Listening to, and developing dialogue with individuals 1:1 is an essential aspect of community organising. It is the stepping stone to identify the self interest, motivation and leadership potential of people, and, serves as the foundation to build the necessary trust between people that can lead to the formation of powerful community teams and networks.
EXAMPLE: SELBY BIG LOCAL PARTNERSHIP, LOCAL TRUST
With the imminent opening of a new community space in Selby, David Jones (part of our Associate Network) was invited to work alongside the Selby Big Local Partnership members, and volunteers, to carry out a listening campaign in the local community with the purpose of gathering local opinion and identifying potential community leaders with ideas for action.
Using a mixture of online and in person methods to reach the community members – including social media posts, flyers, door knocking, working with local faith leaders and the college – in just 7 days, David and the team were able to speak with 120 people on the doorstep.
They followed these 1:1 conversations with informal meetings at the community café and new leaders came forward with offers to lead activities in the community space.
EXAMPLE: TOOT HILL, LOCAL TRUST
In the summer of 2025 we begun working with The Hub at Toothill. This is a renovated community centre in Toothill in Swindon, and we’ve been working with the volunteer board and their newly appointed CEO to increase community engagement and knowledge of the Hub, and to find out what the residents of Toothill want to see from the Hub space.
Through door knocking, community consultation events, and a very special festive banner-making activity as part of the local church’s Christmas fair, we’ve engaged with over 200 residents.
The purpose of this is to
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Raise awareness that the community centre is nearing opening
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Ask residents what they would like to see happening in the space
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Identify potential volunteers and community contributors to the centre
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Gather insight to inform future programming
