Feeling catastrophic about the future?
You can start by helping your local community.
Working on a small scale when we face massive global problems can feel like a waste of time, but it is in fact one of the most effective and positive forms of activism that you can do.
Growing the bonds within our communities helps to make them stronger, more self-sustainable and more stable.
We will be best prepared to face the challenges that lie ahead of us if we are part of cohesive, proactive community groups.
Within these groups, we can help to solve and prevent some of the common problems that face us today, such as a lack of food security, fuel poverty, loneliness and deprivation. Knowing that we can rely on our community to support us through difficult times, and in turn support the community, is vital for us to tackle the looming crises we face.
What counts as a community?
Community (noun): a group of people living in the same place or having a particular characteristic in common.
One of the first stumbling blocks when beginning with community activism is working out which communities you belong to. We each, in our lifetime, will belong to several communities at once, and these can include groups such as the people who live in your city, in your suburb, on your street, your school, your workplace, your extended family and friends.
A community can also count as a group of people which you share characteristics with, such as the LGBT community. This post focuses mainly on location specific communities but this could also be applied to characteristic based communities.
What can we get involved with?
Practicalities are a great place to start. Does everyone in your community have access to food, safe housing, clean water, enough clothes for their children, for instance?
There are a lot of well-established groups already working tirelessly within your community, you may never have noticed them before, but once you seek them out, you’ll be amazed at the work they do. It’s nearly always best to start by helping with an already existing group who can support you and give you resources, rather than try to start your own without any support. So, have a look at what is already in place in your local area. Here’s some ideas based on what is available in my area:
Coffee mornings and lunch meetings for the elderly
Community gardens and allotments
The Gurdwara, which holds Langar (similarly, other places of worship which offer meals or places to sleep)
Refugee solidarity groups
Local political and activism groups
Sure Start children’s centres
Donate items and money to your local food or clothing bank - find the one which is closest to your area and make sure that people know how to access it.
Volunteer at a soup kitchen, or set one up with help from Food not Bombs
Volunteer at (or start) a community allotment or garden so that people can learn to grow things and have access to fresh food
Donate to a baby bank (a baby bank is a place which collect clothes, nappies, and Moses baskets for new parents)
If you grow food in your garden, leave out surplus veg with a sign so that people can freely take some
Set up a Little Pantry in your community
Help to pick up litter and keep your area clean and safe
Rewild a patch of unused land
Set up a coffee morning so that elderly and lonely people can have some company
Organise for surplus food from supermarkets and restaurants to be redistributed around the community
Volunteer at your local library
Campaign to keep key services open (such as Sure Start children’s centres, local hospitals, libraries, and parks)
Help to spread the word about services and events online and with posters/leaflets (for instance, if a food bank is looking for more toiletries to be donated, then share!)
Get on friendly terms with your close neighbours (offer to share things with them)
Organise a cooperative shop or café, repair workshop or makers space
Join a local activism group (for instance, a local political party, an environmentalism group, a refugee solidarity group)
Find a way to make your hobby into a way to help others. Crochet blankets to give to the baby bank or refugee solidarity group, cook food to take to the soup kitchen, plant flowers in communal spaces, help people to organise and reach a bigger audience with a website or social media page, look into volunteering with a sports programme or reading programme.
Teach your skill. Perhaps you have a specific skill that you can help to teach to other groups. Offer your skills at a free repair workshop or maker’s space.
Obviously, there is too much here for just one person to get involved with, and burnout is a real issue with social activism. So, pick one or two things that suit your skills or passions. It is also really helpful to know what there is to offer to your community, so that you can recommend places/things to do to others - or for in case you need them yourself in the future.
Helpful organisations and links
Food not Bombs
- a grassroots collective which cooks and shares free vegetarian food, and also protests poverty and war
Food not Lawns
- a great resource on Permaculture, urban farming and community self-sustainability, with local chapters
Little Free Pantry Project
- a project to inspire people to provide a little pantry, where members of the community can take or leave food supplies as needed
Symbiosis
- A North American based project to grow local cooperative economies within communities
Tenants Union
- a UK based national union for tenants and renters
Transition Network
- a movement to help communities become more resilient through skills workshops, crowdfunding, and reconnecting local groups
Rewilding Britain
- an organisation leading pilot projects for rewilding Britain, and sharing practical knowledge
