blocks in Hulme and Gorton. Then myself, Tina Cribbin and my son Christopher took over the reins putting on social events and a drop in for the Over 50s in the Aquarius area of Hulme. Happily the project has gone from strength to strength bringing in the wider community serving and advocating weekly, we even carried on through lockdown by delivering sessions in the gardens of Hopton Court tower block. On Top is now exploring incorporation as a CIO.
On Top has formed a partnership with one of the Community Savers groups called Aquarius Community Savers and they now run the savings club out of the On Top drop in on a Wednesday at the Aquarius Community Centre. With the closing of so many bank and building society branches, this is a really important local resource - allowing people to save any amount however small in a familiar local venue - it all adds up. So many of our group love saving now. We have a great committee and ever growing resident interest and commitment. Meeting CLASS has been a blessing. We have together traversed red tape and the sometimes challenging landscape of funding and public provider partnerships. We have accessed training and invaluable guidance supporting us in becoming marvellous!
Most recently we have developed a new partnership with Turn2Us and this is how I have come to work for CLASS supporting tenants to develop a new stage of the Ageing Well work this time at Meredith Court tower block through a project called Meredith Matters. Turn2Us are a breath of fresh air, bringing a genuine commitment to co-production with the community and experience and knowhow in financial inclusion and resilience. Our project is called Meredith Matters because we matter. Its not OK to just survive. We will be listened to and effect positive change in our community.
I love working with our diverse and everchanging landscape and people. We do a lot of laughing and enjoy our friendships, the old fashioned ways of checking up and supporting each other have re-emerged. They never really went away.
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Annual Retreat 2024!
Community Savers and CLASS were back at the amazing Trigonos this year for reflection, relationship-building, and recouperation after another busy 12 months of community action and coproduction.
This year’s strategy workshops focused on developing our financial literacy offer, the potential and pitfalls of going digital, and co-creating a new 3-year strategy for women-led urban transformation that can balance growth with impact and quality of support from CLASS.
Women-led neighbourhood transformation: what works, what next?
- Our approach works because we start with individuals/households and ‘informality’ – people are comfortable in our spaces and the way we do things.
- People love the savings clubs and this is what brings people together – weekly meetings create the space for us to build self-esteem, confidence, connectivity, belonging, financial resilience…. Other issues follow and we can work on them together.
- We are building relationships and understanding within local areas at a time of crisis and division. We look after each other and place value in people, relationships, and compassion.
- We are co-governing well including full transparency over financial resources and decision-making.
- In our relationships with public agencies and authorities we offer solutions, partnerships, and external investment not just challenges/demands.
- We have overcome political resistance with ‘success’ like impactful partnerships and bringing larger numbers of people together.
- Issue-based projects do not survive on their own. Sustaining change around local issues requires the development of strong associations, relationships, and networks. Initiatives fizzle out without a movement approach.
- We need a significant amount of ongoing support for the many existing initiatives spanning so many projects and neighbourhoods but we also need to reach new people and places to achieve wider social justice and to change systems.
Talk About Money
We have achieved great outcomes for neighbourhood change and social and climate justice in recent years such as the Miles Platting Wildlife Corridor and Social Homes for Manchester coalition. Our building blocks remain local women-led savings groups.
We reflected on financial inclusion, resilience, and the idea of ‘financial literacy’ building on brilliant workshops we’ve hosted this year with May Fairweather at Talk About Money CIC. Leaders agreed to further develop their capabilities in this area to build financial literacy among members and encourage increased engagement by parents and young people.
Cashless and paperless?
Its important for Community Savers to be able to organise in ways that work for a wide variety of people and capabilities. We discussed ‘going digital’ and Zoe, Dot and Lina were interested to learn about the new savings app that our Muungano sisters are now using to record and manage transactions in January this year. Being able to come in and save a pound without fear of stigma and doing record keeping that is accessible to those of us who still prefer pen and paper were seen as critically important going forwards. If we go digital and accept direct bank transactions, we need to work this alongside our existing approach to remain inclusive and maintain flexibility. We also need to stay safe and further agreed guidance on this will also be developed.
Equality, diversity, and inclusion
Successive annual workshops on mental health and neurodiversity, and the benefits of diverse leadership, together with the breadth of experiences we have benefited from through Women of Wythenshawe, have encouraged us to think more deeply about leadership, governance, and ways of working.
Approximately 20% of our members are from minority ethnicities and our leadership is 25% minority ethnic, however, only 18% of leaders are Asian or Black. We have a relatively diverse leadership against other characteristics including mental health, long-term conditions, disabilities, single parents/caring responsibilities. The leadership is mostly over 45 and there is a consensus that we have significant work to do to engage younger people and people from diverse ethnic backgrounds.
We discussed a range of strategies for pro-actively encouraging new people to engage in Community Savers including coffee mornings in schools, targeted visits to particular kinds of community group, faith group, and project, and increasing the frequency of our outreach visits to new communities. Leaders also committed to doing more to engage with their existing memberships about the benefits of joining a committee and participating in the wider movement-building activities of Community Savers overall.
Since the retreat, the CLASS team are developing a new initiative to offer experience of charity board governance and the Community Savers movement to women from minority ethnic backgrounds aged 18-35 who are living in low-income neighbourhoods in Greater Manchester and Sheffield.
Movement building, quality, and wellbeing
There is a consensus among the leadership that we want to and should be working to reach more communities - across Greater Manchester and Sheffield in the immediate future - and across the North of England over time.
However, as the number of Community Savers affiliates has grown, as well as their community action having become more ambitious and complex, the pressure on leadership capacity and the CLASS team is being felt. We discussed the need for:
- More support to committees to attract and build their leaderships including with a focus on proactive strategies to attract greater diversity.
- Increased momentum behind the learning exchange visits to new areas that were fundamental to our collective community action before COVID
- A revised structure and expanded team at CLASS. This would include the recruitment of a Movement Coordinator who could manage a team of part-time place-based community facilitators. This could also create routes into employment for local members who have built up appropriate experience (although the roles would not be ring-fenced).
And then… fun!
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Launch of the Manchester Social Housing Commission
The Manchester Social Housing Commission held its first meeting in July bringing Community Savers leaders together with cross-sector experts to develop local and national proposals for addressing the housing crisis. The Commission is chaired by the Right Reverend Dr David Walker, Bishop of Manchester and supported by the Social Homes for Manchester campaign.
Community Savers representatives from Collyhurst, Miles Platting, and Wythenshawe advocated for 30% of all new housing developments of ten homes or more to be social rented homes that are climate and nature friendly. They also asked housing sector professionals to stop using the term ‘affordable housing’ and refer to housing for social rent or private rent. Communities often think affordable means social, and it prevents them holding developers and the council to account for building the social homes we need.
Zoe Marlow of Dandelion Savers and Women of Wythenshawe said:
“We need to stop blurring the line between social homes and affordable homes and just say which one is which. People are confused.”
The lack of information provided at a community level about developer obligations, or ‘section 106’ contributions, was also raised and Commissioners discussed the need for a review of viability assessments which developers use to avoid these obligations on grounds of low profitability.
Sue Anya of Miles Platting Community and Age-friendly Network (MPCAN) said:
“We need to know where the section 106 money goes. It doesn’t seem to get invested in the community where construction is happening…We also need to have information much earlier – we never find out what is happening until everything has already been decided.”
Families in lower income areas of the city also depend on their own family and social networks for childcare and social care support but Sheila Davis of MPCAN highlighted how children and grandchildren of existing residents are unable to find a social rental home in the same area and can’t afford escalating private rents. Flats let at “affordable rents” cost 80% of market rent but there is no cap on market rent, so these offer no solution to people working for minimum wage or even the ‘living wage’.
Sheikha Omar of Moss Side Tenants Union called for the complete banning of Section 21 evictions, the application of Freedom of Information legislation to housing associations not just local authorities, an end to the sale of social housing to private equity companies, and better controls on rent increases for both social and private tenants.
The Commission will be making policy proposals to Manchester City Council and to the new national government administration in the coming weeks and will be developing the detail of their recommendations over the next 12 months. Community representatives on the Commission will be working closely with the Social Homes for Manchester campaign coalition to organise neighbourhood-based briefing sessions across the city, raising awareness about housing and planning policy and ways to work with local councillors to secure better outcomes for their local area.
Social Homes for Manchester is a coalition of community associations, charities, think tanks, academics and social justice organisations focused on accelerating the number of social homes that are created in Manchester by 2030 and ensuring this is done in an environmentally sustainable way.
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Meredith Matters!
That Meredith matters and Meredith people matter is a thread that ran through all the work we have undertaken.
The idea that tenants can design research and evaluate their own issues and have the knowledge to solve them came from the work undertaken at Hopton Court where we used evidence from OUR own research to make dramatic changes in the block.
This was with CLASS/Community Savers, One Manchester and the University.
What we are trying to achieve is a NORC: a naturally occurring retirement community. This model was applied in Canada and New York where tower block tenants came together to make change.
There is something different about living in tower blocks. It's more confined, more isolating, and evidence shows we are more likely to have physical and mental health issues. As the tower blocks in Hulme are in the inner city, Hulme has high pollution, and we live in a two tier system with the ever expanding university buildings and sharing scarce resources with a huge student population.
But as we are all Hulmites, we will not go quietly into the night. We are made of stronger stuff. Built through a lifetime of adversity.
Meredith people didn't disappoint.
We began our work in autumn 2023 with support from Turn2Us and carried out the research in May/June 2024. We looked at access to social care and financial impacts of the care system. From the evidence gathered at Meredith, there were there 3 themes that emerged: the cost of living, health inequalities and social isolation. Issues that we will now work towards changing.
The experience of working with Meredith tenants was amazing. By being a Tenant myself, I was able to understand a lot of what the tenants talked about. This research was different to others, where it would be a professional coming to you with their own agenda and questions.
This works because we know our own. We know it's more important to show respect and empathy. We know that tenants are more than a sum total of their problems. We also know their potential and their abilities. We know we are more than a box that some smart arsed professional puts us in.
That's why it works through one cup of tea at time. Through building trust and having local knowledge.
It was amazing to see that change can happen quickly. Having the GP on site and a Money Mentor meant people accessed services they were finding hard to reach. Instantly benefits were applied for, and someone was able to see the doctor after suffering for years with a long term health condition.
Meredith is a culturally diverse community which brings amazing knowledge and different solutions to problems.
It's been an absolute honour to work with Meredith. I can see already the shoots of change. I have already hear the stories, laughter, and a community determined to make change for all the residents in the block.
Big up Meredith! Our journey now begins.
Blog by Tina Cribbin, Hulme tenant and member of the Meredith Matters project team
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Spotlight on Miles Platting Savers
Read our interview with Dot, Committee Member at Miles Platting Savers, find out about one of the original groups in the Savers Network that is still going strong!
Can you tell us a bit about Miles Platting Savers? When did you start, where and how
often do you meet? How many members do you have?
About 5 years, we meet once a week at the coffee morning at the Church of the Apostles in
Miles Platting. We have about about 20 regulars and 30 savers in the group. We have a mixture of people who come to coffee morning, young and old.
As a group, what would you say are the main benefits for the individuals who save with
you?
It gives them a bit of extra cash to buy stuff they need, people are saving for uniforms,
Christmas and even holidays. I think most of the time you're saving for something you think you
can’t have, then you realise if you save a little bit you can. There’s definitely a social side to it.
Most people are part of the coffee and some are visiting the social supermarket and they are
savers too. We definitely go in, have a cup of tea and have a chin wag and a catch up.
Has working with the other groups helped Miles Platting Savers to develop, learn, expand
or do things differently?
I think so, we see how other groups do theirs and then think if it works for us we can have a go.
I think it helps just to talk about what other groups are doing.
As well as the savings group, are Miles Platting Savers involved in any other community
projects and what are the impact of these?
We are members of MPCAN (Miles Platting Community and Age-friendly Network) - there’s loads of stuff going on thinking about the community building, the green spaces. I haven’t been to all the recent meetings due to my health but they let me know what’s happening.
What can we expect to see next from Miles Platting Savers next - does the group have
any plans for the future?
There’s a day trip planned to go to RHS Bridgewater so we can go there together in June. May
Fairweather from Talk about Money is going to come in to teach all ages from children to adults
how to save a bit and where to save. They are trying to get the people who use the community
shop (Social Supermarket at the Apostles) who have got kids to get involved, because I think if
you teach the kids the kids can teach the adults. I think that the Talk about Money sessions will
be a good way to get people to come in with the idea of getting the kids to teach their parents to
do a bit of saving.
To find out more check out the Miles Platting Savers page here: https://communitysavers.net/project/miles-platting-savers/
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2023: A Year of Transformation and WoW!
Today we launch our Community Savers/CLASS 2023 Impact Evaluation!
Community Savers and CLASS are a cross-class alliance between a majority women-led poverty action network and a tailored professional support agency. We follow a learning-by-doing methodology (inspired by www.sdinet.org), where regular reflection and evaluation is critical. We conduct an annual impact evaluation between January and March each year; and this report captures our outcomes and learning during January to December 2023.
Here, we share some highlights.
VIEW OR DOWNLOAD THE REPORT
2023 IN NUMBERS
FINANCIAL RESILIENCE AND WELLBEING
The building blocks of the Community Savers movement are majority women-led and community-based savings clubs. Weekly savings collections create a space for our members to save small amounts while also accessing a range of other activities and information and discussing the issues facing their local community.
Here’s a snapshot of progress in 2023.
STRONGER COMMUNITIES
Leadership development and community-building is at the heart of the Community Savers methodology starting with the financial resilience and wellbeing of our individual members, moving up to confidence and skills development among group committees leading to stronger community associations, and networking community associations together for a stronger collective voice on the issues affecting their neighbourhood and beyond. We are proud of the solidarity and collective purpose and voice that emerged at local levels and across the whole network in 2023!
Women of Wythenshawe = WoW!
Women of Wythenshawe brought together 37 local women leaders from ten different community and service user groups across in 2023. The women are representing a broad range of interests and identities including Carers; SEND parents; women with autism and learning disabilities; women seeking asylum or recently granted leave to remain;survivors of domestic abuse; and women from diverse ethnic backgrounds.
Over the first 18 months, leaders have invested significant time in building trust and confidence and skills development, including through bi-lateral exchange visits between the groups, extensive storytelling and listening work, and the development of shared values. Women have coalesced around four priority areas for community action on gendered poverty in Wythenshawe (and Manchester more widely). These are:
- improving the way that public sector workers identify and respond to domestic abuse;
- achieving a higher ratio of ecologically sustainable social homes;
- building the capacity of Wythenshawe schools to provide good quality SEND support; and
- supporting the development of women-led social enterprise
“CLASS’s inclusive approach to convening the WoW network has been commendable. By actively involving women leaders from diverse backgrounds and communities, CLASS has created a platform where all voices are heard and valued.” WoW Support Worker
Miles Platting Community & Age-friendly Network (MPCAN)
MPCAN first formed in 2019 with support from CLASS following discussions with community groups about how residents did not fully understand the local developments taking place under a PFI initiative and how they were anxious about the future.
“MPCAN at the beginning had a formal purpose to facilitate and promote community action. The meshing of older and newer populations, lack of facilities, swimming pool and library- there was a sense that this was a bit bleak, so we needed to cooperate.” MPCAN Leader
MPCAN currently has three action groups and we share some of their brilliant achievements in 2023 below.
Climate Action: Members organised “Our Green and Pleasant Land” Climate Resilience Pageant in July and were delighted to then be one of the grantees for the Greater Manchester Green Spaces Fund. Funding was awarded to develop a wildlife corridor in Miles Platting with support from Dr Jenna Ashton, University of Manchester. Plans for the wildlife corridor are well underway. Project lead Suzanne Walton from Groundwork is carrying out ongoing consultations with residents around the four key sites to determine what kinds of additions they would like to see, from trees to wildflowers to hedging.
St. Cuthberts Communities Together: MPCAN have developed a partnership with the Parochial Church Council of St Cuthberts to re-imagine the church site working with Locality and Participate! as project managers. A community consultation has been carried out and initial concept designs developed, the Bishop of Manchester has put his support behind the project, and MPCAN and PCC have now applied to register a new charity to manage the project called St Cuthberts Communities Together. The vision includes a worship space, NHS joint services centre and a multipurpose social centre with a small amount of social housing. These were some of the infrastructure and services that were supposed to be delivered under the original PFI neighbourhood plan.
“The enthusiasm, the skill set that is being brought to meetings, the funding that has been attracted to the wildlife project and now for St Cuthbert’s. We have built up now into being a serious project that people are willing to fund.” MPCAN Leader
Social Homes for Miles Platting: MPCAN launched this new campaign in October, with a focus on claiming plots of public land that were earmarked for facilities and services for community benefit under the PFI. The current focus is a plot of land that was supposed to host a joint services centre and community hub. Over 200 people attended their consultation day which was followed by a march to the site and a demonstration on 28 October 2023. The Executive Member for Housing will meet residents to discuss the plot in June 2024.
“We look out for each other - if someone is poorly or down, we make sure they are ok. I like to have a sense of achievement – but that we’ve achieved together. It feels good when we get these small wins, and now we are going for much bigger ones! Twenty years ago, we wouldn’t have dared, we just fought for people to get their repairs done. Now, we are aiming high. And it’s good and it feels good. And to be honest, sometimes it goes over my head, but if I don’t understand stuff I say so, and I can also look on the internet now.” MPCAN Leader
Community design & build
A tenant-led community space in Hulme: Following two years of advocacy and partnership working driven by tenant leaders with Aquarius Community Savers, One Manchester Ltd have agreed to renovate a ground floor three-bedroom apartment into a community space. The space aims to combat social isolation and mental health challenges experienced by older and vulnerable people at Hopton Court tower block in Hulme, Manchester. The renovation is set to commence in summer 2024. Cornbrook Medical Practice evidenced during our research in 2021 that one third of Hopton Court’s tenants were suffering from anxiety and depression and the neighbourhood has some of the worst health inequality statistics for Older People living in Deprivation in England.
Beyond the St Cuthberts redevelopment, Community Savers & CLASS have continued to support two further community design and build projects in 2023. Leaders across the network have learned a lot from these processes including a large dose of patience as each initiative has experienced significant delays!
A women-led community space in Wythenshawe: Participatory design work to renovate a derelict Caretakers flat into a women-led social space began in 2019. Progress was slow due to COVID and long delays within the internal processes
of acquiring a lease from the Methodist Church. After agreeing the Head Terms for the lease in July 2022, Mums Mart and CLASS have learned a great deal from two years of further negotiation! We are delighted to have recently signed the lease and work is due to commence in June 2024.
The completed project will create a free to use community space for women’s groups across the Wythenshawe area for at least ten years. Our thanks go to the National Lottery Community Fund without whose support and patience this project would not have made it to the finish line! We would also like to
thank the Smallwood Trust and the Women of Wythenshawe assessment panel who
approved a small uplift grant to cover recent cost inflations.
MAKING MANCHESTER FAIRER
According to data collated by Shelter, there were 15,268 households on the waiting list for social housing, 3,926 children in temporary accommodation, and 7,773 people recorded as homeless in the City of Manchester in 2023. Yet, between 2012 and 2022 only 506 out of 23,364 new build homes were for social rent. Together with partners, we have formed a coalition of ten VCSE and activist/residents’ groups called Social Homes for Manchester which is making the following six requests of Manchester City Council as they prepare the new Local Plan for the city:
- At least 30% social homes included in all new developments of over 10 units to be enacted in local policy and enforced through the setting and enforcement of section 106 obligations.
- Stronger public accountability and scrutiny for the setting and enforcement of developer obligations to build new social housing.
- Establish a Commission on Social Housing for the City of Manchester.
- Develop a practical strategy for the promotion of Community Led Housing.
- Develop a practical strategy for the renovation/transfer of empty homes into homes for social rent.
- Ensure all new developments are climate and nature friendly.
ASK YOUR COUNCILLOR TO PLEDGE THEIR SUPPORT
Bishop of Manchester David Walker has agreed to chair the new Manchester Social Housing Commission. Our asks and the Commission itself are supported by the Deputy Leader and Executive Member for Housing at Manchester City Council; and we are in the process of recruiting Commissioners. The Commission will remain rooted in local campaigns and the process itself is aimed at mobilising resident/community coalitions across the city to hold local, regional and central government administrations to account for the recommendations that are developed. The other members of the coalition include: GM Community Led Homes Hub; GM Tenants Union, Greater Together Manchester, Shelter GM, Mustard Tree, and Steady State Manchester. We are excited to have also recently joined the national Homes 4 Us alliance.
FUTURE DIRECTION
In the main report you can also read reflections from the Community Savers leadership and our partners on progress, co-governance, and what we have learned about community action, as well as our plans for the year ahead, so don’t forget to:
VIEW OR DOWNLOAD THE REPORT
Excerpts from 'What have we learned?'
“Community action is easier with the support of a whole network.”
“Community action brings people together, it can result in real change that is actually needed. Its powerful as it comes from within our communities as we are the experts we know what will work and what is needed. It feels really good when change happens from within our communities - it can bring pride and improve wellbeing and confidence. Community action can also be really uplifting and fun.”
“I’ve learned about the way the council operates… both the politicians and the officers.”
“The importance of bringing the groups together so we have a bigger, louder, voice. The more of us, the more voice we have, the more the decision makers have to listen.”
“I have also learnt a lot from some mistakes we have made e.g. don’t go to planning meetings and trust that the council is going to work with us with the openness that
we offer them.”
“Bringing together a knowledge of who to go to: that kind of intelligence is important... we’re getting a checklist of where is useful to go to.”
Excerpts from 'Reflections on co-governance'
“I think it’s really good the way we co-govern and share the decision making. We feel like we
are listened to and more involved. We get to make them choices… We get all the reports and everything we need. If we can’t attend a meeting, we get all the updates.”
“It’s working well: everyone is happy with the decisions because it is equal - we have lots of
opportunity to talk about what’s going on and if we agree. Everyone’s voice is heard.”
“I have really loved representing Savers at the trustee meetings. I have learnt a lot about all the groups that CLASS supports and how the charity is developing. The leadership team is a great way of making shared decisions.”
“We work well with CLASS…You’ve taken time to get to know us all individually and you give us the support we need. Like me, people telling me I lack confidence. But I can do it. I’m good at what I do. I say it as it is and not everyone can cope with that, but CLASS has never had a problem with this. They take a personal approach they make sure you are ok that is all part of it as well. It’s like we are a big family.”
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What is the city but the people?
Our Strategy for 2025-2028
New Year Retrospective
MPCAN reviews a year of achievement and transformation
Miles Platting Community & Age-friendly Network launched their annual report this week at an Annual General Meeting full of exciting progress and growth.
Click here to download the full report.
The current committee presented their Annual Reports and Accounts before standing down for the election. The Annual Report presentation highlighted an amazing year for the network, with lots of fantastic community action and achievements well worth celebrating.
Miles Platting Wildlife Corridor
The Climate Action group were delighted to be one of the Round 3 grantees for the Greater Manchester Green Spaces Fund. Leaders thanked Dr Jenna Ashton, University of Manchester, for her tireless support without which this award would never have been possible. The funds will be used to enhance and improve biodiversity around four key green spaces across Miles Platting. Plans are well underway, with Suzanne Walton from Groundwork leading on this to support the development of a Miles Platting Wildlife Corridor. The group has also received funding through City of Trees to pay for 30 new trees along Ridgway Street which were planted just last month. Well done to all members for your great work in making Miles Platting greener!
St Cuthbert’s Communities Together
The St Cuthbert’s Action group have also had an exciting year taking forward plans for the community-led redevelopment of St Cuthberts Church on Oldham Road. Supported by partners from Participate Projects and Locality, a new charitable incorporated organisation is being registered called St Cuthbert’s Communities Together with board members nominated by the Parochial Church Council and MPCAN. This initiative aims to bring together residents from across Miles Platting, Collyhurst and Ancoats behind a shared vision for the area. Following extensive community consultation in 2023, this will include a worship space; a multi-purpose social space for these three communities to gather together and socialise; and a range of possible services from health to housing. There is much work still to be done and consultation will be ongoing as the plans develop.
Social Homes for Miles Platting
2023 additionally saw the formation of a new campaign called Social Homes for Miles Platting. Launched at MPCAN’s brilliant family funday and consultation event in October, this has also triggered a city-wide campaign called Social Homes for Manchester. After a day filled with fun, music and free pizza, residents marched over to the plot of land behind Jigsaw Homes where a joint service centre was supposed to be provided under the original Miles Platting PFI, to call for social homes to be constructed on the site. MPCAN leaders will meet with the Executive Member for Housing in June to hear the city council’s response to this proposal.
Local resident Eric Keeble presenting the climate action group’s achievements
Wider impacts
The evaluation that underpinned this year’s annual report highlighted a series of outcomes achieved throughout 2023 illustrated by reflections from local people involved in running member groups or from the MPCAN Committee.
Increased funding: Leaders recognised that organising through the MPCAN network had resulted in attracting increased funding for local health and wellbeing or age-friendly groups, and for households in need of support.
“We are part of a new fundraising movement called One World Together who are going to channel unrestricted funding to grassroots initiatives and movements – and this is going to be really helpful because it gives us flexibility to address crisis or urgent challenges.”
MPCAN Leader
Social interaction and community-building: Leaders feel that participating in MPCAN has allowed them to build connections with other local residents and establish a sense of community over their shared values and aims.
“I’ve benefitted by getting to meet nice and interesting people and being involved in something that is worthwhile, feels exciting, and has the potential to do some good. I’d be staying at home watching TV if I wasn’t doing something like this.”
MPCAN Leader
Stronger collective voice: MPCAN leaders additionally feel as though there is a collective voice for residents in the local area and they have gained the confidence to use this voice to communicate with public agencies, the local authority, residents, and community groups about issues that are important to them. As a result, new partnerships have been built between members of MPCAN and professionals allowing for increased funding for neighbourhood initiatives.
“The biggest change that I have seen is the can-do attitude and confidence that MPCAN members have now, a feeling that together we can actually influence the decision makers and fight for what our community needs, a community that has lost so much. The narrative is changing. There is hope of a better future, a sense of healing.”
MPCAN Leader
Achieving change isn’t easy, with disconnection from public authorities and the limited time and capacity of members often posing challenges, but there is a strong culture of encouragement in the network that enables leaders to support each other. Members have learnt that there is power in numbers and having a clear, collaborative vision is key to organising around issues affecting the community.
“I feel like we have got more of a voice now than we ever have become. We’ve grown, more people means more power. No matter how many times we get knocked down we get back up and carry on.”
MPCAN Leader
“Members of MPCAN have a stronger voice by working together which is resulting in change. We have a clear vision and have organised around that.”
MPCAN Leader
Future aspirations
Looking forward to 2024 and beyond, MPCAN’s aspirations are focused particularly on three main areas:
- The growth and sustainability of MPCAN as an umbrella for community groups in the area
- The achievement of key objectives for climate change mitigation, social homes; and the creation of a new social centre for the area
- The importance of the social centre having a democratic structure.
Congratulations MPCAN on all your incredible work over the past year! We are excited to see what the future has in store and to achieving more amazing community action in Miles Platting.
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Update on MPCAN’s Miles Platting Wildlife Corridor
Following the Climate Action group’s success in being awarded the Greater Manchester Green Spaces Fund, plans for the Miles Platting Wildlife Corridor are now well underway. Project lead Suzanne Walton from Groundwork alongside Dr Jenna Ashton from the University of Manchester have been carrying out initial consultations with local residents around 4 key sites in the area: Victoria Mill Park, Bollington Road Green, Holland Street Community Garden and Ridgway Street Community Garden.
iNaturalist pages for each of the four sites have now been set up, which allows any nature lovers and passersby to record their wildlife sightings and observations:
Victoria Mill Park: https://uk.inaturalist.org/projects/victoria-mill-park
Bollington Road Green: https://uk.inaturalist.org/projects/bollington-road-green
Holland Street Community Gardens: https://uk.inaturalist.org/projects/holland-street-community-garden
Ridgway Street Community Gardens: https://uk.inaturalist.org/projects/ridgway-street-community-garden
If you ever find yourself in and around these spaces, follow the iNaturalist links above to record your encounters and learn more about the different kinds of wildlife you find!
Following discussions with residents around these sites and additional green spaces, designs to enhance and improve biodiversity are being drawn up (diagrams above) to bring in new trees, wildflowers, and hedges around Miles Platting. Ten new trees were planted at Bollington Road Green in early March including two different types of birch.
Additional to the Wildlife Corridor Project, MPCAN Climate Action has also received funding through City of Trees for 30 new trees all along Ridgway Street which were planted just a couple weeks ago!
If you are a local resident of Miles Platting, Ancoats or Collyhurst and are interested in MPCAN’s Climate Action group, please email milesplattingcommunitynetwork@gmail.com to find out more and get involved!
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Spotlight on Dandelion Savers
Read our interview with Lina, Committee Member at Dandelion Savers, find out about one of the newest groups in the Savers Network who are already achieving great things!
Can you tell us a bit about Dandelion Savers? When did you start, where and how often do you meet? How many members do you have?
Dandelion Savers is part of the Dandelion Community, this is an established Community, where workers and volunteers have been serving the Woodhouse Park area and other parts of Wythenshawe areas for as long as the United Reform Church Building has been standing, and is under the leadership of (Rev) Kate who works there.
Dandelion Savers are a newly established Savers Group that started in January 2023, the Committee Members are made up women who are existing volunteers or service users of the Dandelion Community. Initially a group of 7 women came together with a view to establishing a Savers Group and joining the Community Savers network. This was following a visit to an existing network member in Miles Platting.
Dandelion Savers are a small team, it was initially created and run by two committee members, the number has now increased to three committee members. Who are Fathima- Committee Treasurer of the Dandelion Savers, Lina- Committee Leader of the Dandelion Savers, Zoe,- Committee Leader of the Dandelion Savers. I feel that the group exist, remains in existence, due to the amazing technical support it receives through the support agency CLASS.
Who meet at the Dandelion Community - Oakland Road M22 1AH from 10am – 1pm on Wednesday
We have 23 members active members.
Dandelion Savers members where invited and some attend the Christmas Party/End of Year Party in December 2023 hosted by the support agency CLASS, a fun time was had by all who attended, for the committee members, it was great to meet and get to know some of the other Savers in an informal Christmas/End of Year setting.
Savers at the weekly Dandelion Savers group
As a group, what would you say are the main benefits for the individuals who save with you?
Dandelion Savers, benefits the Dandelion Community, its workers and volunteers and seeks to provide an opportunity to bring people/residents in the Woodhouse Park area together.
The Savers Group seeks to help existing Savers and encourage residents :-
- To be more in control of their own money.
- To think about saving money for a special occasion or holiday.
- To think about saving money for repairs or to buy an item that costs a lot.
- Encourage saving thereby reducing the chance of needing a loan, using loan sharks or credit cards
- Encouraging resident to save so that they feel less stressed about money and debt, during the cost of Living crisis.
How long has Dandelion been working with the Community Savers network? Has working with the other groups helped Dandelion to develop, learn, expand or do things differently?
The Dandelion has been working with the Community Savers network for 1 year now, receiving technical support from the Support Agency, Community Led Action & Savings Support (CLASS). We are a brand new group of committee members, working together for the first time.
Throughout 2023 we attend quarterly Community Leaders Network Meetings, where we met with other Community Saver Leaders. The agenda were set by the Leadership Team and we planned, learned and developed together.
Throughout 2023, we had the option to attend training on mental health, neurodiversity and safeguarding in community groups.
Extra Training was provided for SEN System and schools
We had the option a learning network events to connect with Birmingham & Coventry organisations also funded by Renaisi/Smallwood.
We have had an option to attend a CLASS Trustee meeting to introduce ourselves, as a new Savers Group
Last but not least, we had the option to attend, the annual Community Savers Retreat: in Llandudno 10-13 July 2023
All these training opportunities, and technical support from CLASS (the Support Agency) have allowed us Committee Leaders to develop in our role as Leaders, allowed us to set up really good systems, as well as undertake our weekly Savers Group meetings on Wednesdays. All the committee members are volunteers, they also volunteering for other groups and are involved in other community groups.
As well as the savings group, are Dandelion Savers involved in any other community projects and what are the impact of these?
As leader for our Saving group, it quickly became evident that this was a role that was encouraging us to get involved in community action, we initially went to visit another Savers Group in Miles Platting that was organising a local housing campaign.
We have been encouraged to join a network of other women led groups in Wythenshawe, called Women of Wythenshawe, we have been meeting quarterly and seeking to focus on community actions that affect Gender Justice. The group have voted to focus on three Topics, Special Education Need (SEN), Domestic Violence (DV) and Housing.
The community action within the Housing Group has really taken off, due to a number of local issues, with the focus of the campaign on promoting Social Housing and Social Rent in the Woodhouse area. This is because the Places for Everyone consultation, took out the wording social rent and secondly in the local area Manchester City Council (MCC) have bought the Civic Centre and there is a drive of community action to influence the MCC to include social rent housing in their plans and not "affordable housing" as it has quickly become apparent that the term “affordable housing” is not covered by the Local Housing Allowance rate and is unaffordable.
What can we expect to see next from Dandelion Savers next - does the group have any plans for the future?
The Committee Leaders recently attended a Network Meeting in January and made plans for 2024, which included feedback from the Learning Exchange in Nairobi Kenya, a display on the Community Savers Board in the Dandelion Community, Committee Leaders want to increase membership by going out into the community to recruit members, Committee leaders would like to arrange an a day out for its members, and prepare for an AGM.
Give them a follow on FB here https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61551388052760
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Community Savers Leaders visit Kenya
In January 2024 some of our Community Savers members visited the first One World Together summit in Nairobi and took part in a learning exchange.
SDI Kenya hosted One World Together and four community partners – Muungano wa wanavijiji, Community Savers, Raising Futures Kenya, Play It Forward – at their headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya.
Community Savers, Helina and Zoe from Dandelion Savers and Dot from Miles Platting Savers attended and these are some of their reflections on the experiences they had whilst they were there.
Dot
You recently went on the learning exchange to Nairobi...
Can you tell us a bit about who was there, where you visited and the connections you made?
We were there with One World Together and visited the SDI Kenya offices and Play It Forward plus 4 informal settlements, Kibera and Foundation of Hope. We went to a school, it was brilliant. They have just come off the street and may have been involved with crime and violence and have a 7 week course, waking them up to what they can do to turn their lives around.
We spoke to a woman called Christine about their savings group, that was brilliant, she was so great. it's different there, savings groups are different for them even though there are similarities theirs are so much more powerful because they are working on sanitation and water and healthcare and these are the kind of things we’ve already got and take for granted.
Why do you think community exchanges are important?
We can learn from each other I think that’s really important and it gives you a fire really, you’d see and meet different people and have a different look on stuff that you don’t even think about really because you’ve got everything it wakes you up to realise that we need to start kicking arse to get stuff done. We’ve really got to start kicking arse, in a nice way.
We went to the Raising Futures Kenya training centre
Was there anything you learnt / saw that you want to bring back to your community?
Yes a bit more fight, and because they live in tin shacks and can hear everything that goes on. We have to knock on more doors to get in to find out what is going on in people's lives. They were horrified to learn that there are people who died in their places in the UK and could be there for weeks or even months and nobody knows. Whereas they live that close together that they know everything and they know everybody's business.
Did you identify any common challenges between the groups?
Yes it’s about getting people together really you know they have their own ways and they do say if you don’t come to the meetings you won’t be involved in what they are achieving. You can’t expect that if you don’t put anything in to get anything back. What you give you get back, I’ve always said that.
In three words, can you describe the overall experience?
Emotional, exciting and inspiring
Zoe
You recently went on the learning exchange to Nairobi...
Can you tell us a bit about who was there, where you visited and the connections you made?
What stuck with me was the Foundation of Hope and Florence’s Raising Futures Kenya and the Community Savers itself at Muungano wa wanavijiji. I loved everybody and I connected with the women that were there. There was a lady called Emily. She stuck in my heart and she fights for everything her community needs.
Why do you think community exchanges are important?
Mostly it’s the experience, we all have different life experiences and sometimes we look at other peoples problems as not a problem. We were talking and one of the ladies said ‘but you don’t have poverty’ and it was important that I was then able to share my story of my poverty and I said that our poverty isn’t the same but the way we deal with it is the same, we want the same outcome. She then realised you do have poverty over there (in the UK) and I learnt from her ways to deal with poverty. I learned how important that community is and how important it is to never give up. It is really important so we can learn from each other and watch each other grow. Now I’m looking forward to seeing what all the other organisations are going to do and I get to share in that even though I am on the other side of the world. I get to share in the wonderful things they do. I get to see it.
Was there anything you learnt / saw that you want to bring back to your community?
Yes I want to bring back the actual meaning of community. I want to help and include more people and encourage more people. The data collecting was really important for me. I think that’s great because we can do that here in our local community where we are, we can ask people, we can do interviews and find out what people actually do want, not what we think they want and help out in that area.
Did you identify any common challenges between the groups?
Red tape was big one when we want to do so many things but we are having to jump through hoops, all of us felt our governments aren’t working for us and the fact that a lot of us are women so that’s a challenge in itself but they (the Kenyans) are not letting that be a challenge they moving forwards they just don't stop. I think essentially we all want the same thing. We all want our communities to be better, happier and healthier.
Did you share anything about your group / community / approach that you think was of particular interest to the other communities?
They were fascinated by the food bank side of it, they wanted to learn more about that. I told them about our poverty side of it so that made them feel like it’s not just us. I hope they feel inspired the way I feel inspired.
In three words, can you describe the overall experience?
Educational, inspiring and life-changing.
I feel like my whole perspective on life has changed. I was getting complacent. I was like I can’t change these things so why bother and now I’m like actually it starts with me and it starts with us. We can just sit around waiting for people to do it. I feel like I want to change the world and go to Zambia and Uganda! Talking to Play It Forward they had an example of a young boy who was hitting his Mum and the whole table started crying as that was what I was going through. It was great to know that when mum’s are going through this they are getting support and I feel grateful that Play It Forward were there to help her. It’s so difficult to get the right support to know that it is going on and to know that these mum’s are being helped is amazing. I love everybody.
Helina
You recently went on the learning exchange to Nairobi...
Can you tell us a bit about who was there, where you visited and the connections you made?
This was a fantastic two day conference when One World Together got to know their partner organisations and vice versa, sharing stories of their successes and knowledge gained from running their local community groups.
We visited Muungano wa wanavijiji in Nairobi and Muungano’s Foundation of Hope in Kibera a meeting was organised with the Community Group of women and Leaders, who willing and lively shared their experiences of running a Community group on their Slum Dwellers Settlements and the highs and lows of growing their membership and the 3 years training involved in being an effective community leader.
We visited another Muungano wa Wanavijiji, Nairobi, Kenya. Shack/Slum Dwellers Settlement (Nancy Njoki Wairimu local area/home town), a meeting was organised with the leaders of a Community Groups, both men and women. Again another informative learning exchange took place and the highlight was being informed about the bottom up planning programme called Mukuru Special Planning Area.
Then we also went to Huruma and were shown around the homes that the community are building for each other. We were shown around one of the Muungano members homes. In all purposes it was a modest home, filled with modest equipment, yet amazing to see in all in glory, as this was a home build by the Muungano community members , (through community savings) including the making of building blocks from cement to build the walls, in partnership with Nairobi County Government and Muungano. With planning permission the people/community avoid eviction.
We also learnt about the importance of collecting community data. They shared with us the importance of how they have been collecting data on structure and households within the settlements. They create a data profile of problems faced by the people in the settlements, all of which are collected, collated and presented to government officials, to evidence that they exist, (the slum dwellers are ignored by government official, as they are told they do not live in areas with planning permission) and the problems they are facing and the support to solve the problems they need as citizens of Kenya.
Why do you think community exchanges are important?
The community exchanges, including overseas learning exchanges, are a good idea for a leader to visit at least once, if able, as they create solidarity with other women leaders. SDI have been around for 30 years, and are made up of these women-led saving schemes, which is a global network. It's good to learn from them and to see what women-led saving schemes at neighbourhood/community level can achieve. Sometimes you just need to hear it and see it from the horse's mouth to believe it.
Did you identify any common challenges between the groups?
Yes, in discussion we identified common challenges between the groups. It was important to create volunteering opportunities for the community. Everyone has some talent to bring to the community.
- Committee leaders can be overcommitted.
- Members of community groups and Savers groups can find it difficult to engage them/mobilise them in other ongoing campaigns.
- Growing a membership is difficult and requires effort by committee leaders. Everyone tries to save something in Kenya (there is no welfare state system).
-Mainstream media and the local media do not turn up for local events.
-Media do not show the true story/images of the urban poor/Shack/Slum Dweller, only show evictions and negative images.
They use Twitter, Instagram and have created their own YouTube Channel called Know Your City TV (KYC- TV) to tell their own story.
Did you share anything about your group / community / approach that you think was of particular interest to the other communities?
We emphasised that there is poverty in the UK, we emphasised that there is isolation in the UK and that people may not talk to anyone for weeks, months and can die from loneliness. So Savers groups are a tool to bring people together, to bring about volunteering opportunities.
We reminded our partners that people do sometimes have to make tough decisions in their household, due to poverty some household do not turn on the central heating in winter or just warm one room, many household do not eat fruit and vegetables as they are expensive to buy - yet the government guidelines is to eat 5 fruit or vegetables a day. Households where someone is working still do not always have enough money to eat three meals a day, parents go hungry, their children go hungry, people are poor and suffering due to the Cost of Living Crisis in the UK.
In three words, can you describe the overall experience?
Together!, inspired and motivated
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What is the city but the people?
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